Colon Cleanse Ingredients

Natural remedies that take the place of prescription medication are popular because of the ease with which they can be obtained and their relatively low price. Colon cleansing products are some of the most popular on the market as they claim to help resolve a number of ailments. The main ingredients used in colon cleansing programs have been well-known for thousands of years and can be readily found in health food stores.

History

• The ingredients in modern day colon cleansing products have been used as early as 3000 B.C. in Egypt and were frequently used by the people of Greece between 1100 B.C. and 146 B.C. The microbiologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov conducted studies in the 1880s and 1890s that indicated toxins in the bloodstream could reach the colon and cause health problems, which resulted in a rise in the use of colon cleanse ingredients. Support from the medical community for colon cleansing waned significantly throughout the 1900s with many medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, showing that there was little to no evidence to support that colon cleansing was beneficial in any way.

Types

• There are three main ingredients used in nearly all colon cleansing programs. Most utilize a combination of the ground-up seed of the psyllium plant with powdered senna leaf. Some instead use an extract made from the bark of the Cascara Sagrada plant. There are also several well-known folk remedies for colon cleansing that involve drinking mixtures of lemon and lime juice with maple syrup and Cayenne pepper three times a day.

Function

• Colon cleansing ingredients act as either a stimulant or bulk-forming natural laxatives that usually cause extra bowel movements within 6 to 10 hours. Colon cleansing programs sold on websites or through health food stores frequently claim that their active ingredients remove toxins or built-up fecal matter that are not flushed from the colon during a normal bowel movement.

Considerations

• The Food and Drug Administration has not tested senna, psyllium, Cascara Sagrada, or lemon juice mixtures for the purpose of colon cleansing. The FDA has not approved any of the colon cleansing products on the market so their effects cannot be guaranteed. None of the ingredients used in colon cleansing products should ever be harvested or consumed in their raw states as they all cause cramping and vomiting. They should always be taken with at least one full glass of water or they can actually have the reverse effect and cause constipation.

Warning

• Consult your physician before taking any of the major colon cleansing ingredients, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking any prescription medications. All of the colon cleansing ingredients have been known to cause diarrhea, dehydration and prevent many medications from being absorbed properly by your body. Do not take senna over long periods of time as it has been document that it can cause serious liver damage.