Tips and tricks for detoxification are seemingly endless, from vegetable juicing to saunas and special herbal teas, but it remains unclear whether these methods are effective.
“Detox teas” are trending on TikTok, and one video that has done well, with nearly 250k likes, is Ani B’s recipe for her Glowy Girl Tea, on her channel @anibaaaby.
In the video, Ani says: “As a girlie with a hormonal imbalance, specifically PCOS, I have to focus on detoxing my hormones every single day or else I get crazy hormonal acne, I get super puffy, bloating.”
Her brew included organic spearmint tea leaf, dandelion, and soursop leaf, to help “detoxing all these toxins out of your body.”
Another example—a video by @tiffanyroseknows, from October 14, with 4 million views—claims that a green tea with lemon and natural honey will help “reduce the inflammation and bloating in your body and lose 10lbs.”
And from @purelyayurveda, with 664k views, dandelion tea is recommended “to detox your liver” and help women through the perimenopause and menopause.
Newsweek spoke to a nutritionist and an herbalist to find out whether detox teas are effective.
Layla Gordon, from Layla Gordon Nutrition, told Newsweek: “Detox teas are often marketed as natural remedies for weight loss, improved digestion and overall health. However, their effectiveness in achieving these goals may be minimal.”
She explained that detoxification is the body’s natural process of eliminating toxins and waste products.
“The liver and kidneys are the primary organs involved in detoxification; for example, the liver filters blood, breaking down harmful substances into less toxic compounds that can be excreted through the kidneys or intestines,” she said. “The skin is also a major source of absorption and detoxification.”
Gordon said it was important to support these processes with diet and lifestyle where possible, and recommended staying hydrated, eating healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and limiting our exposure to harmful toxins.
And she said that incorporating liver-supporting foods and supplements might be helpful, giving leafy greens, beets and milk thistle as examples.
A cup of tea with herbs and a mortar and pestle. Herbal tea may have health benefits, said Layla Gordon, but it might not be as effective as some people suggest.
ChamilleWhite/Getty Images
She said that some teas could contain ingredients with potential health benefits, such as green tea, which is known to contain antioxidants, or mint tea, which is known to support digestion.
Gordon also added: “While drinking herbal teas, we are keeping better hydrated and ingesting other healthy ingredients, such as ginger, nettle, and chamomile, which are more beneficial than other drink options, such as fruit juice and soft drinks.”
So, while Gordon herself didn’t recommend detox teas as “a key component of my health protocols,” she did say that they could be used “as part of an overall strategy for better health.”
Hannah Charman, a medical herbalist at Physic Health, told Newsweek: “As well as the toxins we create during our own metabolic processes, nowadays we’re exposed to thousands of environmental toxins that our bodies were never designed to deal with.
“Over time, this can impact our body’s ability to function optimally, and increase our risk of chronic illness.”
Charman said that regularly drinking detox teas, in combination with trying to limit exposure to sources of toxins—for example, by eating organic food or using natural beauty products—could help support our bodies’ detoxification processes.
“A prime example of one herb is milk thistle, which contains silymarin and silybin,” said Charman. “Both have shown to increase glutathione in liver cells, which helps to protect them from free radical damage during detoxification.”
Charman said that detox teas were “safe and beneficial” for most people, but advised against taking them while pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive a baby.
She added that it would be best to seek advice from a medical herbalist “before starting any detox regime” if unwell, fatigued, or undergoing cancer treatment.
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