Colon Cleansing: A consumer health issue - Term Paper Example

? Colon Cleansing: A consumer health issue Affiliation Colon cleansing had popularized around the marketing agencies and non-medical industry during recent era. Although most of the serious medical practitioners suggest avoiding colon cleansing, until and unless supported by very strong reasons, yet out of current marketing boom and people’s mistaken convictions colon cleansing is getting day by day popular among commoners having no medical advice or prescription whatsoever. It is a sensitive social issue as various marketing agencies selling colon cleansing products with misleading information are involved in falsifying medical facts. It is a legislative and social crime. Researches show that colon cleansing is a sensitive process and it cannot be recommended in routine. On the other hand, colon cleansing may induce a number of harmful consequences leading to serious harms to digestive system and kidney operations. Medical theories suggests: only under specific circumstances, colon cleansing is recommended under medical guidance. In this paper, it is our matter of concern to analyze how much, and up to what extent, colon cleansing is misunderstood by consumers as well as some medical practitioners. We also seek to inquire for the co-sequences resulted out of myths about colon cleansing. Colon Cleansing: A consumer health issue Introduction In most of the modern practitioners and private hospitals colon cleansing is often recommended to patients complaining over numerous issues arrived out of minor body toxicities or wrong food habits. However, other than medical practitioners, colon cleansing is nowadays making its place among T.V. and Online shops as well as some unauthorized websites over Internet. Most of those shops and Websites try to enforce people to be aware for how much regular colon cleansing is important for them. They argue with strong but unauthentic and fathomless arguments that normally colon is subjected to intoxication out of long term bad food habits and no allowance for regular cleansing. It may cause some considerable amount of fecal matter stuck in colon causing numerous biological dysfunctions able to cause certain diseases including colon-cancer. Moreover, such arguments and offers are widespread all around internet. They offer an appeal to people to opt for colon cleansing through their products. Obviously the question arises: if colon is such a sensitive organ and colon cleansing holds so much importance then how can any company deliver the products on doorsteps leaving all further care wholly to the consumer, instead of suggesting to go to a serious medical practitioner who could provide instructions and care? Factually, colon cleansing boom is a daughter of marketing which holds no serious ground in medical criterion. On the other hand, it may be harmful over some serious patterns. For example, see how Tennen (2007) presents a review of those claims over Internet and T.V.: Holistic practitioners believe the colon is a sewage system and if it's not kept clean, waste products won't be cleared out and toxic substances will be absorbed into the body. They believe that the typical person may have as many as several pounds of fecal matter in their colon, which causes mucus to build up and harden on colon walls. Science says this is not true. Your colon knows how to do its job, constantly shedding old cells, absorbing nutrients and keeping a delicate balance of bacteria and natural chemicals. Interfering with this process can hurt or destroy these relationships, meaning the colon won't work as well as it should. Colon cleansing is unnecessary, and medical doctors do not advise you to do this. Quite opposite to these scientific facts Internet and TV agencies boast colon cleansing as a routine process essential for keeping up good health. It is popularized by the marketing agencies who are interested less in consumer health and more in financial profits. There are serious concerns about colon-cleansing which lead to some devastating aftereffects. Let’s have a look of how and what colon cleansing claims to do and how it can affect consumer-health up to some sever levels. History of colon cleansing Colon cleansing and colon therapies have their seeds down there in ancient history right from the time while medical techniques grew in a structured way. Earlier to that, there were many traditional approaches to colon therapies which included colon cleansing through oral supplements as well as Colon irrigation. Dating back to ancient times, enemas were recorded as early as 1500 B.C., in an Egyptian medical document called the "Eber Papyrus". In earlier times, people implemented enema treatments in a river by using a hollow reed to induce water to flow into the rectum (Newman). However, even if traditional approaches did use colon cleansing as a process of maintaining health and preventing from diseases, those were not routine processes. Ancients also suggest that colon cleansing is a task for specific requirements. Anyways, it is true that those times had no structured medical organizations and resultantly most of the medical tasks were performed by individual holding information of medical science in general. In words, there were no certified “doctors”, because there was not a proper organization to provide certifications. Such facts are modified to prove that colon cleansing was earlier a common task without medical guidance, however, quite contradictorily; it was ‘performed more carefully and held a specific position in treatments. Later in the history enemas became quite popular among commoners because food poisoning and toxicities were found frequently in many cases. Still, enemas were specific to cases and were not suggested in routine. However some practitioner quite frequently used enemas and colon cleaning at a regular basis and boasted it as a root of their therapy. Even without any medical evidence, some such practitioners got wide popularity playing a role of forefathers to modern day’s colon-cleansing boastings. In the early 1900's in Battle Creek, Michigan . . . John H. Kellogg, M.D., extensively used colon therapy on some forty thousand of his patients. In 1917 he reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- that in all but 20 cases -- he used no surgery for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease in his patients (Newman). Quite later to those events, colon therapy suddenly popularized in common during the dawn of twentieth century. The popularity of colon therapy reached its apex in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. At that time, colon irrigation machines were commonly seen, and regularly used as a standard practice, in hospitals and Doctor's offices. But in the ensuing 50 to 60 years the public's use of, and access to, this valuable health treatment greatly decreased (Newman). As mentioned in the quotation, popularity of those treatments decreased after the modern day organized medical structure grew ahead. Any further, homemade treatments had no requirements because medical suggestions and advises were quite easily available and within the reach. Also commoners had started to trust more in medical advice as it came out of organized medical association. Nowadays, anyway, marketing agencies are trying to reverse the progress through proving that enemas had a quite common place among ancient medical treatments and those can be used in routine practice. Range of Colon –cleansing products It is a well known fact among medical professionals that colon cleansing does not belong to the sector of treatments which can be used without medical support. Subsequently, it becomes illegal to publish details about a colon therapy until and unless an authentic medical union backs it. Anyways, most of the internet agencies do care for finding a leak in law by hiring at least a doctor to speak for their company. As a result, there are a number of marketing websites popularizing their colon-cleansing products through internet and telemarketing because those companies find it hard to sell serious medical instruments directly. On the other hand, some companies sell their food supplements boasting to work as colon cleansers involving no physical operation but only diet supplements. In both cases there are numbers of possibilities of serious threats to consumer’s health and body functions. As much it is concerned about the Colon irrigation machines, it is medically evident that those machines are used only in very specific cases. Colon irrigation is not a process that can be considered similar to brushing teeth. Colon cleansing companies often try to assert that colon needs a cleansing on a routine basis. Quite the contrary, regular colon cleansing can even damage colon’s absorbing power permanently to cause a weakness of body system that may last lifetime. Colon irrigation machines are strictly medical instruments which are to be used only by certified doctors in case of some emergency on intoxication or some serious dysfunction of large intestine. Authentic organizations do have specific description for such machines to ensure that those are strictly medical instruments to be used in exact cases. Some of marketing agencies are supported by major products that boast for advancing human efficiency and health. Unfortunately, there are not much rules and regulations to prevent such marketing agencies from spreading out fake information about human body and its functions. Under given, there are some of the opinions and arguments from authentic medical professionals stating the facts over colon-cleansing. Nursing response An assertion from American Cancer Society (2008) explains for how colon cleansing machine and therapy does not have any direct relation with colon cancer and with some diseases. Meanwhile, some of the Telemarketing and Internet-marketing companies are very commonly involved in propagating myths about colon cleansing that it is a process that helps you prevent from some major diseases like colon cancer. In 1985, the California Department of health Services issued a statement that listed some of the potential hazards of colon therapy, including infection and death from contaminated equipment, death from electrolyte depletion, and perforation (puncture) of the intestinal wall leading to life-threatening infection or death. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers colonic irrigation machines to be Class III devices which means they cannot be legally marketed except for medically needed colon cleansing (such as before an x-ray or endoscope exam). The FDA forbids practitioners and sellers from making unsubstantiated claims that have not been proven in scientific studies about their services. The FDA has warned several companies to stop making such claims. No colonic irrigation machine or system has been approved for routine use. On the other hand, most of such organizations take advantage of already proven medical facts. They manipulate facts into vague information speaking for their marketing strategies. Sometimes, doctors, medical students and physical trainers are too involved in creating such fake strategies. Recently a marketing agency had been involved in selling out its weight loss machine that claims to reduce abdominal fat as well as to strengthen abdominal muscles. This company further offers a whole program for reducing fat and tightening muscles. It introduces another offer to use its colon cleansing techniques which clears out colon to make sure that it is detoxified to pick only healthy substances out of food. Over this product, a non-professional study by cbc.ca/marketplace (CBC.CA, 2009) comes out with a few questions with a medical doctor that reflects on the claims made by an internet marketing agency proposing an advice from a presenter named Dr. Ho. In his videos promoting food supplements from his company, Dr. Ho proposes some earlier and recent pictures claiming that he has achieved a considerable uplift in his stomach’s efficiency and has lost a good sum of weight by using those supplements. As those advertisements are quite common over T.V. and cyber networks, the fact is quite simple that anyone with enough computer and media efficiency can come up with such pictures. When attempted for a contact, those numbers from marketing agencies do not work or show some other reason to escape an inquiry. Quite obviously, people from marketing agency have nothing to do with true medical facts and consumer health, their concern is only about selling their product. Mayo Clinic’s gastroenterologist Picco, explains the process of colon-cleansing and how it is useless in normal circumstance. Also, it is quite opposite to what marketing agencies claim; it can be very harmful in most of the cases when it is applied without a considerable consulting with a medical professional. Although doctors prescribe colon cleansing as preparation for medical procedures such as colonoscopy, most don't recommend colon cleansing for detoxification. Their reasoning is simple: Your digestive system and bowel naturally eliminate waste material and bacteria — your body doesn't need colon cleansing to do this. In fact, colon cleansing can sometimes be harmful. The main concerns with colon cleansing are that it can: Increase your risk of dehydration Lead to bowel perforations Increase the risk of infection Cause a rise in your electrolytes, which can be dangerous if you have kidney disease or heart disease There are several other claims made by marketing agencies to support their product’s efficiency in cleansing colon. A basic question is over the issue whether colon really requires cleansing in normal circumstances. Medical professionals respond with a clear ‘no’ to it. Over given studies and researches put a raw figure in front of us for how colon cleansing is strategically converted into a marketing myth for commoners holding no medical knowledge. Colon cleansing is quite a different process when looked into its historical background. It is very widely known process involved in certain specific cases to bring out results when some critical infection in colon creates a trouble requiring a smoothing of colon to reform its proper operation. When we see in medical practice’s history colon cleansing had been there for a long time. Always, it is used only for specific purposes. Function of Colon and Myths about colon cleansing Seemingly ancient civilizations had some specific place for colon cleansing. Egyptian and Greeks used to believe that body can get toxins as a reversal of process when colon sucks some toxic elements back to the body instead of dumping it into waste (Wiki 2011). Anyways, most of the colon-cleansing supporters bring out the auto-intoxication theory in support of their arguments to approve that colon cleansing is a necessity or so. As a matter of fact colon-cleansing does hold its vital importance in medication; but it is limited to the cases where a real intoxication is found under the colon's parts infected by parasites or bacteria. Colon-cleansing does not require a regular operation. In case of infections sometimes colon can be affected of a parasite that may hurdle colon’s regular functions to make it restrictive in sucking water. It can further lead to many other dysfunctions depending on physical conditions of the diseased. Only if such criterion is found in a diseased colon, than, under the special treatment, colon cleansing can be taken as a supportive therapy for a resolution. However, colon cleansing also has its side affects to be taken in attention when medical operator affirms or suggest a requirement of colon cleansing. Often agencies claim that colon is responsible for much important absorption from the food passing through. In fact this is pure boasting. Colon only absorbs some fat solvable vitamins and mostly water elements. Notably, colon does not work as an organ with any direct effects over the content of fat generated in body. The colon's primary function is to absorb water. When the stool enters the right side of the colon at the junction of the small bowel, the contents are quite liquid. As this material passes through the colon, most of the water is absorbed until it reaches the end of the left side where the stool becomes solid. There is very little nutritional absorption involved with the colon. Removing a third of the colon will have minimal impact on the quality of the stools, and should have no impact on continence. (KECK) Other than misleading about the functions of colon, marketing agencies do mislead about the utility and results of colon cleansing. Most of the agencies are found to boast about the power of colon cleansing regarding washing out the intoxicating substances stuck in colon. In fact, colon does not hold any intoxicating substances until and unless there is a serious infection or sever medical condition. On the other hand, function of colon itself is based in washing out all the substances down, instead of absorbing anything but a limited number of vitamins and water. Thus, there is no opportunity for any intoxicating substances to frequently stick in colon other than an infection or toxic matter. Moreover, in case you got an infection, it is a serious trouble that can never be resolved simply by colon cleansing; quite the contrary, colon cleansing can cause an infection if it involves some instruments that are not detoxified properly. Even in case of infection, colon cleansing is taken only as a supportive therapy to add in some other treatment involving sever medications. That the colon cleansing washes out the poison is a complete myth spread around the popular society only for the purpose of selling some useless products. COLON CLEANSING WASHES OUT POISONS: Colonics, as the practice is called, has no known medical value and risks damage to the rectum or bowel. The bowel is not “dirty” and, unless disease or medication interferes, nature does a fine job of clearing out wastes. If you are concerned about unwholesome substances in your body, drink lots of water to help your body get rid of them (BRODY, 2008). Marketing strategies leading to cheat normal public, often try to misguide people about the functions of colon. Resultantly, when baseless claims are made, people get attracted to find out that if they can increase their physical efficiency by a therapy that does not involve any hard workouts or long time routine habits. Range, Advocacy and Social effects of Colon Cleansing products Over given facts and details provide a caricature for how colon cleansing products faked by marketing agencies are selling around in the society with help of Internet and other medium of marketing. Moreover, those products are selling without any restriction for legal claims. Public health is threatened by such products in a dreadful way. Compared to any other marketing products, colon cleansing products have a much stronger threat to consumer health because they are directly affecting bodies of consumers. It mostly leaves substantial affects that either require serious medical treatment or result into a sever damages of body. Colon cleansing products are available in market in mostly two formats. Some are the suppliants claiming to cleanse colon by flushing all internal stuff down by smoothing it; this process is quite similar to enema. And on the other hand, there are irrigation methods which involve a tube to enter in stomach to clear out the stuff from inside the colon. Two different forms of colon cleanse are the use of high colonics or colon irrigation and the use of liquid or powder supplements. High colonic therapies are performed by colon therapists and work like an enema. While lying on a table, a pump flushes gallons of water into the rectum and is then massaged by the therapist. Enzymes, herbs, or probiotics can be mixed with the water to help move the process along. Supplements are taken by mouth or are used rectally to work internally to improve colon health. Laxatives, enemas, and anti-parasite capsules are all apart of this category. The goals of these cleanings are to improve the immune system, assist in losing weight, and reduce the risk for colon cancer (Colon Function and Health Information, 2010). When it comes to effect of over mentioned colon cleansing methods, first method involves supplements which often cause loose motions. Those loose motions can well stay longer than the time expected due to the lake of specific study of a body and the configuration it holds presently. When a doctor suggests tablets to cause motions, he knows about the body out of his diagnosis. However, an Internet marketing agency knows nothing about a particular case and sells the supplements only on the basis of a guessing over an average structure. It is always necessary to check out the current status of a body because one may already be suffering from dehydration, there may be a problem with digestive or intake system and there are certain other possibilities which may cause some serious troubles in any particular case. Although those agencies certainly bring up a few tips to take such supplements, according to the weight or so, but in fact they have no concern for any probabilities mentioned above, as they involve no diagnosis. The other process of Colon-Cleansing can rather prove much more harmful to consumer health. It involves a tube to irrigate colon for its cleansing. In most cases while colon has no requirements of any cleansing, it involves a large numbers of ionic elements to enter colon. Those elements can well deform the balance of digestive structure to cause a sudden increase in electrolytes to put excessive pressure over kindly and heart. Misleading facts and Marketing trickery Most of colon cleansing products talk of auto-intoxication as a process involving hidden poisonous elements in colon absorbed to decrease bodily activities and performances. However, it is already much analyzed by medical professional over the time. It has come up with a complete rejection; because, if compared to other parts of body, colon has a comparatively rare chance of infection until and unless something unusual occurs. On the other hand, colon does not hold any hidden poisonous elements to be absorbed as this is not colon’s task at all. The theory of auto-intoxication itself had a history coming out of a marketing strategy instead of a medical revelation: John Harvey Kellogg was a leading advocate for the theory of auto-intoxication and, the legend goes, manufactured whole-grain cereals to promote regular bowel movements.  (It was his brother, Will, who founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which later became the Kellogg Company.) It all made perfect sense.  But it was wrong. Constipation is indeed uncomfortable.  But careful testing found that those symptoms associated with it and attributed to auto-intoxication—headache, fatigue, loss of appetite and irritability—were not a result of toxins but rather the colon expanding.  The reason was mechanical, not chemical (Wanjek, 2006). Therefore, it comes out quite clearly that Colon cleaning may gain no authentic recommendation until and unless prescribed by medical professional in a personal reference. A necessity of colon cleansing for various reasons like abdominal muscle building, improving physical performances, losing weight or to live longer are all fakes. They hold no real grounds in any medical reality and no doctors support such theories that are not just harmful for people's savings but also to their health on a large variety. Social concerns and effects on society Global marketing trends have added so much to online marketing that any marketing agency can make its product reach up to every part of national and international society. Earlier, we have mentioned how regular colon cleansing can harm health making temporary or permanent damages. Modern day society is widely educated thought media, such education hold no responsibility to provide any authenticity as it doesn’t belong to a sector that hold responsibility to public. Marketing agencies consists of staff that has learned in marketing school for how they sell combs to a bald man and refrigerators to Eskimos. When those strategies are applied to wide spread audience over Internet, those products catches the attention very rapidly. Up to a certain limit people are instantly moved by the advertisements as those advertisements show them a straight away path to better health which everyone demands at all. One way, serious medical guidance can help people know the facts about their body to prevent them from getting lured to such advertisements; however, telemarketing and internet often make such hypnotism that buyers will even be ready to ignore medical guidance and try the product. Seemingly it does not uncover the original facet of public health issue until we look at the wide perspective for popularity of such products can create big hurdles to medical programs. While all the governments around the world are looking to provide health programs to society to keep a good public health, those products are reversing the effects. If there are a limited numbers of patients, medical programs have more chances to success in maintaining good public health but if there are a large number of patients coming by using such products, it affects the quality and availability of medical programs which harms to overall society. Moreover, till the date there are very fragile laws for scrutinizing fake claims over internet as Internet mostly governs as an international system which always finds out various ways to get rid of domestic laws from most of the countries. In United States and U.K. they do not have laws firm enough to prevent such cases when a clearly false thesis is declared to public that is not only cheating them but also putting their lives to danger by selling products that may induce a number of threats to their anatomy. As far as it is concerned about the medical realities, often myths become useful for fakers finding it beneficial to cheat public over their fathomless claims regarding any well known fact of science. By threatening public over the concept of auto-intoxication, colon cleansing products are frequently making money although true facts regarding it, had been known and realized by the scientists much before in history: Auto-intoxication is an ancient theory based on the belief that intestinal waste products can poison the body and are a major contributor to many, if not all, diseases. In the 19th century, it was the ruling doctrine of medicine and led "colonic quackery" in various guises. By the turn of the century, it had received some apparent backing from science. When it became clear that the scientific rationale was wrong and colonic irrigation was not merely useless but potentially dangerous, it was exposed as quackery and subsequently went into a decline. Today we are witnessing a resurgence of colonic irrigation based on little less than the old bogus claims and the impressive power of vested interests. Even today's experts on colonic irrigation can only provide theories and anecdotes in its support. It seems, therefore, that ignorance is celebrating a triumph over science (Ernst, 1997) Conclusion In fact those colon cleaning products are not just a single threat to public health but those are one part of a whole chain that sells such products faking medical realities. There are a number of products that boast to enhance hair-health through external supplements while evidently, hair are dead cell which can intake no supplements through their skin. Similarly, there are a number of products for skin, hairs, and teeth as well as for internal body parts which live only over the basis of faking medical facts. A large number of such products are continually affect public health and making more and more diseased occupying medical facilities which could otherwise cure and assist other serious patients. Seemingly, it is only under the hands of governments and medical associations to come up with plans to provide true medical awareness to public and to come up with firm and strict laws to prevent all possibilities of allowing any agency to fake medical realities. Although there are a number of laws, national and international, which have authority to prevent fake claims over serious medical theories, often governments do not find themselves able to take any action until and unless some serious appeals are made against them. In case of colon cleansing, this responsibility is still awaited from the governments to take an action against faking for medical facts. However, most of the medical authorities are quite aware of those facts. Doctor or nurses having authentic knowledge of medical terminology, facts, mechanisms and anatomical structure of human body do bear their responsibilities by recommending proper treatment and providing proper medical suggestions to their clients. However, when someone does not reach to a doctor and acts only on the basis of Internet agencies boasting just anything to sell their product, there is no limit till what one can be harmed by the co-sequences. Thus, it is an alarming necessity that governments as well as medical authorities turn strict about faking medical facts that are quite clear to medical professional but not to common people that are easily entrapped by fakers. References BRODY, J. E. (2008, July 22). Health 'Facts' You Only Thought You Knew. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/health/22brod.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=colon%20cleansing&st=cse&oref=slogin&oref=slogin CBC.CA. (2009, Feb 13). Marketplace/cbc.ca. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from CBC.CA: http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2009/how_not_to_win_500000/busted.html Colon Function and Health Information. (2010). Retrieved May 30, 2011, from Colonfunction.com : http://www.colonfunction.com/ Ernst, E. (1997, June 24). Colonic irrigation and the theory of autointoxication: a triumph of ignorance over science. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from NCBI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9252839 KECK. (n.d.). The Function of the Colon. Retrieved from USC.EDU: http://ccnt.hsc.usc.edu/colorectal/functioncolon.aspx Picco, M. (n.d.). Colon cleansing: Is it helpful or harmful? Retrieved May 30, 2011, from Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cleansing/AN00065 Society, A. C. (2008, January 11). The most reliable cancer treatment information. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.cancer.org/: http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/ManualHealingandPhysicalTouch/colon-therapy Newman, David. "A Brief History of Colon Therapy." 2007. THE GUILD OF COLON HYDROTHERAPISTS. 2011 . Tennen, M. (2007, June). The Dangers of Colon Cleansing . Retrieved May 30, 2011, from healthatoz.com: http://web.archive.org/web/20080613223754/http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/canc/colc/alert08162005.jsp Wanjek, C. (2006, August 8). Colon Cleansing: Money Down the Toilet. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from livescience: http://www.livescience.com/947-colon-cleansing-money-toilet.html Wiki. (2011, May 24). Colon cleansing. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_cleansing#cite_note-10 Read More