Celebrities on Instagram love to hawk weight loss products, and one of the biggest trends is the teatox: Herbal “detoxing” teas that are supposed to help you lose weight naturally. Of course, miracle cures don’t exist, and many of these teas are just laxatives.
The teas’ Instagram endorsers are paid between $US3000 ($3948) and $US250,000 ($329,030) per post, according to Chavie Lieber’s investigation at Racked. To the extent that the teas do anything, she writes, they’re powered by senna — better known as the active ingredient in laxatives.
Medline Plus Supplements lists senna as effective for constipation, with no evidence to recommend it for weight loss. The teatox companies, Lieber reports, are sometimes up-front about the teas’ effects and sometimes hide behind vague feel-good language.
The celebrities, of course, didn’t necessarily get their physiques from drinking the tea; typically the tea companies approach popular Instagrammers for endorsement deals. They sometimes allow a “deletion clause” that lets the poster remove ads from their feed once they have served their purpose. Read the full article for more on what these companies are up to.
Teatox Party [Racked]
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