As January approaches, talk of New Year’s “detoxes” and “cleanses” inevitably starts circulating. But whether you plan to commit to a pricey juicing regimen or promise to banish dietary demons du jour such as gluten, dairy or refined sugar, the outcome is generally the same: After a few days — or, if you’re lucky, a few weeks — on a restrictive regimen, your health and dietary patterns start drifting back to your baseline. Old habits die hard.
[See: How to Break 7 Unhealthy Habits.]
One of the reasons that these short-lived regimens leave no lasting, noticeable traces for most people, of course, is that they don’t remove any actual toxins from the body. Gluten? Not a toxin. Dairy? Also not a toxin. Sugar? Still not a toxin — though it’s admittedly not healthy to gorge on. As for actual toxins, like chemical pesticides or mercury, juice won’t get rid of them; your liver does.
But there is something that millions of Americans ingest daily — willingly and enthusiastically — which actually can be toxic. These somethings are responsible for over 23,000 emergency room visits annually, and over 2,000 hospitalizations. And, they’re responsible for about one in every five cases of acute liver toxicity. In other words, they poison the body’s most essential detox organ.
If you’re looking for a common source of toxins in your diet, look no further than the poorly-regulated herbal and dietary supplements you take, ironically, in your quest to be healthier.
Current laws governing the sale of dietary supplements in the U.S. allow marketers to sell dietary supplements without providing proof of safety or efficacy to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. With these lax regulations, it’s hardly a surprise that supplements comprised a full half of all FDA Class I product recalls (meaning the products are reasonably likely to cause serious, adverse health effects) from 2004 to 2012, according to data recently presented by the New York State Department of Health.
What’s more, research has failed to show benefits of taking the most commonly used dietary supplements — multivitamins and multi-minerals — at least in terms of preventing cancer, heart attacks or cognitive decline. Other categories of supplements, like herbals, raise similar concerns regarding efficacy. This may be due in part to rampant fraud in the industry, which allows products to get away with containing none of their claimed active ingredient. In fact, a 2015 audit of various herbal supplements sold at popular retailers including Walgreens, Target and Wal-Mart showed that anywhere from 50 percent to 80 percent of products tested in various categories contained none — that’s right, none — of the herbal ingredients claimed on the label. In some cases, products used undeclared fillers that were potential allergens, posing risks to unwitting consumers.
Of course, lack of efficacy is not likely to harm anything other than one’s pocketbook. But other quality lapses that plague the supplement industry — think contamination with heavy metals, tainting with harmful bacteria and adulteration with illegal drugs — certainly can, and do.
So if you’re serious about cleaning out that body-temple of yours come January 1, commit to a critical review of your dietary supplement regimen, with the goal of paring it down to the barest of essentials. Here’s how:
— Eliminate supplements you take “just because.” If your health is reasonably good and your diet is not highly restricted, cut out any supplement you take “as an insurance policy” or without knowing the reason why. This could include multivitamins or multiminerals, vitamin C and B-complex vitamins for “general well-being” reasons such as trying to prevent a cold, supporting immune function or having more energy.
[See: 10 Cold and Flu Myths Debunked.]
— Cut supplements with lofty claims. Supplement pills or powders claiming to burn fat, increase metabolism, help with weight loss or build muscle have a strong history of product mislabeling and adulteration with illegal drugs. Such products are among the leading causes of supplement-related emergency room visits and acute liver toxicity, often from undeclared prescription drug content (steroids) or herbal prescription drug analogs like DMAA, DMBA or DMPEA. Such ingredients often hide behind innocent-sounding botanical names like acacia, orchid extract or ma huang.
— Ditch supplements marketed for sexual dysfunction. These products often contain the ingredients horny goat weed (Epimedium), yohimbine or “herbal Viagra” analogs and are a leading cause of supplement-related emergency room visits among men. (And they don’t even work.)
— Stop with the green tea extract. This supplement is associated with liver injury and adverse health effects, often related to its extremely high caffeine content, which can cause irregular heartbeats and, in some cases, even death.
— Don’t bother with supplements marketed as cognitive function enhancers, or “nootropics.” These products can contain drugs or drug analogs, and there’s no evidence they work as promised.
— Toss “thyroid support” or “adrenal support” supplements that contain animal tissues or secretions. Products with glandular extracts, such as thyroid tissue or adrenal gland tissue, or any other animal tissues and secretions, such as collagen or colostrum, are risky. Ingredient lists often call them “bovine-” or “porcine-derived,” which means they come from cows or pigs. The doses of hormones contained in glandular extract supplements are not standardized, and can wreak havoc on your endocrine system. There are also particular safety concerns with animal-derived products in general (contamination) and cow-derived tissues and secretions in particular (mad cow disease), particularly when the ingredients are sourced from unknown countries.
— Keep supplements you need. If you have been diagnosed with a clinical nutrient deficiency or do not get a particular nutrient from food due to a restricted diet, supplementing is a good idea. For example, large swaths of the U.S. population lack vitamin D; people who are over the age of 50, take acid-reducing medications or follow a vegan diet may fall short on B12; and women of childbearing age who have a history of anemia from heavy periods or vegetarian diets often need to supplement with iron.
— Seek a second opinion. Be aware that many alternative and integrative practitioners employ laboratories with non-standard definitions of “deficiency” when it comes to vitamins and minerals, which can result in over-prescription of supplements that are medically unnecessary. My rule of thumb? Any time a clinician recommends you take more than four dietary supplements — or tries to sell you any supplement he or she directly profits on — seek a second opinion.
— Take appropriate supplements if you’re pregnant. Women trying to conceive or who are pregnant typically need a folic acid supplement or a prenatal vitamin.
— Keep supplements that counter medication’s side effects. If you take a medication that depletes a certain nutrient, you may need to replenish it in the form of a supplement. For example, if you take the drug methotrexate, you’ll likely need folic acid; if you’re on long-term therapy with steroids or proton pump inhibitors for acid reflux, you’ll likely need calcium and Vitamin D.
— Consult a doctor. Keep supplements prescribed by a medical doctor for their pharmacological benefits, such as high-dose fish oil to lower triglycerides or magnesium for migraines.
— Shop wisely. If you do choose to use a dietary supplement, seek out products from large, reputable brands that are made in the U.S. and carry “USP” certification as an indicator of greater quality control in manufacturing. Smaller, niche brands are unlikely to own their own manufacturing facilities, and rely on outsourced production, commonly in China, where quality standards are notoriously poor and fraud is rampant.
[See: Pharmacist Recommended Vitamins and Supplements.]
— Consider a “washout.” If you’re nervous about a full-on breakup from your extensive supplement regimen, consider taking a two-week “washout” from all of your supplements — except those in the “keeper” categories — and seeing how you feel. If you’re no worse for the wear, commit to keeping your pill burden low and aiming to nourish your body through food, not supplements. Your liver will thank you.
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How and Why to Go on a Supplement ‘Detox’ in the New Year originally appeared on usnews.com
