‘Toxin’ detox: A gastroenterologist weighs in on $71 billion health trend

In 2025, the detoxification industry worldwide was valued at over $71 billion, and some estimates have that number approaching $120 billion by 2034.

Detox trends can range from eliminating highly processed foods and implementing liquid-only diets to focusing on eliminating exposure to microplastics and heavy metals. But are these voluntary detoxes actually necessary? Are they even healthy?

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“Different objects that we come in contact with are going to have small amounts of what some people are going to label toxins,” [said gastroenterologist Dr. David Purow]. “Very high concentrations of those might have the potential to have deleterious effects on the human body. However, the amounts that are really present in most people … are really very small and never going to meet the threshold to really cause damage to our bodies because of the natural ways of defense that we have to detoxify things ….”

[S]ome of the detoxifying regimens are helpful, but not for the reasons that they’re proclaiming. They more augment our own natural ways to detoxify things than really ever actually detoxifying substances themselves as they proclaim to do.”

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