Colon Hydrotherapy Overview

"In times past, knowledge of the bowel was more widespread and people were taught how to care for the bowel. Knowing the ways of keeping the bowel healthy, and in good shape, is the best way I know to keep away from the grip of disease and sickness."

— Dr. Bernard Jensen, Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management

The colon is the last five feet of the digestive tract. It is a hollow, tube-like organ made up of muscle structure that moves along digestive food and waste by a wavelike motion known as peristalsis. The primary function of the colon is to absorb water, electrolytes, and some vitamins, as well as to prepare and store fecal waste prior to elimination.

Colon hydrotherapy (also known as colonics, colon irrigation, or high enemas) is an alternative health practice that gradually and gently cleanses the colon by flushing the large intestines with warm water. A disposable, sanitary, and FDA-approved system is used for the therapy.

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The colon, along with the skin, kidneys, and lungs, is an organ of elimination. If bowel movements are not regular, our health can be compromised. Good health is as much a function of our elimination activity as the quality of the food we eat.

Consider that 400 to 600 million dollars are spent annually on laxatives in the United States. Every year 126,000 Americans are diagnosed as having colorectal cancer. Of this population, 44% will die as a result of the disease. At least two million Americans suffer from colitis, ileitis, or diverticulitis, and 100,000 Americans have a colostomy each year. Periodic cleansing of the colon could prevent stagnation and minimize the exposure to potential cancer-causing agents to the colon wall.

Laxatives are the method of colon cleansing that is most popularly used today. They are considered to be an irritant and stimulant to the body. They simply draw water from the body and produce a thin, watery substance that clears only the most recently digested waste from the colon, leaving behind bad eating habits and accumulated toxins and mucus in the stomach, small intestines, and colon. They certainly don't promote bowel health.

Enemas are fine to clean out the lower part of the rectum and colon, but miss about four feet of colon.

Colon hydrotherapy is a gentle infusion of water in and out of the colon, reaching all four to five feet, promoting overall health. Colon hydrotherapy is not a cure, but it is a valuable procedure used to assist the body with the reversal of a wide variety of health conditions known to stem from improper diet and elimination habits. Colon cleansing is preventative health care, rather than a treatment for a disease.

"The total mucosal surface area of the adult human GI tract is up to 300 square meters, making it the largest body area interacting with the environment. This makes the gastrointestinal tract the largest lymphoid or immune organ in the human body. It has been estimated that there are approximately 10 billion immunoglobulin-producing cells per meter of small bowel, accounting for approximately 80% of all immunoglobulin-producing cells in the body."

— F. Shanahan, "The Intestinal Immune System," Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, 3rd edition, 1994, ed. Johnson, L.R.

Recent scientific studies show that over 50% of our immune system is in our colon. If this is true, a clean, well-functioning colon must be imperative to good health. It is my understanding that our diets have evolved in ways that our digestive tracks have not. In addition, we must consider all of the toxins that we are exposed to.

One way to tell if you have a really toxic colon is to look at your belly. Is it drooping over your pants from an enlarged liver or accumulated toxicity? People think they've gotten fat, but the colon and small intestines stretch from all the accumulating matter in there. I have seen countless people lose this belly after cleansing. Over time, I have seen over 120 feet of this mucoid plaque come out of one person. What is even scarier is that not all of the people who have come in to my office have bellies. I always say, "Seeing is believing in this business!"