Соковая диета: очищение или миф?

Fad diet in which only fruit and vegetable juices are consumed

Juice fasting, also known as juice cleansing, is a fad diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices while abstaining from solid food consumption. It is used for detoxification, an alternative medicine treatment, and is often part of detox diets. The diet can typically last from one to seven days and involve a number of fruits and vegetables and even spices that are not among the juices typically sold or consumed in the average Western diet. The diet is sometimes promoted with implausible and unsubstantiated claims about its health benefits.

Juice fasting became a growing trend in the United States because of Norman W. Walker and Jay Kordich who worked to transform the juice drink into a diet. Walker is considered to be one of the founders of the juice cleanse trend because of his technological contributions to the juicing process and his promotions of a raw food diet. In 1936, Walker created the designs for the first mechanical juicer that he named the NorWalk. During the 1990s, Kordich worked as a TV spokesman who promoted the health benefits of a juice diet. Kordich also appeared in infomercials promoting his Juiceman Juicer that, according to Kordich, made over US$300 million in sales.

Health claims in regard to juice fasting are not supported by scientific evidence. 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." Detox diets, depending on the type and duration, are potentially dangerous and can cause various health problems including muscle loss and an unhealthy regaining of fat after the detox ends. A review in The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets, has noted potential risks of juice fasting: