Greetings, Yesmam!
A Google search using the keyphrase "dr teplisky" turns up hundreds of
hits, revealing that the doc is pitching more than just
colon-scrubbers. Other Teplisky products include "Super Prostate
Formula," "Super Thyroid Formula," "Super Memory Formula," and "Super
Libido Formula." Wow. A person can probably become a superhero in no
time whatsoever with all these goodies, eh? It's a bird... it's a
plane... it's SUPER PROSTATE.
Let's leave aside the other Super stuff and concentrate on the
colon-cleansing aspect for now. Here are the claims made for the
"Super Detox Program":
"The four-step Super Detox Program? works to help get rid of the
toxins and waste that linger and rot in the body. Its unique
components are as follows:
Step 1 - Intestinal Cleanser? - Assists the body in the elimination
of toxins and remnants of undigested food and fecal matter from the
small and large intestines.
Step 2 - Cellular Cleanser? - Supports the liver and kidneys in
removing toxins from the body.
Step 3 - Yeast & Parasite Eliminator? - Helps eliminate pathogenic
microorganisms such as yeast and parasites that tax the body?s
vitality.
Step 4 - Healthy Flora? - Helps restore beneficial bacteria to the
intestinal tract."
Physicians Choice News
http://www.physicianschoicenews.com/p_detox.html
Let's take a good look at the ingredients of the "Intestinal Cleanser":
"Fennel (Seed), Buckhorn (Bark), Cascara Sagrada (Bark), Chamomile,
Red Raspberry (Leaf), Ginger (Root), Apple Pectin, Beet Fiber, Barley
Grass (Leaf), Psyllium Seed Husk, Oat Bran, Karaya Gum, Cayenne.
Additional Ingredients: Stearic Acid and Magnesium Stearate."
Physicians Choice News
http://www.physicianschoicenews.com/p_detox.html
It's a bunch of purgative stimulant laxatives (fennel, buckhorn,
cascara sagrada) with fiber bulkers (apple pectin, psyllium seed, oat
bran.) Nothing magical about it. Will it cause your bowels to empty
rapidly? Yep. Will it improve your health? Not likely.
Most mainstream physicians believe that the notion that it is
necessary to "cleanse" one's body by the frequent use of laxatives is
a persistent fiction. Overuse of laxatives can result in laxative
dependency, and can cause medical problems.
"A 'cleansing' typically involves the use of some sort of laxative.
The idea is that toxins get stored in the colon and can have severe
effects on the human body, leading to disease, aging and other
illness. 'The reality is that the colon is 'self-cleaning' and these
products can cause serious side effects, such as damaging the very
organs the 'cleansing' is trying to protect,' says Peter Pressman,
M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of
Southern California. 'The human body is a marvelous internally paced
machine -- our bodies are designed to get rid of wastes, bacteria, and
other non-digestible food components through our stool.'... Fasting
and 'cleansing' programs can create a host of medical problems,
including damage to your gastrointestinal tract and nutrient
malabsorption, impaired liver function, anemia, kidney stones, and
hypoglycemia."
WBNG: The Diet Detective
http://www.wbng.com/data/web_4251.shtml
"Stimulant laxative dependency is at epidemic levels among persons of
all ages and socioeconomic status. It is a billion dollar per year
industry for manufacturers and sellers, who have targeted consumers
ill-informed, if at all, about the risks of laxative use, laxative
dependency and the life threatening use of laxatives as a weight loss
technique... Stimulant laxatives include ingredients currently under
investigation by the FDA include senna, bisacodyl and cascara
sagrada... Risks and dangers include, among others, dependency,
electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, potassium loss, and kidney damage.
Stimulant laxatives are further known to interfere with the absorption
and/or effectiveness of other medications and can make the users
severely dehydrated. Because these laxatives deplete essential
minerals like potassium and calcium they create heart, bone, and
kidney hazards."
Laxative Forum
http://www.laxativeforum.com/
"Essentially, whether taken short term or long term, laxatives create
and perpetuate the very problem they were intended to correct.
Laxatives induce constipation as the tissues become dried out, muscles
become weakened and the delicate nerves lining the colon become
damaged. This slows down intestinal motility and results in
constipation. With long term laxative abuse, the colon becomes damaged
and fails to function entirely. This is laxative dependency. A
laxative abuser has diarrhea in place of well formed stools. Long term
abusers tend to have weight loss, hair loss, vomiting, abdominal pain,
low energy, thirst, puffiness, mood swings, bone pain and suffer
symptoms of dehydration. With prolonged use of laxatives a number of
serious problems may arise such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances,
damage to other organs, and syndromes resembling colitis."
Fruit-Eze
http://www.fruit-eze.com/education/laxative/habit.html
"Are you really harboring poisons inside you and, if so, does your
body need help eliminating them? Both questions are open to debate...
Proponents of detoxification - mainly those people who are
particularly open to alternative types of health care - believe the
body does not always do a good job of ridding itself of wastes, and
that certain treatments and diets will help it along. By doing so, the
theory goes, these remedies may head off anything as benign as gas or
as extreme as immune suppression. But since there is no scientific
evidence linking specific diseases (like cancer) to an inefficient
self-cleansing system, detoxing devotees are reluctant to say exactly
what things like fasting and colonics can cure. What they will say is
that people who detox simply feel better...
Followers of mainstream Western medicine contend that the body is a
perfectly effective self-cleaning machine and that 'de-toxification'
is complete nonsense. They take issue, too, with the notion that our
natural wastes are in any way toxic. 'We have lived for thousands of
years without dying of toxic poisoning,' says James Cooper, M.D.,
professor of medicine at Georgetown University and chairman of the
department of medicine at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. 'There
is no evidence that our natural wastes adversely affect our
physiology.'
For his part, Samuel Epstein, M.D., professor of occupational and
environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public
Health in Chicago, believes the term detoxification is an
extraordinarily misleading one. 'Except under special circumstances -
for instance, a case of food poisoning - there are no natural toxins
found in the human body,' he says. Epstein also believes that since
detoxing treatments haven?t been proven to help prevent disease, it?s
a disservice to promote them as such. (At best, he says, anyone duped
into trying them may be wasting money; at worst, there may be
potential for harm.)"
Vegetarian Times: Coming Clean
http://www.naturaldoc.com/VegetarianTimes.htm
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "dr teplisky"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22dr+teplisky
Google Web Search: "laxative dependency"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22laxative+dependency
To sum things up, Dr. Teplisky is basically peddling herbal
equivalents of Ex-Lax and Metamucil. If you truly believe that
laxatives and/or bulk fiber products detoxify your body in a healthful
way, you can obtain the same results from a myriad of sources
(including the aforementioned Ex-Lax and Metamucil). I strongly
recommend that you consult a physician before using any "supplement"
product that acts like a drug. And do keep this in mind: the fact that
a substance is herbal does not necessarily mean that it is safe or
effective.
The subject of laxatives is, for me, a hot-button issue, since I once
had a friend who got into some serious medical trouble by the frequent
use of laxatives that she thought would be healthful and "cleansing."
I hope I've helped to provide some useful information here. I'll get
off my soap box now.
Best wishes,
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