Have you ever seen those colon cleansing ads that show long strands of goo that have come from the colon? Do we really need cleansing to get rid of that stuff?
I asked my gastroenterologist about the ads. He told me that he has done hundreds of emergency colonoscopies on patients who have not had the traditional medical cleansing preparation before the procedure – and still he has never seen anything like that shown in the ads.
A great article by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal solves this mystery for me. In “Inner Beauty: A Healthy Colon” she shares knowledge from a variety of experts. Steven Home, a past president of the American Herbalist Guild says that the expelled goo is most likely the mucilaginous fiber from the purging product itself, combined with black bile from the liver.
So what we see in the advertisement is from the product, not from our colon.
The best way to keep the colon healthy is with a healthy diet and lifestyle: fiber from fruits, vegetables and whole grains, less fat and plenty of water and exercise.
I think the article is worth reading and gives a helpful overview of colon cleansing.
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