04-30-2016, 01:14 AM
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All of these brands more or less sell the exact same product: tea that comes in colorful pouches and breaks down into two categories, morning tea (the "skinny" tea) and evening tea (the "detoxifying" tea). The ingredients are essentially the same, regardless of brand — some combination of green, chamomile, and peppermint tea leaves; licorice, dandelion, rhubarb, ginger, and ginseng roots; and cloves, cinnamon bark, and dried goji berries. A 14-day starter pack usually sells for around $30, a 28-day pack for about $55, and a deluxe combination pack somewhere between $100 and $120.
On the packaging, these brands promise the tea "promotes fat burning," "reduces bloating," "makes you feel light," and "cleans the digestive system." In other words: these teas act as laxatives. The primary ingredient in nearly every single evening "detoxifying" tea is senna, an FDA-approved plant found in Ex-Lax and a number of its stimulant laxative competitors.
"It can cause cramping, indigestion, dehydration, and is also just not particularly pleasant," says Scott Gavura, an Ontario-based pharmacist and writer at the medical watchdog site Science-Based Medicine. "Taking a laxative when you think you're bloated or overweight is not something you want to do from a medical perspective. That's not healthy to yourself, and if you take it for a long period of time, it can be disruptive for your digestion and to the bacterial flora in your colon."
A product like a teatox is "problematic because it's not science-based," says Jim White, a registered dietician with the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. "It also promises quick fixes, which is what worries me." As the Guardian noted in a much-shared piece about the myth of the "detox," so-called detoxification is just a "pseudo-medical concept designed to sell you things."
All of these brands more or less sell the exact same product: tea that comes in colorful pouches and breaks down into two categories, morning tea (the "skinny" tea) and evening tea (the "detoxifying" tea). The ingredients are essentially the same, regardless of brand — some combination of green, chamomile, and peppermint tea leaves; licorice, dandelion, rhubarb, ginger, and ginseng roots; and cloves, cinnamon bark, and dried goji berries. A 14-day starter pack usually sells for around $30, a 28-day pack for about $55, and a deluxe combination pack somewhere between $100 and $120.
On the packaging, these brands promise the tea "promotes fat burning," "reduces bloating," "makes you feel light," and "cleans the digestive system." In other words: these teas act as laxatives. The primary ingredient in nearly every single evening "detoxifying" tea is senna, an FDA-approved plant found in Ex-Lax and a number of its stimulant laxative competitors.
"It can cause cramping, indigestion, dehydration, and is also just not particularly pleasant," says Scott Gavura, an Ontario-based pharmacist and writer at the medical watchdog site Science-Based Medicine. "Taking a laxative when you think you're bloated or overweight is not something you want to do from a medical perspective. That's not healthy to yourself, and if you take it for a long period of time, it can be disruptive for your digestion and to the bacterial flora in your colon."
A product like a teatox is "problematic because it's not science-based," says Jim White, a registered dietician with the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. "It also promises quick fixes, which is what worries me." As the Guardian noted in a much-shared piece about the myth of the "detox," so-called detoxification is just a "pseudo-medical concept designed to sell you things."
