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FRIDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The Web is filled with products and practices that promise to "detoxify" the body through various means, from extreme diets to spa treatments to sweating.
Though some may be relatively harmless, the desire to detox was brought to a tragic conclusion last fall when three participants died and several were made seriously ill during a pricey sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona. Self-help guru James Arthur Ray was arrested Feb. 3 and charged with three counts of manslaughter in the deaths.
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Doctors say the notion that you can -- or should -- undertake special efforts to cleanse the body of impurities is not only not necessary but potentially dangerous. The body has evolved through time to detoxify itself through its own processes, said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and co-author of Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health.
When it comes to removing toxins from the body, several organs are designed to do just that.
- The liver plays a major role in breaking down and filtering substances from the bloodstream that the body can't use.
- The kidneys remove substances such as urea, a byproduct of protein metabolism.
- The gastrointestinal tract, including the colon, is also designed to get rid of what the body cannot use and to keep what it needs.
"There are myths that toxins clog up or get stuck in these organs," Vreeman said. "That is just not true."
And without a doubt, she said, sweating definitely would not be the way to go about it.
The primary reason we sweat is to regulate the body temperature. When moisture produced by the sweat glands evaporates, it cools the body.
Though the main component of sweat is water, sweat does contain small amounts of dissolved minerals and trace elements, including sodium, lactate, urea, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, nickel, iron, chromium -- none of which are considered toxic, Vreeman said.
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