Re: Coffee enema myths

Addressing this article by Larry Wilson:

http://drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/COFFEE%20ENEMA.HTM

"Ancient history.  The coffee bean and plant has been part of herbal medicine, folk medicine and shamanic healing for thousands of years.  It is particularly well understood by the native tribes of South America, where coffee began to be cultivated many thousands of years ago.  It was known as a potent liver remedy, and given particularly to the elderly and to those who were infirm or ill in the liver. "

In ancient times they did not even understand the role of the liver.  Most cultures believed that illness was the result of evil spirits or the gods being angry.

"So when a coffee enema is taken, the coffee goes directly to the liver through the colon wall.  Coffee has a special affinity for the liver, and moving it there from the colon is very different than sending it to the liver by drinking it."

Caffeine does not have a special affinity for the liver.  It has been found that caffeine distributes pretty evenly throughout the body including the brain, and even enters in to breast milk and semen.

Also note on my last post that it has been shown that the liver has very little effect on the first-pass metabolism of caffeine.

"When coffee is ingested by mouth, it is digested by the stomach acids, mainly, and most of its herbal medicine properties are destroyed. "

How is the coffee being "digested"?  That is a ridiculous claim.  Does he think the body produces a coffeease enzyme?  The coffee is not "digested".  Caffeine simply reacts with the stomach acid to form the salt caffeine HCl.  The antioxidant polyphenols are not affected by digestion at all, but can be neutralized by the presence of alkalinizers such as milk.  The fatty acids are not digested in the stomach either and instead are absorbed in the intestines.

"Coffee taken by mouth is still helpful as a smooth muscle relaxant and dilator, causing it to be somewhat laxative and relaxing to the nervous system."

Smooth muscle relaxants are used to inhibit peristalsis, the opposite of a laxative.  Yes, coffee has a laxative effect, but not from smooth muscle inhibition.  The relaxing to the nervous system claim is very misleading.  It may be somewhat relaxing to smooth muscle, but it leads to increased contraction of skeletal muscle. 

Caffeine is also stimulatory to the central nervous system increasing excitatory  glutamate and aspartate.  Caffeine also increases epinephrine, dopamine and cortisol, which are also stimulatory.  In addition, caffeine blocks adenosine receptors and reduces GABA preventing relaxation of the central nervous system.  It takes around 6 hours to clear caffeine from the system, putting additional stress on the adrenals and central nervous system during the time it remains in the system.

"However, its other properties that are used in the coffee retention enema, which are discussed below, are destroyed by the stomach acids and enzymes. "

This myth was already addressed above.

"1. An astringent herb.  This is an herbal property that means it peels the top layer of skin or mucous membrane." 

That is not even close to what astringent means.  An astringent is a substance that contracts tissues such as the tannins in coffee.  This is one of the reasons that alternative medicines are not being taken seriously be the medical system.  Too often people make up bogus claims and try to pass it off as fact, and change definitions to fit their needs.

"This is helpful for some healing, as the top layer of skin or mucous membrane is often ready to come off anyway, and is loaded with toxins."

So why even try to detox the liver when we can simply chemically peel the colon wall to detox?  Maybe because of the fact that the lining being loaded with toxins is a load of crap? (pun intended)

"Caffeine is a central nervous stimulant, but a mild one, relatively speaking, and not as toxic as most of them."

Mild one?  By what standard?  Maybe compared to cocaine or methamphetamine, but this still does not make it "mild".

"Too much caffeine, however, is not helpful and just acts as a stimulant. "

Once again this is wrong.  Studies have shown that excess caffeine actually has an opposite effect causing a loss of energy.  This can be easily explained by the fact that caffeine is hard on the adrenals and its use can lead to adrenal insufficiency.

"Those who do this are not healthy, and the caffeine and other toxins in the coffee build up in the liver and elsewhere, damaging health."

So he admits that caffeine is a toxin.  So why would he want to infuse a known toxin, or better yet known toxins, in to the body with coffee enemas.  Does any one else see the problem with using toxins to remove toxins?

"The nervous system eventually is ruined by this habit."

If caffeine is calming to the nervous system as he claims then how would this ruin the nervous system?  Just another of his contradictions.

"Roasting the coffee bean reduces its caffeine content, and this is why we prefer the darker roasted coffees, the best seem to be from Columbia, South America, and always organically grown. "

Wrong again:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2011.02854.x/abstract

"Effect of roasting on chlorogenic acids, caffeine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons levels in two Coffea cultivars: Coffea arabica cv. Catuaí Amarelo IAC-62 and Coffea canephora cv. Apoatã IAC-2258

 

Note that they also talk about the presence of PAHs, which are well known carcinogens.  So again, why would anyone introduce a carcinogen in to their system in order to supposedly detox?

"Fortunately, caffeine is not that toxic, and it is easily removed from the body after the coffee retention enema is completed."

Considering all of the adverse effects caffeine has on the body I don't know why he would think caffeine is not all the toxic.  And if it takes 6 hours to clear caffeine from the body then how is that "easily removed"?

"Coffee also contains powerful anti-oxidant chemicals.  These are particularly helpful for the liver, which is highly subject to oxidant damage.  Unlike common antioxidants such as vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, selenium, zinc, vitamins A and E, the antioxidants in coffee are far more yang in Chinese medical terminology.  This is a great advantage today because the bodies are already too yin and adding more antioxidants makes the problem much worse.  Some day, the holistic, naturopathic and others who use antioxidants will realize this and stop recommending so many of them."

These antioxidants are tannins.  The safety of high levels of tannins is quite controversial.  Some sources claim high levels of tannins can cause liver damage.

In addition, Wilson is apparently not aware that some antioxidants are water soluble and some are lipid soluble.  Very few antioxidants are both.  Tannins are water soluble, which means they can help within cells.  But the primary risk to cellular damage is from oxidative damage to the lipids in the cell membrane, which tannins do not protect.

"Nutritional balancing and coffee retention enemas also reduce the need for antioxidants because they can remove the oxidant sources.  This is far better than giving antioxidants.  The oxidant sources are oxidized minerals including iron, copper, manganese and aluminum, among others."

Although free radicals can be harmful in excess, we also need them for a variety of purposes including protecting us from disease:

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1734833#i

In addition, copper and manganese are components of the body's major antioxidants copper and manganese superoxide dismutases.

Aluminum has a high affinity for oxygen, which stabilizes it as aluminum oxide.  I have never seen any evidence for aluminum being an oxidant as Wilson claims.

"Coffee has many other subtle herbal remedies in it, including solvents, alkaloids, bitters, and others."

It would be nice if he would more define what he is talking about, such as what solvents.  But as far as alkaloids go, most alkaloids are poisons.  And bitters do not work through the colon.  Bitters work by stimulating the bitter receptors of the tongue, which in turn stimulates the vagus nerve.  So again, Wilson's claims are misleading.

"This is a more technical subject and not that important, in that herbal doctors know that coffee works well for the liver, along with herbs such as dandelion and milk thistle.  Other herbs such as burdock root also work, but are more toxic, for which reason we use them less often."

Burdock more toxic?!!!  This is another ridiculous claim.  Burdock does not contain toxic caffeine that over stimulates the central nervous system and crashes the adrenals.  Burdock does not contain carcinogenic PAHs either.  The only potential toxin in burdock root is its tannin content.  The tannin content in burdock root though is lower than in coffee.  On the other hand burdock root contains beneficial polysaccharides, inulin, sterols, mucilages, antibiotic polyacetylenes, beneficial acids, etc.  Burdock root is actually considered one of the best blood purifiers only being behind chaparral in effectiveness.

"In the late 1970s and early 1980s, researchers in the lab of Lee Wattenberg identified salts of palmitic acids (kahweol and cafestol palmitate) in coffee as potent enhancers of glutathione S-transferase, a major detoxification system that catalyzes the binding of a vast variety of electrophiles from the blood stream to the sulfhydryl group of glutathione."

Palmitic acid is found in a variety of plant and animal sources such as palm or coconut oil that do not contain dangerous compounds such as caffeine and PAHs.

"Theophylline and theobromine, major constituents of coffee, dilate blood vessels and counter inflammation of the gut."

Theophylline raises blood pressure, which is caused by constriction, not dilation of blood vessels:

http://het.sagepub.com/content/10/6/411.abstract

"Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) rose by 16.5 mmHg (P < 0.001) following treatment with theophylline only"

http://www.springerlink.com/content/h22h08l1468r6172/

"While theophylline exerted a pressor response, enprofylline seemed to have arterial dilating ability. During exercise both xanthines as compared to placebo were associated with a higher heart rate and in general with increased systolic blood pressure. In combination with terbutaline enprofylline and theophylline both increased systolic blood pressure more than placebo, i. e. they augmented the positive inotropic effect of terbutaline. The systolic blood pressure was higher after theophylline than enprofylline despite their equipotent bronchodilator activity."

 

Most people are familiar with kidney dialysis.  It is used to remove toxins from the kidneys and from the entire body, assisting the kidneys to last longer when they do not work well."

The kidneys do not store toxins and thus dialysis does not remove toxins from the kidneys as is being claimed. 

One role of the kidneys is to act like a filter for waste toxins in the blood.  When the kidneys fail they can no longer do their job of filtering the blood and dialysis is used to filter the blood as a substitute for the kidneys.

"Liver dialysis, however, is less well known and understood.  Liver dialysis is needed today because most people’s livers are so congested, toxic and damaged they do not work well.  This is not obvious to most people, who accept their low energy, bad breath, foul gas, acne and other skin problems, bloated stomachs, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, parasites, and many cancers and other illnesses as “normal aging”.  It is not normal aging!"

These are not part of normal aging, but then again they are not necessarily associated with liver problems either.  Low energy for example can be from a number of things.  Bloating is normally from a lack of intestinal flora and/or stomach acid.  Constipation and diarrhea also have a number of causes not related to the liver.  Parasites are not a problem of "liver toxicity".  And cancers are not from liver toxicity either.  Most are from viruses, but can have other causes such as bacteria, fungi and radiation exposure.

"Coffee as a beverage. It should be obvious in light of the above that taking coffee orally cannot have the same effect.  To the contrary, drinking coffee virtually insures that one will reabsorb toxic bile because the dialysis or flushing effect does not occur."

Bile is normally reabsorbed almost 100% in a properly functioning system.

"A unique medicinal plant.  As a medication, the coffee enema is in a class by itself.  While other agents classed as choleretics increase bile flow from the liver, they do little to enhance detoxifying enzyme systems"

More misinformation.  Bitters are very efficient in both increasing bile and detoxing the system.  Same with milk thistle seed also works great if taken loose as will a large number of other herbs.  And all without the toxic effects of caffeine and PAHs found in coffee.

"and they do not ensure the passage of bile from the intestines out the rectum."

The fact that this guy uses the title "Dr." in his title and does not know basic facts such as nearly all bile is reabsorbed, not passed through the rectum, in a properly working system is really scary.

"The enzyme enhancing ability of the coffee enema is unique among choleretics."

Not even close to being true.  The bile increasing effects of coffee result from the fatty acids in coffee that are also found in numerous other plant sources as well as animal sources.   These same fatty acids also activate the detoxifying enzymes he is referring to.   In fact, it is these extremely common fatty acids that are responsible for the "detoxifying" properties of coffee enemas.  But again, other sources that do not introduce toxic caffeine or carcinogenic PAHs would be safer.  Bitter herbs will stimulate both bile and detoxification if allowed to contact the tongue.

"Because it does not allow as much reabsorption of toxic bile by the liver across the gut wall, it is a powerful means of detoxifying the blood stream through existing enzyme systems in the liver and small bowel." 

Again misleading.  Bile is not necessarily toxic.  In can contain high levels of certain substances such as cholesterol, but this gets bound by sterols from our diet, which helps eliminate the excess cholesterol.

The release and reabsorption of bile though is not a means of detoxification for the body.  If that were the case then people with kidney failure and liver failure could simply stimulate bile flow to cleanse their blood, which is not possible.

"The effect of any enema or colon cleansing procedure is to stimulate the colon, by dilating a little, and often by altering its temperature somewhat – either making it a little hotter or a little colder.  Also, there is a tactile stimulation as well.  The overall effect is to increase peristalsis and cause the colon to become active, emptying its contents more completely. "

Why not just eat a diet with more fiber and make sure to stay hydrated, which is safer?

Another fact that enema supporters often fail to mention is that during a regular enema for example,  water is absorbed through the colon in to the bloodstream.  The biggest risk to this procedure is that if too much of the water enters the blood from too many enemas or doing colonic irrigation to long this throws off the electrolyte imbalance.  If they want to verify this then I recommend first learning about the process of osmosis.

In addition, water is a solvent.  Water can dissolve toxins and carry them just as easily back in to the bloodstream during colonics.  For those who do not believe this consider how estrogen metabolites for example end up being reabsorbed if not completely broken down by the intestinal flora.  These,  just like nutritional products absorb through the intestinal wall as solutes.  In other words dissolved in water.

" Increased alkalinity of the intestinal tract.  This is due to enhanced bile flow, most likely.  It is important because bile has many antiseptic, digestive and other functions.  Increasing the alkalinity of the small intestine makes it much less hospitable for parasites, in particular, but also help destroy many other types of infections in the small intestines."

First of all not all the intestine is alkaline.  There are parts of the intestine that are normally acidic.  And alkalinity helps promote the health and pathogenicity of many pathogens such as fungal Candida.  I have never seen any evidence to support the claim that alkalinity helps prevent intestinal parasites.  There is evidence to the contrary though such as this report:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:CGVVzMs6l5IJ:www.jidc.org/inde...

"Those with intestinal parasitic infections had stool pH of < 7 with the presence of mucus."

And regarding giardia:

http://www.pnas.org/content/93/15/7628.full.pdf

"Because others have reported that the pH of the medium is important for encystation (36), we also analyzed the effect of pH in the LPDM. Fig. 2B shows that encystation occurred within a wide pH range, but that encystation was optimal at pH 7.8."

"Coffee contains some toxic metals such as lead and cadmium.  Also, ground coffee is often somewhat rancid, as it contains polyunsaturated oils that become rancid easily.  However, it appears from our experience that when taken by rectum, these are not absorbed nearly as much as they are when coffee is taken through the mouth.
                  This occurs because the colon is designed to absorb nutrients, while filtering out and leaving behind toxic substances in the colon.  This is the reason why drinking coffee is toxic, but coffee used in an enema is much less so."

If this were really the case then why even bother cleansing the colon since toxins will not be absorbed from the colon?  And since when is caffeine a nutrient?

"Sympathetic relaxation.  Coffee enemas cause relaxation of the sympathetic nervous system."

Again, not according to the research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12460875

Coffee acutely increases sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure independently of caffeine content: role of habitual versus nonhabitual drinking.

"Improved hydration. While it may seem minor, this can be a major benefit of coffee retention enemas.  Many people are quite dehydrated today.  Reasons for this are 1) not drinking enough water, 2) drinking incorrect type of water such as reverse osmosis water, which does not appear to hydrate the body well, and 3) ingesting substances that tend to dehydrate the body, including all sugars, caffeine and alcohol. "

You don't rehydrate the body with diuretics like caffeine.

"When?  You can do a coffee enema at any time of the day or night. If done soon before bedtime, it might interfere with sleep, due to the effect of caffeine. "

And why would the caffeine do this is the coffee is calming to the nervous system?  Actually this backs what I have been saying all along about the caffeine being caffeine regardless of how it is put in to the body.  And as a stimulant it will have adverse effects on the adrenal glands.

 

"The coffee enema, as explained above, is a form of dialysis.  This is an important medical and herbal concept.  Dialysis means a flushing process that does not occur naturally, but must be aided or assisted manually.  The coffee retention enema is a type of dialysis, and must be recognized as such, and nothing less.  Otherwise, it will never be accepted widely, as it needs to be.