Dietician says use of detox tea for weight loss is damaging

Isabelle Adesina, a Nigerian-American certified dietician says that using detoxifying tea for weight loss does more damage to the body.

Adesina, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, said that detoxifying tea, also known as detox tea was becoming trending among young adults who want to lose weight.

According to the dietician, the internet health trend, which has become a lucrative business, is not sustainable.

She said that internet health could cause major health problems for people who relied on it for weight loss.

NAN reports that detox tea is usually taken by some people for weight loss.

“There are various detoxifying tea brands circulating the market and trending on social media.

“Paid celebrities usually help promote these tea brands on their websites, even as they themselves don’t use the products.

“The contents of some of these tea brands are dangerous to the health of the consumer,’’ he said.

According to her, the tea normally requires the consumer to ingest it for a specific period of time.

Adesina said that the concept of detox began with the belief that the body had to be flushed of toxins once in a while to give the liver a resting period and to also clean the liver.

“We know the liver and kidneys help filter the body by taking up toxins and expelling them from the body, but the filter also has to be cleaned.

“This is not true because the consumption of fruits and vegetables already help clean and maintain healthy organs and the liver does a good job by naturally detoxifying the body regularly.

“Detox tea is similar to laxatives, which are normally used by individuals who suffer from constipation or bloating, causing them to have a loose bowel which sometimes leads to short term diarrhea.’’

She said that the product forces the system to excrete all food in the body for relief, but along with other relevant fluids.

The dietician said that an abuse of detox tea could lead to dehydration, loss of nutrients, kidney problems and electrolyte imbalance.

It could also cause low blood pressure, disruption of the colon, leading to colon cancer and bleeding or spotting in women.

Adesina explained that constant use of detox teas could lead to short term weight loss as the body would be forced to feed on itself due to lack of food and continuous release of fluid from the body.

According to her, the solution to sustainable weight loss depends on portion control of healthy foods consumed as well as exercise.

“The body needs variety of nutrients to survive and function properly and that is why I recommend portion control as the key to weight loss.

“The science behind weight loss is ‘calories-in-calories-out’ which means the amount of calories we consume and amount we burn from exercise will determine our weight.

“To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than eating and to stay on track, take snacks occasionally so as not to deprive yourself but ensure you have just little of everything.

“Depending on detox to lose weight could make someone end up gaining the weight back, once he begins eating regularly.

“Variety and balance in diet is necessary to avoid dangerous health problems and constant flushing of the system is dangerous, especially when there is no food in the system to flush.’’