Juice Cleanses

I often get questions about "cleanses" or juice fasts. Other than starving yourself to drop a few pounds in a few days, there's not much to it. I've heard all kinds of justifications for them, such as it gives your digestive system time to "rest" (as if it needs a break) and that it detoxifies your body (yes, one of the functions of the digestive tract is waste removal). Then, I read the following in the Dean's Letter for Tufts Nutrition, and think faculty member Dr. Edward Saltzman sums it up best:

In an Associated Press article about the popularity of fresh-squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, Associate Professor Edward Saltzman, M.D., debunked some of the more extravagant claims that such juices detoxify organs and cleanse the digestive tract. "I honestly don’t understand the concept of intestinal cleansing. It’s not like you’d find old tin cans or spare tires in the colon," he said. "Anything that results in increased motility or movement in the intestines, such as intake of fiber and fluid, would result in the evacuation of bowel contents."

Finally, these juice cleanse regimes are expensive. Spend those hard earned pennies on something else!