Why Dietitians Cringe at Detox Diets

While making a resolution to focus more on your health can be a positive thing, sometimes how you approach losing weight isn’t the healthiest. As a dietitian, I always get nervous as the trendiest approaches to weight loss usually contain the words “detox” and/or “cleanse”.

Now I completely understand the appeal of these diets: clearly defined guidelines, promise of rapid weight loss, and endorsements from some of our favorite celebrities and magazines; however, myself and many other dietitians agree that most of the supposed health benefits of detox diets are either completely untrue or aren’t quite as good as they sound. So let’s take a dive into what detox diets are and what the science says about whether it’s worth spending a week’s worth of grocery money on a few bottles of juice.

What are detox diets?

While there’s no one set definition of a detox diet, the common theme running through most of them is cutting back on (or completely avoiding) certain foods in order to lose weight, reduce inflammation, and improve energy. To do this, these diets may restrict certain foods thought to be inflammatory (such as sugar, gluten, or dairy), use meal replacement products (usually beverages such as tea, juice, smoothies, or broths), and/or require a significant reduction in calories, usually through fasting. Most importantly, detox diets or cleanses make it easy to follow them, usually through the purchase of meal plans and nutrition guides. But before spending money and giving up our favorite foods, it’s important to ask: do these diets actually work? In order to answer that question, let’s first take a look at the body’s natural detoxification process.

How The Body Detoxes

Detoxification is the process by which the body filters and removes toxins. These toxins can come from inside the body as byproducts of regular metabolism (called endotoxins) or from outside the body (exotoxins). Examples of endotoxins include lactic acid, urea, and waste products from our gut bacteria. What you may be more familiar with are called exotoxins, which can come from alcohol, smoke, air pollutants, mercury from fish, and many other harmful compounds found in plastics, cosmetics, and cleaning supplies. So how does the body handle all these toxins?

Sorry fad diets, but the body has its own very efficient detoxification system. Your liver is the primary filtering system, digesting foods and getting rid of both endo- and exotoxins.

And the liver isn’t the only organ doing the heavy lifting. Your kidneys are constantly filtering out waste substances and removing them from the body through urine (makes sense why urine tests are used for drug screens), and your skin keeps many toxic substances from entering the body. Also playing a role is the immune system, respiratory system, and the intestines. All of these work together to identify harmful toxins and then neutralize them and/or dispose of them.

But what happens when you have too many toxins to get rid of? This is where many detox diets claim to help, as excess toxins can get stored in fat cells, soft tissue, or bone — all of which, over time, can negatively affect health. So if your body sometimes needs a little boost to get rid of toxins, then why are detox diets potentially harmful or ineffective? Let’s look at the research.

Do detox diets work?

Any time you reduce calories, your body will likely lose weight – at least initially. Most detox diets and cleanses cut out most, if not all, sources of carbohydrates, resulting in the majority of this weight loss being water loss, which will come back once you add those carbs back in.

As for the claim that detox diets eliminate dangerous toxins from the body, thereby reducing inflammation, there’s no evidence to support this. Even more worrisome is that detox programs with fasting could potentially suppress detoxification pathways in the body of some individuals.

So, do detox diets work? Yes, they may help you lose weight, but they won’t help “detox” your body and may even prevent the body from detoxing properly.

Are detox diets dangerous?

Okay, so these diets may not actually “detox”, but the idea of quick weight loss doesn’t sound half bad. Are there any negatives to just giving one of these diets a try? Yes, in fact, there are.

Many of these diets are so restrictive that you could end up being deficient in key nutrients, leading to malnutrition over time. Furthermore, prolonged juice fasts can lead to an imbalance of electrolytes, which could cause heart problems. Most concerning are diets that call for colon cleansing procedures, which can lead to diarrhea or even septicemia (a life-threatening blood infection) and perforation of the intestinal wall.

Generally speaking, because many detox diets are so low in calories, rather than feeling energized, you’re more likely to get headaches, feel weak, become dehydrated, and experience hunger pains.

5 Healthy ways to boost your body’s natural detoxification system

So what can you do instead? Just because most detox diets are ineffective and potentially dangerous doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you can do to boost your body’s detoxification system. The following are natural, safe ways to maintain your body’s detox system:

1. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
2. Focus on whole food sources of fiber (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains).
3. As long as you don’t have IBS or IBD, regularly consume cruciferous vegetables, garlic, and onion, all of which support these pathways.
4. Eat protein with every meal and snack to provide your body with glutathione, an enzyme key for detoxification.
5. Incorporate naturally fermented foods to keep your gut nice and healthy. These foods include yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

The bottom line

Most detox or cleansing programs out there are ineffective and unnecessary. Instead of fasting and buying expensive juices, you can boost your body’s natural detox system by eating high fiber foods (a.k.a fruits, vegetables, and whole grains), getting adequate fiber and hydration, and adding in some fermented foods. It also helps to lessen our exposure to toxins, including alcohol and smoking.

For more personalized recommendations, talk with a registered dietitian who is formally trained in integrative and functional nutrition. Not only are they more up to date on research surrounding foods that can help support a healthy detoxification system, but they’ll also be cognizant of possible negative interactions that those foods or supplements may have with any medications or pre-conditions.