Proponents of liver cleansing regimens allege the procedures will improve your liver's function, resulting in weight loss, among other benefits. While certain aspects of these regimens will help you with weight loss, many claimed benefits are unproven or exaggerated. The best way to keep your liver healthy is also one of the best ways to lose weight: Improve your diet.
Identification
A liver cleanse usually involves drinking a combination of juices, vegetable oil and Epsom salts over the period of a few days. Some programs also require you to add herbs or other supplements to the regimen. Proponents claim the corresponding bowel movements flush out fat, toxins and parasites from the liver. Other liver cleansing regimens are more long-term, such as Sandra Cabot's "Liver Cleansing Diet." These include strict diets for several weeks of high-fiber foods and fresh fruits.
Claimed Benefits
Liver cleansing proponents claim numerous benefits including more energy, better metabolism levels, eradicating or preventing diseases such as cancer and weight loss. Cabot claims the procedure will help the liver better be able to burn fat and remove fat from the body, resulting in weight loss. Indeed, the liver is a critical organ in digestion, helping you break down foods, store energy and build muscle. No peer-reviewed medical studies, however, have ever indicated liver cleansing regimens help improve any of these functions.
Expert Insight
The American Cancer Society reports that no reliable evidence supports any of the claims made for liver flushes, which includes weight loss. Proponents say green, brown, yellow and black blobs that appear in stool after a cleanse are stones and other foul substances removed from your gallbladder and liver. These blobs actually form as a result of the oil moving through your digestive system. Stones in your liver, in fact, are a very rare condition.
Considerations
While liver cleansing generally is safe, like any fad diet, drinking mixtures that supposedly flush out your liver over a few days will not have any lasting effects on your weight. Long-term diets such as Cabot's with high-fiber foods, on the other hand, can help you with weight loss, though it's not tied directly to your liver. High-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains provide bulk to your meals without adding extra calories, and they take longer to digest, so you'll feel full longer. A healthy diet, along with exercise, also will keep your liver healthy.
Misconceptions
Some liver cleansing proponents claim the treatment can help with weight loss by treating fatty liver disease, a condition in which fats build up in the liver. Fatty liver disease is a real and fairly common form of liver disease that can progress to more serious conditions such as cirrhosis. It does not cause you to be overweight, however. Rather, a fatty liver often is the result, not the cause, of obesity. Further, no evidence indicates liver cleansing will help with this condition, though weight loss and increased exercise can reduce fat levels in your liver.
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