Detoxification

Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of <a href="/facts/Toxic/qa96rs60">toxic</a> substances from a living <a href="/facts/Organism/j8JkL09u">organism</a>, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of <a href="/facts/Drug_withdrawal/lGr6VEBU">drug withdrawal</a> during which an organism returns to <a href="/facts/Homeostasis/rloTGAHa">homeostasis</a> after long-term use of an addictive substance. In <a href="/facts/Medicine/2fnp90Je">medicine</a>, detoxification can be achieved by <a href="/facts/Poison/XIQjhpsw">decontamination of poison ingestion</a> and the use of <a href="/facts/Antidote/l9rHGlko">antidotes</a> as well as techniques such as <a href="/facts/Kidney_dialysis/KQgUGz8p">dialysis</a> and (in a limited number of cases) <a href="/facts/Chelation_therapy/BtIB1o8I">chelation therapy</a>.
Many <a href="/facts/Alternative_medicine/XwFG5qtK">alternative medicine</a> practitioners promote various types of detoxification such as <a href="/facts/Detoxification_(alternative_medicine)/UfgveH0A">detoxification diets</a>. <a href="/facts/Sense_about_Science/LH3TfgnM">Sense about Science</a>, a UK-based charitable trust, determined that most such dietary "detox" claims lack any supporting evidence.[obsolete source][independent source needed]
The liver and kidney are naturally capable of detox, as are intracellular (specifically, inner membrane of mitochondria or in the endoplasmic reticulum of cells) proteins such as <a href="/facts/Cytochrome_P450/alxusFD0">CYP enzymes</a>. In cases of <a href="/facts/Kidney_failure/gsqb5nos">kidney failure</a>, the action of the kidneys is mimicked by <a href="/facts/Kidney_dialysis/KQgUGz8p">dialysis</a>; <a href="/facts/Kidney_transplantation/WMeCmTBL">kidney</a> and <a href="/facts/Liver_transplantation/0noMXT50">liver transplants</a> are also used for kidney and liver failure, respectively.

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Detoxification