Wikimedia Commons
Autointoxication is the outmoded view that illness can be caused by toxins generated in the gut.[1] The underlying idea is that the body cannot fully dispose of its waste products and toxins, which then accumulate in the intestine, thus requiring colonic cleansing.[2][3] The term literally means self-poisoning, derived from the Greek autos mean “self”, and the Latin intoxicare, meaning “to poison”.[4]
The Ancient Egyptians associated feces with decay, and were liberal in their use of laxatives.[2] As a result of early bacteriological studies during the 19th century, the idea that toxins accumulating in the gut could lead to premature death began to gain credence within the medical establishment. The Russian zoologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (1845–1916) was a prominent advocate of this view.[3]
It seemed to make sense therefore, that the flow of waste through the colon should be as rapid as possible, which led to some radical surgeries.[5] The eminent English surgeon Sir William Arbuthnot-Lane, for instance, claimed to have identified an area of the colon where the flow of waste slowed down, and developed a surgical procedure to remove it, known as “Lane’s kink”, “which he performed on hundreds unfortunate enough to seek out his services”.[6]
But despite the lack of supporting evidence, the practice of colon cleansing experienced a resurgence in the 1990s.[7]
