The myth of 'detoxifying' the body
2012-12-17 14:13
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New York - The word "detoxification" is flung around the fitness community as
frequently as kettle bells are swung.
Yoga teachers regularly speak of detoxifying twists, aerobics instructors of
detoxifying sweat, dieters of detoxifying fasts. But health professionals are sceptical.
"If you start talking about exercising to detoxify, there's no
scientific data," said Dr Elizabeth Matzkin, chief of women's sports
medicine at Harvard Medical School. "The human body is designed to get rid
of what we don't need."
The same applies to fasting.
"No good scientific data supports any of those cleanses, where you
drink juice, or [only] water for a week," she said.
Exercise is important, Matzkin added, because it enables our body to do what
it is made to do, but the kidneys and colon get rid of waste. The role of
exercise in that process is unclear.
"In general exercise helps our lungs; kidneys get rid of things that
can cause us onset of disease," she said.
A healthy lifestyle - eating healthy, drinking plenty of water and
exercising - is important to detoxifying because it enables our body to do what
is intended to do.
Yoga
"As for specific yoga moves, I'm not so sure," she said.
Yoga instructor and fitness expert Shirley Archer, an author and spokesperson
for the American Council on Exercise (ACE) said the theory behind the
effectiveness of detoxifying twists in yoga is that they squeeze the organs,
which push the blood out so fresh blood can rush in.
"Better circulation equals better health," said Archer, who is
based in Florida. "If detox means to eliminate from the body what it no
longer needs, then certain yogic practices can help."
She said yogic deep breathing with strong exhalations can empty the lungs of
unneeded carbon dioxide and allow for a fresh breath of more oxygenated air.
"This nourishes all of our cells," she said. "It is also a method
of cleansing because better circulation equals better health."
Meditative movement practices, such as yoga and tai chi, she added, can
detox your attitude because they require staying in the present moment and
discourage dwelling on the past.
Last summer, celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson began taking groups of 40-odd
women on what she calls Detox Weeks, which involve at least three hours of
workouts each day, as well as lectures on fitness and nutrition aimed mainly at
encouraging lifestyle changes.
Similar weeks in other cities are planned for 2013.
Good workout
"Women work out and think 'Why can't my love handles, muffin tops go
away'?" said Anderson, creator of the Tracy Anderson Method and a
co-owner, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, of fitness centres in Los Angeles and
New York. "The most important thing is if you can become a consistent
exerciser."
"A good workout is not five to 10 yoga poses," she explained.
"You have to learn to scale up your endurance. If you can only jump for
five minutes straight, we'll go to 10 minutes, then 20 minutes."
Anderson said she uses the term detoxification broadly to include everything
from working up a good sweat to clearing the mind of destructive thoughts.
"Detoxification is a big topic," she said.
Nancy Clark, a registered dietician in Boston, Massachusetts and a member of
the American College of Sports Medicine, said the body generally does a fine
job of detoxifying itself through the liver and kidneys. Sweating has nothing
to do with it.
"When you sweat you really don't detoxify anything," she
explained. "If someone goes on a crash diet, then maybe toxins are
released but then the body would take care of them. When you sweat you lose
sodium."
