Juice cleanse: Benefits, risks, and effects

It is important to note that there are differences between juicing and blending:

• Juicing involves squeezing the juices from fruits and vegetables and separating them from the pulp.
• Blending mixes all of the edible parts of fruits and vegetables, including the pulp, or fibrous portion.

This article will discuss the possible risks and benefits of juice cleanses and explain how to do one.

Potential benefits

Juice cleanses usually involve consuming only juice for a certain period, which typically ranges from 3 to 10 days.

The advocates of juicing say that it offers people many benefits, which may include those below:

• Fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals. Drinking juices could introduce extra nutrients into the body to boost overall health.
• Juices are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds that may boost the immune system and help a person feel more energetic.
• The creators of many juicing plans market the ability of their juices to flush toxins from the body, although they rarely specify which toxins the juices remove.
• Juices could help improve digestion by introducing healthy enzymes that make the gut work more efficiently.

However, most of these potential benefits are anecdotal, meaning that they do not have scientific proof to support them.

Doctors have identified several risks of juice cleanses, including those below:

• Drinking large quantities of juice may be harmful to those with kidney disorders. Certain types of juice contain oxalate, an acid that can contribute to kidney stones and other kidney problems.
• Cleansing diets are usually low in calories. A reduced calorie intake may result in temporary weight loss, but this change is rarely long-lasting.
• If a person consumes juices that are unpasteurized or have not had another treatment to remove bacteria, they are at greater risk of illness. This is especially true for very young and older people as well as those with weakened immune systems.
• If a juice cleanse includes laxatives or other methods of bowel stimulation, a person could lose too many nutrients in their stool. This can lead to dehydration and imbalanced electrolytes.
• Consuming an insufficient number of calories can cause a person to experience symptoms relating to low blood sugar because the body does not have enough energy. Examples of these symptoms include fainting, weakness, dehydration, headaches, and hunger.

A person should also be wary of pre-packaged juice cleanses that promise significant results, such as reversing diseases or providing dramatic health benefits. There is usually a lack of research to support these claims.

Juice cleanse supporters may recommend different types of juice cleanse, such as:

• drinking only juices and liquids for several days
• consuming juices in combination with dietary supplements
• combining juices with procedures that “cleanse” the colon, such as enemas or colonic irrigation
• drinking juices alongside specific diets as a means of promoting weight loss

Examples of some of the juice blends that the Scientific Reports study used include:

• apple, cucumber, celery, romaine lettuce, lemon, spinach, kale, and parsley
• apple, lemon, ginger, and beet
• apple, pineapple, lemon, and mint
• filtered water, cayenne, lemon, almonds, dates, sea salt, and vanilla bean

Drinking six of these juice combinations daily provided an intake of 1,310 calories per day.

There are many juice cleanse recipes available online, including one on the website healthyblenderrecipes.com.

Summary

Juice cleanses are a controversial topic within the medical community because they do not usually offer long-term solutions for weight loss or wellness. Most experts will recommend a balanced, healthful diet instead.

The evidence to support the possible benefits of juicing tends to be anecdotal. There appears to be more evidence to suggest that a juice cleanse can have a negative impact on the body, for example, by reducing kidney function.

Before starting a juice cleanse, people should speak to their doctor to ensure that they do not need to amend their juicing plan in any way to protect their overall health.

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