1. Cleanse Diets
UBC Students for Science-Based Medicine
UBC SBM

2. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

3. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

4. What is a cleanse?
A restrictive, temporary dietary practice
(lasting 3 days to a month) that is most often
claimed to:
1) eliminate toxins from the body
2) help weight loss
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5. Examples – The Juice Cleanse
• Variety of practices and timeframes
• Based on the idea of eating only raw,
juiced fruits and vegetables
• Example: “Fruit Flush”: any raw fruits
juiced for 3 days Claim: you’ll lose 9 lb
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6. Examples – The Master Cleanse
Expanded in popularity by Beyonce.
Consists of:
• No food
• Lemon juice mixed with cayenne pepper,
maple syrup, water – as much as you want
• Laxative or “salt water flush” every morning
• Duration:10 days or more
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7. Examples – “Wild Rose Cleanse”
• “The Wild Rose Cleanse”
• 12 day diet
• 4 supplements (that you buy)
including a laxative
• Restricted food intake:
• Not allowed: flour, sugar, alcohol, meat, peanuts,
grapes, mushrooms, tropical fruit
• Allowed: vegetables, most fruit, fish, some nuts
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8. Examples – “Isagenix”
• Choice of 30 day or 9 day kit, including:
– “Ionix” Supplements
– “Isalean shake” Protein
– “Cleanse for life” Supplements
– “Accelerator” “Stimulates the body without stimulants”.
(Ginseng is a stimulant)
– “Isaflush” “Not a laxative”. (Magnesium is a laxative)
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9. Examples – Elimination Diets
• Examples:
no caffeine, no alcohol,
no candy, no fast food
• This is just healthy eating
• Would be recommended by virtually any
health professional
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10. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

11. Evidence for Cleanses
• There is no published research
• UBC SBM members were unable to find
evidence one way or the other to back up
any of the claims made
???
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12. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

13. Claims made about Cleanses?
Many!
1. Detoxify your body
2. Lose weight
3. Remove caked-on fecal material from
your intestines
4. Revitalize your immune system
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14. 1. Detoxify your body
• What toxins?
– The products almost never identify
the toxins they claim to be
removing.
– If do not know what the toxin is,
you cannot know that you’re
removing it.
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15. 1. Detoxify your body
• Your body is very
good at getting rid
of toxins – your
liver, kidneys, gut
detoxify for you
all the time!
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16. 1. Detoxify your body
• Sometimes the claims do not
make sense.
– Wild Rose Cleanse claims to remove a
surplus of acid from your body, HOWEVER:
• Your body carefully controls its acid-base
balance
• One of the things that can cause you to be
“acidic” is severe diarrhea
• The Wild Rose cleanse causes diarrhea!
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17. 2. Weight Loss
• There is no evidence that cleanses
do or do not help with weight loss.
• There are no published studies.
• Websites that make this claim have
no evidence to back up the claim.
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18. 2. Weight Loss: The Cautions
1. Water Loss
2. Sustainable Weight Loss
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19. Caution - Water Loss
• Your body balances salt and water
• Total Body Water Total Body Salt
I lost 1 kg!!!!
60 kg 59 kg 60 kg
30 kg water 29 kg water 30 kg water
3g salt/day
Cleanse Diet Kidneys
has WAY Adjust to new
less salt Salt Intake
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Boron and Boulpaep. Medical Physiology. “Integration of Salt and Water Balance”. 2005. p.862

20. Caution - Water Loss
• Many of the cleanse products also act as
laxatives (even ones that claim they don’t!)
• Laxatives also cause you to lose water;
they dehydrate you
I lost 1 kg!!!! 59 kg
29 kg water
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21. Caution - Sustainable Weight Loss
• Weight Gain and Weight Loss are about
your Calorie balance (calorie intake versus
calories burned)
• If you return to a diet that has a Calorie
excess after your cleanse you will just gain
the weight back!
• 1/3 to 2/3 of dieters gain MORE weight
than they lost after they go off the diet 1
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1. Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets are not the Answer. American Psychologist. 2007. 62(3): p. 220-233.

22. Advice from the Dieticians of
Canada
A healthy weight loss program includes:
1. Losing no more than 2 pounds per week
2. A balanced diet from all four food groups
(including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low
fat dairy, protein sources, and healthy fats)
3. Regular exercise
4. A maintenance phase after the initial weight loss
phase!
http://www.dietitians.ca/Nutrition-Resources-A-Z/Factsheets/Weight-Loss-and-
Control/Guidelines-for-Choosing-a-Weight-Loss-Program.aspx
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23. 3. Remove caked on fecal matter
from your intestines
• Claim – You have up to 10 lb of old
fecal matter caked onto the wall of
your intestines that needs to be
flushed out
– There is no scientific basis for this
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24. 3. Remove caked on fecal matter
from your intestines
Fluid
Movement through your
Semi-Fluid
intestinal tract is
Mush continuous. Constipation
is caused by feces
Semi-Solid becoming solid too soon in
the intestine (not caked on
Solid feces).
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25. 4. Revitalize your immune system
• Cleanse makers claim the cleanses will
revitalize your immune system
• There is no scientific evidence for this
• The best way to make sure your immune
system is healthy is to maintain a healthy
life style (nutritious food, exercise, healthy
weight, don’t smoke)
http://www.health.harvard.edu/flu-resource-center/how-to-boost-your-immune-system.htm
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26. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

27. Potential Benefits
• Potential weight loss (besides water
loss). No evidence either way.
• Help you to start thinking about your
diet and your nutrition
• Eliminating junk food and alcohol from
your diet
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28. Potential Harm
If it hurts... It’s working?
The “Healing crisis”
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29. Potential Harm
• Promotion of diarrhea
– There is a wide variation on the normal range
for how often you have a bowel movement
– There are some medical reasons to be on
laxatives
– If are wondering if you need a laxative, you
should talk to your doctor
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30. Potential Harm
• Can make you feel awful – “healing
crisis” - and potentially keep you from
exercising during the cleanse
• Could cause serious harm to those who
are diabetic, have heart disease, have
kidney disease, or are pregnant
• Muscle breakdown, nutritional
deficiencies...
• $$$$
UBC SBM

31. Outline
• What is a cleanse?
• Evidence for cleanses
• Analysis of the claims of cleanses
• Potential Benefits/ Harms
• How to investigate a new product
UBC SBM

32. How to Investigate a New Product
• Who exactly should I believe?
–Canadian citizens today are
bombarded with advertisements
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33. Investigating what you see on the
Internet: Credentials
• Came across the “Provincial Flower
Cleanse” while preparing for this talk
• The inventor of the cleanse attaches the
title “PhD in Clinical Herbalism” to his
name
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34. Investigating what you see on the
Internet: Credentials
• PhD - Clinical
Herbalist
• But from where?
• It doesn’t say
anywhere on the
website
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35. Investigating what you see on the
internet: Credentials
Finding his PhD……
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36. Investigating what you see on the
internet: Credentials
• Columbia Pacific University:
• Has been closed down since 2000 for
offering online bachelorette to doctoral
degrees that are not compliant with
educational standards
• Has been ordered to refund tuition to all
students who received a degree 1997-2000
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37. Investigating what you see on the
internet: Credentials
http://www.americanlawreview.com/diploma_mill.html
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38. Investigating what you see on the
internet
Watch out for:
– Questionable credentials
– No published research
– Use of “success stories” as evidence
– Claims of no side effects
– Claims of “Something for Nothing” ex:
stimulate without stimulants
– Claims to treat serious diseases like cancer,
asthma, or HIV. This is illegal!
UBC SBM

39. Take Away Messages
• This presentation does not aim to promote or
discredit any specific product
• Dozens advertised on the web, many cost $$
$, and they may have side effects
• Be sceptical of what people are trying to tell
you, especially if they are selling it!!!!
• And these days – google them!
• You deserve to know what you are paying for
UBC SBM