Detox Cleansing Tea

There is currently no authoritative medical evidence to support that commercially available "detoxifying intestinal cleansing tea" can achieve the effects of "removing deep-seated toxins, nourishing skin and slimming, and regulating the intestines" as advertised by the merchants. The vast majority of products that are "effective within the day" rely on irritating laxative ingredients to take effect. Long-term use will damage intestinal function. Only a few compliant mild formula products of the same origin as medicine and food can be used as an auxiliary means to occasionally relieve food accumulation and temporary constipation. They are definitely not suitable for long-term consumption as daily drinks.

Last month, I went to the gastroenterology department of a community hospital to choose a health topic. In one morning, I met three people who came for consultation because they drank intestinal cleansing tea indiscriminately. The youngest was a 22-year-old girl. In order to take a graduation photo, she drank the popular intestinal cleansing tea for a week and lost 3 pounds. However, she couldn't straighten her waist for three days in a row. A regular stool test showed signs of intestinal flora disorder. The doctor prescribed probiotics and warned her that she might get chronic enteritis if she continued to drink blindly. I have been in a trap before. The year before last, I bought imported intestinal cleansing tea recommended by a certain blogger. I drank half a cup and ran to the toilet three times in one afternoon. I was so weak that I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I looked up the ingredients list and found senna at the top of the list. I threw away the remaining half of the box.

If you say this thing is completely useless, many people will stand up and disagree. I have several friends who study traditional Chinese medicine and diet therapy. They always have their own bowel cleansing tea bags at home. After eating heavy hot pot or eating heavy oil takeout for several days in a row, I can make a cup of it and drink it. The next day, there is no discomfort in the chest or stomach. In fact, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine diet therapy, there are no false marketing concepts such as "detoxification" and "defecation". The so-called intestinal cleansing is aimed at food accumulation and hot-dry constipation caused by improper diet. It uses mild medicinal and food ingredients such as hemp seeds, Yuliren, hawthorns and chrysanthemums. It is also clearly stated that it can only be used occasionally to treat symptoms, and cannot be drunk for a long time, let alone watered down every day.

But now gastroenterologists are generally resistant to "detoxifying colon cleansing tea", and it is not without reason. I talked with Dr. Li from the gastroenterology department of a tertiary hospital before. He said that 80% of the patients with colonic melanosis that I have met over the years have long-term experience of drinking stimulant laxative-type bowel cleansing tea. In order to allow consumers to see the "defecation effect" immediately after drinking it, many businesses will secretly add a large amount of anthraquinone laxatives, such as senna, rhubarb, and aloin, to the ingredients. These ingredients will stimulate the intestinal mucosa to move quickly and defecate. However, long-term use will degrade the intestinal peristalsis function - just like a person who can walk on his own but relies on someone to walk every day. Over time, he forgets how to take steps. These ingredients are deposited on the intestinal wall for a long time, and will turn the original light pink intestinal wall into brown and black patches, which is colonic melanosis. Although most of them can slowly recover after stopping drinking, long-term development may indeed increase the risk of cancer.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with both sides of the argument. The core problem lies in the over-marketing of merchants, which turn supplements that can only be used temporarily into health-preserving artifacts that can be drank every day, and also create a bunch of fake concepts to cut leeks.

To be honest, if you really accumulate food occasionally or haven't pooped for two or three days, and you want to drink something to help, it's not completely off limits, as long as you know how to choose. Don’t look at the hyped-up claims on the packaging, and go directly to the ingredient list. If the first few items say senna, rhubarb, aloe vera, and cassia seeds, just put them back and don’t buy them. Especially those that say “drink the same day and lose 10 pounds in a few days” are most likely to have added a sufficient amount of laxatives. If the first few ingredients in the ingredient list are barley, orange peel, hawthorn, chrysanthemum, and at most a trace amount of hemp seeds at the end, then it’s okay to drink it once or twice. I sometimes make a cup of it after eating too much butter hot pot. The effect of relieving greasiness is indeed good, but I will never drink it for more than 2 days in a row.

Of course, there are also groups that must not be touched: people who are prone to diarrhea, people with irritable bowel syndrome, pregnant women, children, and people with basic intestinal diseases such as ulcerative colitis. Don’t join in the fun. Even a mild formula may stimulate intestinal problems. If you really can't pull it out for three or four days in a row and your stomach is bloated and painful, don't think about drinking tea to solve it. Go to the hospital and see a doctor immediately. It's more reliable than trying any random folk remedies.

After all, is there any "magic tea" that can eliminate toxins from the body once and for all? If you usually eat two more mouthfuls of green leafy vegetables, drink enough 1500ml of warm water every day, and go for a walk downstairs twice after eating, your intestines will be able to clear out all the things that need to be excreted. There is no need to pay IQ tax for drinking these extra things. Oh, by the way, the little girl who drank bowel cleansing tea and went to the hospital last time later adjusted her diet and ate a stick of corn and half a box of yogurt every day. Her constipation problem was cured on her own. Now when she sees the bowel cleansing tea, she walks around and says she will never pay the unjust money again.