gut check: the truth about cleanses, parasites and intestinal health
8 minute read
parasite cleanses have been trending heavily on social media and online recently, with much of the information misleading, claiming that “everything is a parasite until proven otherwise.”
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this article was produced by the healthing editorial team with the support of a grant from aquaomega. while aquaomega made the production of this article possible, they did not have any editorial influence or control over the content, including review prior to publication.
if you’ve experienced gut health issues in the past and looked to social media for answers, you may have come across various products that promise to restore your gut to its former glory, getting rid of symptoms once and for all. from detox teas to parasite banishers and online-ordered parasitic or gut health tests, there is no shortage of options.
but are they truly effective, or even needed?
“you have to be really careful of these types of things that you are testing, especially these direct-to-consumer tests, because a lot of them are not going to really give you good usable information,” said dr. paul hrkal, naturopathic doctor with the pain and wellness centre in vaughan, ont.
it’s easy to get sucked into the hype online, though, because all of these things tend to be promoted by favourited influencers and “packaged up in a really trendy and glamorous way.”
“if you’re looking at tiktok videos and instagram reels, you should take that all with a grain of salt, and i think generally the more sensational it is, the more you have to be careful,” said dr. hrkal. “you can definitely find good sound information … [but] it’s sometimes difficult to kind of differentiate between the two.”
while your gut health is vital to overall health, as evidenced even more by the latest research establishing the mind-gut connection, knowing when you need to act and what the best approach for you is are the best ways to move toward optimal gut health.
the body has its own detox system
toxins that affect gut health are often hard to completely avoid. the good news is that the human body has its own detoxification system that does the job quite well—when it’s functioning at its best.
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“your body detoxes every minute of every day,” said dr. hrkal.
the liver and kidneys, for example, continue to detox the body of harmful substances that could affect gut health, and hydration helps, because the better hydrated you are, the better they will be at filtering things out. that said, there are times when this filtration system could use a little help.
“all of the stuff that the liver filters goes back into our digestive tract through the gallbladder and then gets either eliminated if we have enough fibre or sometimes actually gets reabsorbed, and so you can actually get this recirculation of toxicity and even beneficial things like hormones,” said dr. hrkal.
when gut health isn’t at its best, it is when reabsorption can become a bit of an issue, such as if someone is constipated or their digestive tract isn’t moving waste through at an adequate rate. many things can cause the digestive tract to function less than ideally, such as eating more unhealthy foods, smoking or drinking alcohol and in some cases, infections or chronic issues that could be picked up or developed.
“your body can eliminate basic things, but through various exposures, whether it’s environmental, whether it’s i went travelling somewhere and picked up some bug, your body might need a little bit of help to eliminate that,” said dr. hrkal.
that’s when those additional steps can be taken to help address the why behind a sluggish and unhealthy gut.
diy vs. medical support for gut health
feeling uncomfortable symptoms, such as gas, cramps or bloating, can drive people to seek out home remedies and health information that doesn’t require too much medical intervention. however, gut health issues can also be the beginning or warning signs of something far more sinister happening within.
the way to spot the difference is through symptoms: how deeply do these symptoms affect your daily quality of life, and how severe are they?
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for example, if you get really gassy after meals, you probably aren’t going to hear any bells going off that prompt you to visit your doctor. however, if the gas is accompanied by pain, blood in the stool, or any other alarming red-flag symptoms, that’s a stronger motivator to seek medical help.
while people are still free to seek out professional medical advice for something less serious, such as a gas, “the big thing is psychology of motivation.”
“[it’s] what drives people to make change and ultimately, the stronger that stimulus is, the more motivated a person will be to change,” said dr. hrkal.
parasite cleanses: fact or fiction?
everybody wants low-effort solutions to problems. it makes it much easier to get rid of discomfort and restore gut health. but when the quick fixes aren’t evidence-based, or when a person doesn’t know exactly what’s going on in their body, they won’t provide much benefit and could drag the issue out longer than it needs to.
for example, parasite cleanses have been trending heavily on social media and online recently, with much of the information misleading, claiming that “everything is a parasite until proven otherwise.”
“it’s one [myth] i actually debunk quite often because i actually do objective testing,” said dr. hrkal. “more critical medical professionals and doctors, when they look at claims like this that parasites are in absolutely everything, they just genuinely don’t see that in their practice.”
dr. hrkal notes that because the medical system is more reactive than proactive, it can lead to people being dismissed when certain symptoms could be caused by parasites, ultimately leaving them to find their own answers. but the only way to truly diagnose oneself with a parasitic infection causing gut health issues is by getting the right testing. there’s no denying they could be an issue, but they’re not the be-all end-all of gut health problems.
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“they’ll attribute everything to these little bugs that are present in certain foods, and when they kind of overwhelm your body’s own digestive tract and get introduced to it, then they can cause problems, but i just think they’re really overestimating how prevalent they are,” he said.
because of the latest trends in parasitic cleanses making waves on health social media sites, people are led to believe that they are more common than they are, and buy into the hype more easily because they just want help with their gut health. typically, certain groups are most likely to experience gut health issues caused by parasites, such as those who eat a lot of raw foods like sushi, wild game hunters who eat their catch and those who have travelled to countries where parasitic infections are more common.
these claims are also often over-sensationalized, with images of long strings in toilet bowls that leave people feeling “horrified” that it’s inside them, causing their symptoms.
“i don’t think it should be dismissed out of hand, but i think we have to be very careful of everyone’s needs to be on a parasite cleanse and ultimately, that the other shoe is that the first shoe is you got a problem, it’s scary and it’s wiggling inside of you and growing there, and the second thing is, what do we do about it?” said dr. hrkal.
that’s when promoters of these cleanse products really benefit because people will be convinced that they have the issue and then go out and buy an “expensive supplements regime” to deal with that.
but a quick fix, no matter how tempting, isn’t the answer unless you know what’s really going on beneath the surface, and “a good doctor goes in and evaluates each one of these possibilities.”
“you want to talk to a gut-literate health-care provider,” said dr. hrkal, meaning someone who has some training and interest in the topic.
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gut health with hydration, whole foods and sleep
aside from seeing a doctor for a professional opinion on what’s going on, there are instances when people can try an at-home approach and succeed. it involves staying away from trends and following the evidence.
the first is focusing on nutrition. adequate hydration is a must, with roughly three to four litres a day as the standard recommendation for optimal toxin elimination and to help the liver and kidneys do their jobs.
the food you eat is also important, but it’s important to first filter out what could be making matters worse, such as highly processed foods.
“the first step in putting together a good gut and detox kind of approach is to stop the tap of stuff coming in,” said dr. hrkal. “what are the things that are going to support your body’s own elimination pathways?”
the second is introducing “the good stuff.” focusing on getting enough fibre, eating whole foods that are processed as minimally as possible, and avoiding inflammatory foods are all great ways to keep gut health in check. getting enough macronutrients, such as protein, as well as vitamins and minerals, is also vital.
sleep is another area where you can really encourage optimal gut health.
“a lot of detoxification … happens overnight because when you eat, your body’s in assimilation mode. i’m absorbing it. i’m using it. i’m growing and building cells. but overnight we are fasting, and that actually triggers your self-cleaning mode,” said dr. hrkal. “[fasting] eliminates a lot of cellular junk.”
while lifestyle is a good place to start, if you still need a little help, there are other options as well.
“there could absolutely be additional things added in like prebiotics, which are fibres, and probiotics, which are actually live bacteria that have research supporting your body’s microbiome, and the microbiome is so foundational to a lot of your body’s regulatory processes, your immune system, inflammation levels,” said dr. hrkal.
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it’s also important to be able to discern when diy is the best route to take versus when to see a health professional.
“if you’re in that first category that i mentioned, where you have some general gut dysfunction, gas and bloating and your stools are a little irregular, these are the times where you can play with your diet and make some modifications and try things like probiotics and prebiotics. because the reality is not everybody has a family doctor, not everybody has access to a naturopathic doctor,” said dr. hrkal.
“but if you do, ideally you’d get that recommendation, especially if you have any of those more serious conditions … so those symptoms are now starting to really affect your quality of life. they’re really disrupting you with things like pain and major kinds of stool changes.”
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