Detoxification and bowel cleansing pills

Let’s get straight to the conclusion – currently there is no “detoxification and intestinal cleansing tablet” promoted to ordinary consumers that can achieve long-term intestinal maintenance without side effects. It is either a marketing package for stimulating laxatives, or ordinary dietary supplements have been rebranded and increased in price. Healthy people do not need to take medicine to “detoxify” at all.

I accompanied my aunt to the gastroenterology department for a follow-up consultation a while ago. While waiting for the consultation, I met a junior girl who was crying while holding an empty box of a certain Internet celebrity's intestinal cleansing tablets. She said that she was only occasionally constipated. I saw a blogger saying that this "pure natural herbal medicine can help relieve pimples and relieve acne marks." I leaned over and took a look at the ingredient list in her hand. The second number was clearly marked with aloe glycoside, a typical anthraquinone stimulant laxative ingredient. It is the same active ingredient in senna and rhubarb that we occasionally use clinically for short periods of time.

To be honest, this kind of "intestinal cleansing tablets" that cause diarrhea as soon as you eat them are the most deceptive. The "defecation of feces" promoted by merchants is originally a concept created by marketing. There is no such term in Western medicine. Normally, it takes 1-3 days for food residues to travel through the entire intestine. There is no such thing as "toxic feces" that has accumulated for more than ten days. The principle of anthraquinone ingredients is to directly stimulate the nerves of the colon mucosa, forcing the intestines to contract violently to expel the contents. Eating it for a short period of time will really make you feel better, and your stomach will feel more deflated. What is expelled is only water and food residue, which has nothing to do with "detoxification". Oh, by the way, there are still people who rely on this to lose weight, which is even more ridiculous. The two pounds they lost came back after eating a meal the next day, and they didn't lose even a cent of fat.

Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have also talked to me about this, saying that ingredients such as rhubarb and aloe vera are completely reasonable for short-term use to treat thermal constipation and food accumulation when the symptoms are symptomatic. I also agree with this, after all, such clinical applications do exist. But the premise is that you follow the doctor's instructions and take it according to the dosage, and stop taking it for three to five days at most. It is not meant to be chewed as a health supplement every day for several months. No matter how mild the medicinal material is, you can cause problems.

Nowadays, there is also a type of intestinal cleansing tablets that are even more mysterious, claiming to be "no additives, no diarrhea, mild and turbid elimination", which are more expensive than the previous ones, often costing more than 100 per bottle. You will understand when you look down the ingredient list. It is basically polyethylene glycol, prebiotics, and psyllium husk. It is either a medicine used to cleanse the intestines before colonoscopy, or an ordinary dietary fiber supplement. I once calculated for my mother that the psyllium husk content in one tablet of a popular imported intestinal cleansing tablet that is popular among purchasing agents is less than half a piece of corn bread. If you buy pure psyllium husk powder and add fructo-oligosaccharide, the quantity per month is only more than 30, and the effect is exactly the same as that of more than 100 intestinal cleansing tablets. It is just that the words "detoxification and intestinal cleansing" are printed on it, and the premium is five to six times higher.

Interestingly, many people do say that taking these "mild bowel cleansing tablets" is helpful. Most of them are people who usually eat takeout, fine rice and noodles every day, and their vegetable intake does not even reach half of the recommended amount. To put it bluntly, you are already lacking in dietary fiber. If you supplement enough, your bowel movement will be smooth. If you eat half a pound of spinach or a stick of corn every day, the effect will be much better than taking intestinal cleansing tablets. You can also supplement vitamins on the way, so you don’t have to waste money.

There are also many people who blame "intestinal poison" for acne, heavy breath, and dark complexion, and insist on taking intestinal cleansing tablets to treat them. Really not. Acne is mostly caused by sebaceous gland secretion or androgen. 90% of bad breath is caused by poor oral hygiene or Helicobacter pylori infection. It has nothing to do with the "poison" in the intestines. Taking intestinal cleansing tablets blindly may mess up the intestinal flora, making the problem more serious.

To be honest, if you really want to protect your intestines, you don’t need any pills. Drink enough 1.5 liters of water every day, eat a pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruit, and don’t use your phone while squatting on the toilet for more than 10 minutes. This is much more effective than eating a thousand yuan of bowel cleansing tablets. If you really have constipation for more than a week, don’t blindly search for guides and buy Internet-famous medicines. It only costs a dozen yuan to register with a gastroenterology department and let the doctor judge whether it is functional or other problems. The medicine prescribed by the doctor is the real symptom and is much safer than blindly trying products.