Do you believe that washing out your colon gives you energy and may improve headaches, allergies and acne? Colonic therapy is encouraged by celebrity endorsements and their websites. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop claims “For the uninitiated, a colonic is essentially a way to hydrate and irrigate your colon – a section of your intestines that’s approximately five feet long – by filling it with warm water and then flushing it out repeatedly.” Goop acknowledges the efficacy of colonics is “often debated”, but offers Dr Alejandro Junger to guide us. The clue in the direction he is leaning is the 20 “Dr Junger’s Gut Cleanses” the site is giving away.

Solution

So, is there really a continuing debate about colonic irrigation? The New York Times recently quoted David Greenwald, director of clinical gastroenterology at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, saying colonic irrigation has “never been shown to have any clinical benefit”. Why, you may wonder, didn’t Paltrow ask Greenwald’s opinion?

The Association of Registered Colon Hydrotherapists offers a career path – 11 days of training and you can practise. Colonic cleansing has been around since ancient times, but this doesn’t make it effective. Could large volumes of warm water (up to 60 litres) pumped up your rectum really clean out toxins and any muck lining your bowel and make you feel gorgeous? Promotional videos from colonics clinics are certainly strangely compelling.

But the digestive system knows how to eliminate waste and the “toxins” so beloved of colonic therapists. The American Cancer Society has said there is no evidence that toxins accumulate on bowel walls, let alone that this was due to “poor elimination of waste from the colon”.

A systematic review of the research found zilch to support colonic therapy, but did find evidence that it can cause cramping and nausea and perforate the bowel. A review in the Journal of Family Practice cited case reports of colonic hydrotherapy causing pelvic abscesses, pushing air into veins in the bowel and causing gangrene around the anus as well as electrolyte imbalances from all that fluid going up through your bowel. There is, according to this review, no research to show it is beneficial but certainly evidence of harm, and even that people have died from having it.

Even more scary are the DIY kits available online. If you are constipated or just feel that you don’t want a loaded colon, eat more fruit and vegetables to get more fibre; exercise, and drink non-alcoholic beverages. Try gentle laxatives. But, please, don’t try colonic therapy.