
It has to eliminate all the additives and keep your blood sugar levels stable⁹. Too much alcohol can strain your liver and decrease its ability to detoxify.Ī diet high in sugar and processed foods requires your liver to work hard constantly. Your liver will prioritize metabolizing alcohol and eliminating the toxins above less toxic waste products⁸. Some of the by-products of metabolizing alcohol are toxic.

There was also no follow-up data looking at weight regain after stopping the diet³. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether this was due to severe calorie restriction or the diet. The lemon detox diet reduced body fat and insulin sensitivity in overweight participants.

The lemon detox program is a very low-calorie detox diet that consists of a mixture of organic maple and palm syrups, lemon juice, and sometimes cayenne pepper for seven days. Although some detox diet studies showed enhanced liver detoxification and elimination of environmental pollutants, they were “hampered by flawed methodologies and small sample sizes¹.” The authors of the study concluded that they were unable to find any good-quality trials and suggested that this area deserves more attention so people can become aware of the benefits and risks of detox diets.Ī small study in 2017 looked at body composition and antioxidant levels in the blood (researchers used this as a substitute marker for detoxification properties.) It did not find detox diets to be helpful for weight loss or improving health².Ī 2015 study examining the effects of the popular lemon juice diet showed some positive results.

Unfortunately, there are very few good-quality studies assessing how effective detox diets are.
