Detox remedies a waste of money

After the excess of New Year's Eve and the Christmas season, the desire to detox is natural. But the burgeoning industry, which caters for this demand makes claims, which are frequently misleading or questionable, a group of scientists said yesterday.

The UK charity Sense About Science has compiled a dossier of information on claims made about 11 products including drinks, patches, diet supplements and even a "detox brush". A charity leaflet says: "The multimillion pound detox industry sells products with little evidence to support their use. These products trade on claims about the body which are often wrong." Our bodies are capable of recovering from binges on their own, the scientists argue.

One product criticized is Boots' "detox brush" which the company claims will "brush away impurities" and "stimulates the lymphatic system to help remove impurities and toxins from your skin". The charity argues that the brush simply cleans the skin.