PSYLLIUM:  ARE YOU BEING SWEPT AWAY BY THE INTESTINAL BROOM?

<back

        The colon is making a re-emergence as an important issue in the holistic health field.  Not only is normal colon function important as such, its influence on general health has, until recently, been underestimated.  This new awareness has reached the general public none too soon.  Constipation afflicts an estimated 70 million Americans, making us – both proportionately and in absolute numbers – the world’s most constipated nation.

        The numerous causes of constipation and many functional bowel disorders have received much popular press.  An unhealthy, unbalanced and highly processed diet low in residue and high in animal fats, complicated by an irregular, high-stress life style is the principle culprit.

        The favorite proposed treatment, fiber, received wide publicity, leading to a profusion of products purported to “naturally” relieve constipation.  The afflicted public was quick to self-diagnose and identify with the stereotyped “constipated American” and rush to health food stores for “THE FIBER”

        There are many excellent fiber remedies for constipation, most of which are based on psyllium and bentonite as active ingredients.  This initial enthusiasm led to a survey of bulk laxatives available in the natural health food stores on New York’s Upper West Side in February 1994, which revealed a bewildering profusion of brands with a comparable lack of literature on safe and appropriate use.  Since these are not drugs in the strict sense, there is no attached information on dosage, preferred mode of administration and side effects.  The best most store personnel could do is refer our in queries to such book as were on sale, their typical answer being to “Look in there, somewhere”.

        Where has this rush to get well gotten us?  The two principle fiber laxatives are psyllium and bentonite.  Their modes of action are differed and complementary.

        Bentonite is an inorganic clay, sold in liquid form as Sonnes 7 and in an “economy” powder.  This clay has some bulk laxative properties, but its main use is a detoxifying agent.  The clay adsorbs (physically binds) to many organic molecules of toxic and metabolic origin.  It is promoted in “organ drainage” and detoxification and works well if properly used.

        Psyllium is a plant fiber which sweeps the bowel clean like an “Intestinal Broom” by mechanical and osmotic action.  It is safe and effective in proper dosage.

        What gets us in trouble is the popular but not necessarily correct notion that “if some is good, more is better.”  As a nation of achievers, we tend to over-achieve.  If a teaspoon of a given remedy is recommended and we don not get the desired result when we want it, we tend to take more.  There is not much in the literature on what happens when we use psyllium and bentonite in wrong an excessive combinations.

        In my colon therapy practice, I routinely see patients resenting with constipation and/or diarrhea resulting from inappropriate use of bentonite, but especially psyllium.  On taking their history, it turns out that these patients initially have had good results with the recommended dose (i.e. one teaspoon).  This often leads to increasing the amount or frequency of the dose, especially if there are signs of decreased response (i.e.; increasing constipation).

        Increasing bentonite intake accelerates the removal of toxins from the body that then accumulates in a colon that is not yet functioning properly.  These deposits will then simply be reabsorbed by the intestinal mucosa into the circulation and the body’s tissues and organs.  This “detoxification” accomplished little or nothing, except perhaps an autointoxication.  This is the term used for the many disease symptoms resulting from the inappropriate absorption of wastes and toxins from the colon.

        Excessive psyllium ceases to cleanse the colon. It tends to accumulate, especially if mixed with bentonite in a layer coating the colon walls.  Further psyllium intake will flush – often with excessive force – the colon lumen without cleansing the wastes, now bound by an organic variant of concrete to the walls of the colon.  The symptoms may be diarrhea, even though the colon is impacted with waste.

        Psyllium is sold in many brand, presently the most popular being Yerba Prema, Colon Cleanse and plain husks.  If you fell that you are experiencing problems with elimination despite what appears to be recommended treatment, we suggest you consult an expert on colon health.  A consultation with a medical doctor can help rule out serious disease, such as cancer, but may prove frustrating since most physicians are neither expert nor interested in the “fine tuning” of bowel function.

        Colon therapy is a safe and relaxing treatment for attaining and maintaining normal colon function.  A good therapist will take a history of your bowel patterns and laxative use and recommend an optimal, individualized plan for your colon health maintenance.

        At our center, our Herbalist uses the crushed psyllium seed, not the husk, which in turn is both gentler and more effective with fewer side effects.  To avoid overdose and maximum benefits, psyllium powders and bentonite should be integrated with colonic treatments.

-- Dr. Trisha Rossi, Director

top