Detoxification

<p><b>Detoxification</b> (<b>detox</b> for short)<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-0">[1]</a></sup> is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiology" title="Physiology">physiological</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine" title="Medicine">medicinal</a> removal of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic" title="Toxic" class="mw-redirect">toxic</a> substances from a living <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism" title="Organism">organism</a>, including, but not limited to, the human body and additionally can refer to the period of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal" title="Withdrawal">withdrawal</a> during which an organism returns to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis" title="Homeostasis">homeostasis</a> after long-term use of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_use_disorder" title="Substance use disorder">addictive</a> substance.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-1">[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-2">[3]</a></sup> In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine" title="Medicine">conventional medicine</a>, detoxification can be achieved by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison" title="Poison">decontamination of poison ingestion</a> and the use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidotes" title="Antidotes" class="mw-redirect">antidotes</a> as well as techniques such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialysis" title="Dialysis">dialysis</a> and (in a very limited number of cases) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelation_therapy" title="Chelation therapy">chelation therapy</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-3">[4]</a></sup>

Many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine">alternative medicine</a> practitioners promote various other types of detoxification such as "diet detoxification," but there is little evidence that detox diets have any health benefits.<sup id="cite_ref-Mayo_Clinic_Website_4-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-Mayo_Clinic_Website-4">[5]</a></sup> Furthermore, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_About_Science" title="Sense About Science">Sense About Science</a>, a UK-based charitable trust determined that most commercial products' "detox" claims lack any supporting evidence and can be considered a "waste of money".<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-5">[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification#cite_note-6">[7]</a></sup></p>