Enemas de café: o que di a ciencia

Escoitaches falar dos supostos beneficios dos enemas diarios de café? Unha colección de artigos recentes do sitio web pode facerche sentir intrigado pola gama de afirmacións de saúde afirmadas. Non obstante, recomendo ler esta publicación antes de facer unha.

As the Paleo community grows, many ideas from other alternative health communities are finding a foothold in Paleo. I believe some of these concepts are extremely positive (woot, meditation!) and others to be downright dangerous (yes, coffee enemas are a good example), and of course, there�s the entire world of gray in between.

Whenever I get asked if �X� is a good idea, I go to the scientific literature (read more about my scientific background here). I look at epidemiological studies, mechanistic studies, and clinical trials to form the most complete picture possible about a given topic. And then, I try to communicate what science can tell us, with the nuances and the details, the pros versus the cons versus the unknowns, and without oversimplification�so that you can make an informed choice to best fit your individual needs.

In the case of coffee enemas, the scientific research is in stark contrast to how coffee enemas are typically advertised in the alternative health community as �Unmatched Detoxification for Health and Recovery�. Not only are coffee enemas scientifically-proven to be ineffective, but they are potentially dangerous and have been known to cause death.

O uso de enemas de café para a desintoxicación remóntase á década de 1930, cando o doutor Max Gerson utilizounos como parte do seu protocolo alternativo de tratamento do cancro. Unha vez utilizados exclusivamente no Instituto Gerson, os enemas de café agora son populares en moitos círculos de saúde alternativos.

Segundo o Método Gerson, os enemas de café funcionan a través dos seguintes mecanismos. En primeiro lugar, o palmitato de cafestol do café promove a actividade do encima antioxidante glutatión S-transferase, que desintoxica os produtos do metabolismo das células tumorais. En segundo lugar, crese que a cafeína do café provoca a dilatación dos conductos biliares, o que facilitaría a eliminación dos produtos tóxicos do fígado. Tamén se cre que a cafeína estimula o paso de produtos tóxicos do sangue ao colon. Finalmente, o fluído do enema estimula a peristalse e a drenaxe de todas estas toxinas do intestino.

Parece plausible. Non obstante, ningún dos beneficios para a saúde afirmados dos enemas de café foi apoiado pola investigación científica.

De feito, hai moitas substancias beneficiosas no café. O café diminúe o risco de padecer varios cancros, incluíndo cancro de endometrio, colon, pel, próstata e fígado. Un estudo flamante mostra que os bebedores de café teñen marcadores sanguíneos de inflamación substancialmente máis baixos que os que non beben café e que isto pode mediar nos efectos contra o cancro do café (nota: esta nova investigación contradí estudos anteriores que analizaron o café e a inflamación).

Coffee does contain a high amount of antioxidants. Both kahweol and cafestol are potent enhancers of glutathione S-transferase, a major antioxidant enzyme (and one that is known to both prevent and be therapeutic in cancer). Average coffee consumption in humans increases the amount of glutathione S-transferase in the blood by 16% (another tick in the pro category for coffee). There�s some other neat antioxidants in coffee too. Melanoidins, which are formed during the roasting process, are not only great antioxidants but even inhibit oxidation of lipids (fats). We all know, I�m a big fan of phenolic compounds; coffee contains chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid which are antioxidant phenols. Even caffeine and its metabolites (theobromine and other xanthines) are antioxidants and may protect DNA from damage.

Coffee might not be ubiquitously beneficial (see this post for more on the pros and cons of coffee consumption), but the growing body of scientific literature explaining why coffee might prevent cancer shows that including coffee in an alternative protocol for treating cancer isn�t a far-fetched idea.

Non obstante, a pregunta faise: obtén máis beneficios beber café ou usalo para realizar un enema? Afortunadamente, algúns estudos científicos ben deseñados abordaron exactamente esta cuestión.

Un estudo recente comparou os efectos antioxidantes dunha cunca de café fronte a un enema de café. Os investigadores utilizaron tres medidas diferentes da actividade antioxidante de mostras de sangue: niveis de glutatión S-transferase (GST), malondialdehído (MDA) e capacidade antioxidante equivalente ao trolox (TEAC). Para as tres medicións, non houbo diferenza entre beber unha cunca de café fronte á administración mediante enema, mesmo cando se repite durante moitos días.

As for the role that caffeine has in the purported benefits of the coffee enema, drinking coffee is a far more effective method for increasing the amount of caffeine in your blood (and hence causing vasodilation to potentially send toxins from the blood into the colon, or causing increased bile acid secretion to potentially facilitate liver detoxification) compared to administering it at the other end. In fact, one study measured serum caffeine levels in healthy volunteers after drinking a cup of coffee or following Gerson�s coffee enema procedure and found substantially higher amounts of caffeine entered the bloodstream after drinking a cup of coffee.

Taken together, these two studies strongly indicate that you�ll get more out of drinking a morning cup of joe, compared to the rather involved process of a coffee enema.

It�s probably not a surprise that performing a coffee enema incorrectly can cause rectal burns, which has caused strictures, rectal perforation, infection, sepsis, and death. But, coffee enemas appear to cause serious, life-threatening complications even when performed �correctly�. Case studies have reported incidences of proctocolitis and polymicrobial enteric septicemia, not associated with burns from too-hot enemas.

While the exact mechanisms of these adverse reactions remains unknown, scientists speculate they are �chemical-induced�, i.e., caused by overall acidity of coffee as well as the complex slurry of chemicals that coffee is made up of, including the above-mentioned chlorogenic acid, caffeine (a known gut irritant), cafestol, and kahweol. The upper digestive tract is more equipped to handle things like acidic foods/beverages that the lower digestive tract.

This isn�t a case of mixed results in the scientific literature, or an incomplete understanding of a concept (in which case, I�d be talking about pros and cons and unknowns and give some guidance for self-experimentation). There have been only a couple dozen studies published looking at the use of coffee enemas. These studies fall under two categories: reports of severe complications and injury caused by coffee enemas; and reports showing they don�t work as described. The only remotely positive scientific study that I can find on the use of coffee enemas is one investigating their use as a prep for small bowel video capsule endoscopy (in which case, the authors showed that coffee enema plus polyethylene glycol was marginally better than polyethylene glycol on its own).

The National Institutes of Health funded a variety of clinical trials into complementary and alternative medicine treatments for cancer back in 2000 (some really interesting research has come from this initiative, including many studies showing great therapeutic potential to alternative medicine therapies). Coffee enemas were included in a study comparing the Gonzalez protocol (similar to Gerson) to standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer (one of the worst cancers you can get). The participants in the study had confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas that was inoperable because of advanced primary tumor or metastases (i.e., stages II to IV) and had had no prior treatment (except surgery with noncurative intent). Patients had to have been given at least 2 months to live and had to begin therapy within 8 weeks of diagnosis. Initially, the study was randomized, however when they couldn�t get enough participants, they switched to a nonrandomized (but still controlled) study design. The study was terminated after results from the first 55 study participants showed that the Gonzalez protocol had three times WORSE survival at 1 year than chemotherapy. This study was clearly a lot more complicated than just coffee enemas, but it�s fairly damning of the entire rationale for their use in the first place.

I�m of course a supporter of individuality and self-experimentation, but my recommendations for ideas to experiment with are always based on at least some positive results in the scientific literature. There are none to support coffee enemas.

Dirixido a través de Scoop.it de: www.thepaleomom.com

Coas crecentes alteracións na dieta das persoas, así como os cambios ambientais e o aumento do estrés diario, o corpo humano comezou a acumular cada vez máis unha perigosa cantidade de toxinas que poden alterar a saúde e o benestar en xeral. Desde aproximadamente a década de 1930, os enemas de café foron utilizados como método para desintoxicar o corpo, con todo, varios estudos demostran os diversos beneficios e riscos do procedemento.

Dor de cabeza despois da lesión automática

Despois de estar involucrado nun accidente de automóbil, a forza pura do impacto pode causar danos ou feridas ao corpo, principalmente ás estruturas que rodean a columna vertebral. Whiplash é un resultado común dunha colisión automática que afecta aos ósos, músculos, tendóns, ligamentos e outros tecidos ao redor dela, causando síntomas como a dor na cabeza. Os dores de cabeza son un síntoma común despois dun accidente automovilístico, o que pode requirir atención médica inmediata para determinar a súa fonte e seguir co tratamento.

Para obter máis información, póñase en contacto co Dr. Jimenez ou póñase en contacto connosco 915-850-0900 .