Colon Cleansing Myths

The colon gets a bad rap most of the time for doing what it was just designed to do. It is made to carry waste material in the form of feces out of the body. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s an essential one. Unfortunately, I think because of its association with fecal material, people assume the colon is dirty or bad and needs to be purged or that a colon cleaning is needed.

Although there are many proponents of colon cleaning, most medical doctors agree it is totally unnecessary. The colon has been designed for moving this waste product out of the body and it is totally capable of cleaning itself. Waste generally stays in the body no more than three days in the average person. The claims you may hear and the pictures found everywhere on the internet showing supposed harden and toxic waste that has been expelled after using a colon cleanser are simply not true. Now, I’m not implying that the pictures are false or doctored, but rather that this material would have been naturally expelled on its own if given time.

Some colon diseases such as diverticulitis and Crohn’s disease, which are examples of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), have no known cause and no known cure. There seems to be a genetic link between suseptabilitly to these diseases and some possible environmental factors may also play a role. For example, smokers are much more likely to suffer from Crohn’s and have additional problems controlling the symptoms. But there is no medical evidence supporting the theory that a toxic colon is to blame.

There is some evidence to support the fact that a western style diet can lead to problems with the colon. But this is a problem with diet and not a problem with the colon. One such colon disease that can be attributed to diet is diverticulitis. The incidence of diverticulitis has risen dramatically over the years as the quality of our diets has decreased at the same time. Some of the numbers can be attributed to better medical diagnosis available today, but not all. Check out these numbers, in the 1920’s only 10% of the population had diverticulitis, it rose to 30%-50% during the 60’s, and today over 50% of the population age 60 and older suffer from it, and the number of incidence goes up even higher than that as we get a little older. But again, this is not because our colons are a rotting cess pool of toxins.

Some Problems With Colon Cleaning

Some of the claims about colon cleaning involve the flushing out of bad bacteria. Unfortunately, the colon cleaning method doesn’t differentiate between good and bad bacteria. People hear the word bacteria associated with their bodies and they want it out, but the body has lots of good bacteria that help with digestion. Another problem with colon cleansing is that if not done carefully, it can lead to dehydration and low blood pressure. This is because the human body is a sensitive piece of equipment and this sudden purging can remove necessary electrolytes which are important nutrients for optimal functioning. These electrolytes include sodium, calcium and potassium.

I’m not trying to talk you out of colon cleaning if it’s a course of action you want to pursue; I’m just giving you the known medical facts. There are a lot of people who believe colon cleansing is beneficial to them and who claim to feel much healthier and energetic after having one, but the scientific evidence currently does not support this finding. Most of the pro colon cleaning claims are anecdotal and not supported by current medical knowledge.

If you truly want to clean your colon, eat more fiber!