Is the viral $500 detox really the best way to ‘reset’ your body?

Ah the infamous ‘detox’. It’s the ironically toxic health-kick buzzword loved by celebrities and detested by healthcare professionals.

It promises a ‘reset’ for your body usually in the forms of pretty coloured powders, green juices and supplements which are wrongly treated as viable options for meal replacements.

The Kroma Five Day Reset is the latest viral sensation on TikTok promising users a cleanse like no other which will help them; slim and debloat, get better sleep, clear and calm their mind, sustain weight loss, improve digestion and give them more energy.

You just have to fork out a cool $525 for their selection of powders and tub of cookie butter, which will last five days if you have the allotted nine sachets a day.

Actually you probably won’t need a fork at all, with most ‘meals’ being completely liquid.

Despite Kroma’s claims that there is ‘no starvation here’, it hasn’t been FDA approved, so Metro spoke to registered dietitian Dr Duane Mellor to see what effects it actually has on the body.

‘It is unfortunate as dietary detox, including powders are completely unnecessary as our bodies have effective systems via our liver, kidneys, lungs and skin,’ Dr Mellor says.

‘We just need to eat healthy and varied diet. It is unwise to replace food with health claims which have not be approved and lack scientific evidence.’

Kroma currently only ships to the US and Canada and Dr Mellor says: ‘If this marketed in the UK it would not be permitted to make these claims and could not be promoted by a registered health professional.’

Although Dr Mellor doesn’t condemn the idea of meal replacements completely.

‘There are examples where meal replacements can be helpful medically, including in the low calorie plans used to help bring about remission in type 2 diabetes,’ he says.

‘It is important to be careful with detox powders as some versions can contain high levels of green tea extracts which have been linked to liver damage in a number of cases.

‘It is better to spend money on a variety of healthy foods, possibly with the support of a registered dietitian or registered nutritionist who is not trying to promote supplements or powders.

‘They can help you find the foods that can maintain and improve your health in a way that you can also enjoy eating with others.’

Dr Mellor describes Kroma as ‘a short term low calorie diet, which will only be suitable for a few days’ and even then says ‘like detox, something your body naturally does and does not need a solution, reset is something your body can do with rest and a balanced diet’.

While Kroma claims to be ‘nutrient-dense’ it’s certainly not a balanced diet and the Five-Day Reset breaks down each day by sachet.

In the morning you begin by breaking your fast (which will have lasted 12 to 16 hours) with Beauty Matcha with water or your favourite non-dairy unsweetened milk of choice.

Breakfast consists of Super Porridge, which you can add berries to and a Cranberry Hydration Elixir for a post-workout drink.

To finish out the morning you have a plant based smoothie (a sachet mixed with non-dairy milk) and you can opt to add in spinach.

Lunch is a bone or veggie broth and a super greens drink. You can also have an afternoon ‘snack’ in the form of their Superlatte, but we think you kind of have to eat something for it to be a snack.

If you need a pick me up, which we know we would if we even made it this long, you can have a spoonful (that’s right just one) of cookie butter.

Dinner is another bone broth with veggies if needed (of course they’re needed) and a magnesium drink before your final ginger turmeric tea.

Kroma has been contacted for comment in relation to Dr Mellor’s statements that there is a lack of scientific evidence around the benefits of detox powders.

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