Juice fasting

Freshly-juiced kale, wheat grass, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, apple, and lemon juice.

Juice fasting, also known as juice cleansing, is a fad diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices while otherwise abstaining from food consumption.

The diet is promoted with implausible and unevidenced claims for its health benefits.^[1]

Methods

To avoid excess sugar and maintain a high nutrient value juices should contain a healthy proportion of 80% vegetables to 20% fruits. The maximum shelf life of a juice is 72 hours and consuming it within that period is highly encouraged.^[2]

Possible side effects

Fasters should take care to maintain their intake of vitamins and nutrients during fasting, though no specific side effects are associated exclusively with juice fasting. Juice mixes containing grapefruit juice may also adversely interact with certain prescription drugs.^[3]

Criticisms

Because of the low sodium content of most fruits and vegetables, salt deficiency may occur. Salt deficiency causes headaches and weakness, then light-headedness, then nausea.^[4]

As a detox diet

Catherine Collins, Chief Dietician of St George's Hospital Medical School in London, England, states that "The concept of ‘detox’ is a marketing myth rather than a physiological entity. The idea that an avalanche of vitamins, minerals, and laxatives taken over a 2 to 7 day period can have a long-lasting benefit for the body is also a marketing myth."^[5] Detox diets, depending on the type and duration, are viewed as potentially dangerous and can cause various health problems including muscle loss and an unhealthy re-gaining of fat after the detox ends.^[6]

See also

• Alternative cancer treatments
• Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
• Fruitarianism
• Juicing

References