Opinion | Detoxing as a modern day patent medicine

Nat Pendergraft, junior history and television, writing and production double major

I have been studying the era of patent medicines for some time now, and I can’t help but recognize that this practice of perpetuating dangerously false and expensive medical treatments is still alive and well, with snake oil salesmen never really going away. 

Patent medicines, medications of which the ingredients had been granted exclusivity by the government, were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was founded, which shut down a majority of manufacturers that were found lying on labels and advertising.  

The name patent medicine is a misnomer; it wasn’t patented at all. The patent process requires the disclosure of the ingredients inside, and no one back then wanted to tell the government what they were putting in their “medicine.”

Patent medicines were marketed for any illness and every symptom, and they frequently contained narcotics, especially opiates and alcohol. What these medicines really accomplished was getting the user intoxicated and, to be fair, at that point their symptoms bothered them a lot less.

It is easy from our vantage point in history, with advanced medical knowledge and technology, to say that people were idiots for believing in these types of things. But fake medicines, meaning ones with no scientific evidence that they work, are perpetuated to this day. Whether it be crystals, essential oils or supplements like the SugarBearHair versus Halo Beauty fiasco perpetuated by celebrity James Charles in 2019. Yes, the FDA made it so narcotics couldn’t be put in over-the-counter treatments with the 1938 Food, Drugs, Cosmetic Act; but the false marketing and the lying has never really stopped. 

A term that bothers me every time I hear it is “detox” or “detoxification.” I have no idea what this term really means as the definition seems to shift from source to source. All that remains consistent is brands that make most of their sales off Instagram. Companies such as The Detox Market or Bootea seem very concerned with the level of “toxins” in my body. 

Now, in trying to figure out the thought process here, I have asked: what exactly are the compounds that alternative medicine companies are calling toxins? Again, the answers are inconsistent, with responses including pollutants, synthetic chemicals, heavy metals and processed foods. These terms are still very vague, and often include things that are not inherently dangerous. A big red flag for me when I come across these pseudoscience detox diets is that the specific thing I need to purge from my body is never explicitly mentioned. 

The body is very good at getting toxins out itself. So, I have good news for you if you’re worried about the toxins in your body: if you have a liver and a kidney, your body has it handled! 

That’s what human waste is; it is the body’s way of expelling unneeded or damaging compounds. If you have a working liver and at least one working kidney, there is no reason for you to be eating activated charcoal to get those nasty toxins out.  

Some of these detoxes, diets or cleanses have been found to be actually harmful, often causing bacterial infections, dehydration and complications with the kidneys and colon, and there is no conclusive evidence to support the use of detoxes for improving health or losing weight. One of the most dangerous ways a detox can affect someone is if it is being offered as an alternative to actual medicine, meaning people could die from treatable illnesses. There are not many studies that have been done on detoxing, but the ones that have been don’t demonstrate compelling evidence that detoxing does any purification it claims to do. 

If you want to drink juice, fine. If you want to eat vegan, go for a jog every morning and do yoga as the sun sets, good for you. But do not buy into these pseudosciences that are preying on people for their money, and do not tell others that they have to live this way. There’s no compelling scientific evidence to support any of the claims that companies like Bootea or SkinnyMe Tea are making.

Stop giving these people your money, stop accepting advertisements at face value and stop contributing to modern patent medicines.