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Kansas, as a metaphoric extension of Dorothy's home in the Wizard of Oz, is a place of safety, trust and comfort. Though our safe haven should be science, knowledge and reason, many people find comfort in rather irrational things, with no real evidence to support them at all. For example, Dr. Mehmet Oz is doing a great disservice to the general public, and as his greatest promoter Oprah Winfrey can take some credit for that as well. They are stealing minds away from our safe haven of science and rational thought.
Why do so many people fall for the nonsense that "health gurus" like Dr. Oz espouse? Because influential, popular TV show hosts like Oprah promote their nonsense, and most people will readily accept an easy remedy.
Can you say, "baloney?" While Oprah does some wonderful things around the place and fights for many good causes, she also doles out a healthy supply of baloney for people who fall for it. Many among us are easily misled, and we all can fall victim from time to time, because the baloney often seems to make sense. But much of the truth is withheld, either through convenience, or just plain ignorance.
I'm sure it's not Oprah's intention to mislead, nor is that the intention of Dr. Oz. I'm quite certain that they, and a lot of (if not most) promoters of pseudo scientific treatments and practices believe wholeheartedly in what they are teaching and in some cases preaching. The fact is, much of what they present as useful remedies and cures for many ailments, both real and imagined, is not really as accurate as you may think. All one has to do is seek the truth for oneself.
A quick search of Google will provide sufficient evidence to the contrary of many of these claims. All you need to do is learn how to pick through the trash to find the goods, because due to the overwhelming popularity of nonsense the majority of sites you find at the front of the search results will most likely be proponents of the same nonsense we're looking to avoid. Why? Because it's marketing. Most quacks love to sell their snake oil to those who are most gullible. Sadly that seems to be a very, very large majority of the general population. Equally sad is the huge number of people trying to make a buck.
But if you poke through you find some light. Some logic and reason that can help us understand the facts, the mechanisms that are really at work. For example, one of my pet peeves is this whole colon cleansing movement. Pun intended.
One evening recently I was talking with a dear friend over the phone. He mentioned that he hadn't been feeling well. I asked what the problem was. It seems he had picked up some herbal remedies to assist in cleansing his bowels. They would have cleaned his bowels alright, if there was anything to clean!
Let me explain. What these supplements consist of is a variety of herbs that are purported to perform certain functions and assist in "scrubbing" rotting material off of the intestinal wall. Ladies and gentleman, there is nothing to scrub. You don't have PVC piping running through your body. You are a biological organism very capable of taking care of itself. Certainly herbs can be beneficial to humans, and science knows of many. But these homeopathic colon cleansing supplements make it onto the pharmacy shelves for three reasons, they're almost harmless (almost, I'll get to that in a moment), are approved as food by the FDA (read on), and people will buy them. Dietary supplements are a money maker.
So my friend tells me of his bout with diarrhea after taking the supplements. That's because along with the various herbs, the ingredient list contains a couple of laxatives as well. After all, if you didn't crap your brains out after taking the supplement you'd probably figure they don't work. Can't have that! The manufacturer's of these tablets know exactly what they are doing. I've heard testimony on infomercials that promote these colon cleansing supplements. Things like, "Man I didn't believe what was coming out of me after I took this stuff. It works great!"
The stuff coming out wasn't waste material that was removed from the walls of his colon, it was whatever food was passing through him since breakfast, tinted various colors by the herbs (which are not likely to be a regular part of his diet, thus "unbelievable"), and propelled efficiently from his colon thanks to the laxatives. As I mentioned earlier, these things are almost harmless, almost. Long-term overuse of laxatives can in fact cause problems with bowel regularity.
Furthermore, dietary supplements are not considered drugs by the FDA. They are regulated as foods, and as such, manufacturers are not required to prove their safety or effectiveness. Nice huh? Can you say, "easy money!?" because that's just what the producers of these mostly harmless, mostly useless supplements are saying.
Contrary to popular opinion, which again and again we find is rather faulty, there has been no evidence found to indicate that harmful waste is collecting in your colon, or building up on the walls of your bowels like sludge. We've all heard the tale of actor John Wayne having 40 lb's of impacted waste in his colon. That's just not true. It is possible for someone to develop an impacted colon, but the material will not build up to that extreme without severe abdominal pain. Anyway, I've taken this about as far as I wanted to go, so I'm going to sign off for now. That's my load of crap for the day.
One thing is for sure, science will not try to take your money if you turn to it for the answers. It is not a supplement.
For further information on the lore of colonic irrigation, and colon cleansing through supplements, as well as the potential harm these practices can cause, I highly recommend this article at Quackwatch.org.
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