A flood of products promises to 'detox' the body. But do you really need any of them?

​It's the first week of January and the word "detox" is probably trending again. It has, like clockwork, for the past five years. From juices and supplements to foot baths and diet regimens, detox products become more popular this time of year. But what do these treatments and programs actually do — and do you really need one?

Detox treatments or programs purport to cleanse the body of "toxins," often without specifying which ones. The medical definition of a toxin is "a poison, usually one produced by a living organism," according to Harvard Health Publishing. Food and even water can be harmful in large doses, even if they aren't necessarily considered toxins.

Our bodies naturally process everything we put in them, including things that can harm us. Many things we consume, like alcohol or acetaminophen, can be poisonous in excess, but our organs — the liver, the kidneys and lungs in particular — work to pass them through the body and eliminate the byproducts.

Scientific literature doesn't back up the efficacy of most detox treatments and regimens. A 2014 review, which looked into preliminary evidence on the possible benefits and harms of detox diets, found that there was no "compelling evidence to support the use of detox diets for weight management or toxin elimination."

Ten years later, that hasn't changed, says Australian cardiologist Dr. Hosen Kiat, who co-authored the article. 

"The reason is very clear. Toxins are best to be avoided instead of treated."

For many, it's tempting to look for a silver bullet after over-indulging over the holidays — but toxicologist Dr. David Juurlink says unfortunately, that just doesn't exist.

"This idea that we might take something to help purge ourselves, rid our bodies of toxins that accumulated over the course of time — nobody needs that," said Juurlink, who practises toxicology at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. 

If detoxes were effective, he says, studies would show it, doctors would prescribe them regularly and they'd be more commonly used. 

"But none of those things are true. These products don't do anything helpful for people."

Detoxing is a broad term used to market a range of products and regimens. Some — like a meal plan consisting of whole foods like fruits and vegetables — can end up being helpful by stopping some harmful behaviours, like eating processed food.

But the benefits stop there, says Dr. Jordan Feld, a medicine professor at the University of Toronto, and the director of the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease.

"For people that have been drinking too much, eating too much, stopping those things is helpful. Unfortunately, most of the so-called detoxing products have very little evidence that they actually work," Feld said.

What's worse, he says, certain detox products can cause serious harm and even hospitalization.