Are self-administered coffee enemas an effective way to remove toxins in the body and safe enough to be considered "not that big of a deal"? No, that's missing context: The claim that do it yourself at-home coffee enemas are a safe and effective way to cleans toxins from the body is not proven by any scientific or medical data. A 2020 study found serious safety issues and no clear evidence for effectiveness of self-administered coffee enemas.
The claim appeared as a video (archived here) where it was published on Facebook on March 19, 2022. The video narration opens:
Yes, pouring a quart of coffee up your butt sounds weird, but it's one of the fastest and most effective ways to get rid of a whole lot of toxins all at once and it's really not that big of a deal.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Mar 20 20:01:08 2023 UTC)
The caption on the video begins:
Do it one time and you'll understand that really, it's not that big of a deal! And that you couldn't even pay someone to make you feel as good as you will right after doing one of these bad boys.
The video shows a man appearing to prepare and administer a coffee enema at home while a child is with him. It shows him in various rooms in a home concocting the mixture and then lying on the floor appearing to be self-administering the liquid. The narrations claims, "all you need is an enema kit, water and specially roasted coffee beans."
There are no disclaimers or warnings in either the narration or in the text on the video nor in the caption on the post. The only claim about the potential effects of a coffee enema are in the narration where any implication about the method possibly being controversial is dismissed by the phrase, "it's really not that big of a deal."
Healthline describes what a coffee enema entails, noting that if a person is experiencing constipation this treatment may bring relief:
A coffee enema is a type of colon cleanse used in alternative medicine. During the procedure, a mixture of brewed, caffeinated coffee and water is inserted into the colon through the rectum.
The Mayo Clinic, a leading medical research institution, warns that colon cleansing can be harmful:
Proponents of colon cleansing believe that toxins from your gastrointestinal tract can cause a variety of health problems, such as arthritis and high blood pressure. They believe that colon cleansing improves health by removing toxins, boosting your energy and enhancing your immune system. However, there's no evidence that colon cleansing produces these effects or is beneficial at all.
And colon cleansing can sometimes be harmful. In fact, coffee enemas sometimes used in colon cleansing have been linked to several deaths. Colon cleansing can also cause less serious side effects, such as cramping, bloating, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
A September 2020 study published in the National Library of Medicine titled, "The safety and effectiveness of self-administered coffee enema," does not endorse the method:
Based on the evidences reviewed, this systematic review does not recommend coffee enema self-administration as a complementary and alternative medicine modality that can be adopted as a mean of self-care, given the unsolved issues on its safety and insufficient evidence with regard to the effectiveness.
