Detox-in-a-Box: honestly?
Had to post this.
Radio 4’s Today programme just hosted a discussion between Dr Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science and Nas Amir Ahmadi, managing director of Detox in a Box. Dr Goldacre’s point was that Detox programmes are shallow marketing and have no measurable effect on health. He went further to say that they may actually dis-empower people by encouraging a lot of effort and spending a lot of money which has no effect. Anyway, he cited a line on Detox in a Box’s website which claims their product is effective at helping the body reduce levels of “heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadminum [sic.], nickel, arsenic, and aluminum” and asked Nas Amir Ahmadi to cite evidence that her product reduced cadmium. Ahmadi replied by saying that Goldacre must have been looking at the wrong website because those things were not mentioned on hers.
Enter Google to the fray, and the search phrase ‘“detox in a box” heavy metals’, which highlight a page from Detox in a Box’s website containing exactly what Dr Goldacre said it did:
“One of the most complex detoxification functions is against heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadminum, nickel, arsenic, and aluminum.”
I imagine the company may revise this page in a hurry after the interview, so I took a composite screenshot of the entire page for posterity. Aren’t I the helpful sort?
Mark
Fair play to them, Detox in a Box ‘fessed up on their site, admitted Dr Goldacre was correct, and removed the references to specific substances that they have no evidence they can do anything about. On the other hand, I think the original criticism Dr Goldacre made still stands—that the product still implies it can make significant changes in the levels of toxins in your body, without having any evidence to back this up.
For the full story, head on over to Dr Goldacre’s Bad Science blog.
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