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Monday, October 1, 2007

CAUTION: Anthaquinone in your colon cleanse

Are you familiar with anthraquinone? Unless you work in the chemical field, the odds are good that you have not become formally acquainted with this substance, yet if you have a colon cleanser in your medicine cabinet that touts its natural ingredients on the label, the odds are good that you have it in your possession! Anthraquinone is famous for its laxative properties, and since it naturally occurs in a variety of plants it is not surprising that it has found its way into colon cleansers that are made up of natural ingredients.

Take a look at the label of your colon cleansing product and see if contains aloe derivatives, senna, and cascara sagrada which is also known as buckthorn bark. Virtually all of the natural colon cleansers currently on the market contain one or more of these substances and thus the levels of anthraquinone are quite frequently much higher than you would anticipate. In the chemical field, the substance is used as an additive to seed shells which is supposed to repel eager birds in search of a quick and easy meal. Similarly, paper production companies rely on this derivative of the various plants for both its coloring properties as well as its accelerant abilities that will move the chemical processes along.

While the laxative properties of this substance cannot be denied, it is the fact that the reason why bowel movements and the evacuation of excess fecal matter is accomplished so quickly may be found in the fact that anthraquinone is actually an irritant that causes the gut flora to react to a perceived disturbance, thus leading to sometimes severe cramping, discolored urine, a sudden onset of uncontrollable diarrhea and also a loss of the beneficial bacteria that reside inside the gastrointestinal tract and which protect the colon from the attacks of dangerous bacteria. In addition to the foregoing, the gut flora ensures the proper absorption of nutrients, yet when irritated and decimated, there is a danger of decreased digestion of such nutrients.

Furthermore – and this probably will not apply to you, but nonetheless it is important to know – the abuse of colon cleansers as quick diet supplements has created an underbelly in the alternative health care industry, and as such it has become well known that an abuse of colon cleansers containing anthraquinone has been linked with a serious electrolyte deficiency that expresses itself in uncontrollable muscle spasms and twitches. Granted, this is only associated with abuse of the substances and is in no way considered to be a valid side effect of the proper use of a natural colon cleanser; yet it is imperative to realize that such an ingredient may be traced back to a number of sources, and if your natural colon cleanse is manufactured with one or both eyeballs on the bottom line, the odds are good that you will have more substances contained therein that ensure a laxative effect, thus a higher dose or anthraquinone. It is logical that it takes a lot less of this colon cleanser to constitute abuse of the substance, even if it is only an accidental overdose due to a misreading of the instructions.