Myths of Detox Tea & Weight Loss
A lot of people use detox regimens as a fast way to lose weight, alleviate fatigue, and “clean out” their bodies. The tea detox is a popular method of doing this. When doing a tea detox, individuals consume several cups of a special detox tea daily for a few days. However, there are many untrue myths believed by adherents to this practice.
Myth #1. Your body needs to to be regularly detoxed.
Toxins do not build up in your body unless you have overt kidney or liver disease. Your liver and kidneys rapidly and efficiently remove toxins from your body 24 hours a day. Thus, there is absolutely no medical need to undergo detox regimens.
Myth #2. Consuming detox tea will lead to fat weight loss.
Most detox teas are essentially laxatives. They will cause your digestive tract to rapidly empty itself out, which may cause cramping, bloating, gas, and diarrhea. In addition, some detox teas have high levels of caffeine, which triggers your body to increase its urine output. Although you may lose a few pounds after a 3-day detox, most of this is just water lost rapidly through the digestive tract and kidneys, not fat weight, and you’ll just gain it right back within a day or two after the detox is over.
The detox teas with high levels of caffeine can, in addition to acting as a diuretic, induce other unpleasant symptoms, such as nervousness, difficulty sleeping, headache, and a fast heart beat.
Myth #3. Detox tea is very healthy.
It is true that green and black teas contain some compounds that can provide health benefits, but tea is most beneficial when consumed as one or two cups per day every single day. In addition, detox tea is a completely different concoction than regular tea, and most detox teas don’t actually contain any tea leaves at all and provide no health benefits.
Myth #4. Detox tea is safe.
This myth is not entirely true. The detox teas that just contain laxatives like senna are probably safe to use for a day or two, but they offer no health benefits unless you suffer from constipation. Some cases of severe dehydration have been reported after use of detox teas. In addition, some detox teas contain illegal toxic substances. There have been cases reported of patients suffering from liver damage after use of a detox tea, and heart attacks and strokes have also been induced by their use.
Overall, a tea detox has little to no benefit and may cause overt harm and unpleasant symptoms during and after the detox period.
