Sweep Your Stool Away?
With the start of the New Year, your clients are likely looking for the latest tips and tricks to get rid of those extra holiday pounds they may have put on. Or, perhaps they’re looking to improve their gut health with more regular bowel movements and “better” microbiota? Can they sweep away their poop and weight with Colonbroom?
What is Colonbroom?
Colonbroom is a supplemental powder developed in Lithuania by Max Nutrition UAB. The manufacturers claim it improves bowel regularity and gut flora, along iwth aiding weight loss. It’s even touted to reduce bloating.
Before you order Colonbroom, the website will take you to a quiz page. The quiz asks about your gender, height, weight, poop history, and several other medical questions. It then will provide you with a metabolic age as well as a risk score for conditions such as candida.
According to my own quiz, I have a 45% chance of getting candida Albicans overgrowth and my metabolic age is 7 years older than my true age. That’s despite a normal BMI, normal bowel history, and regular exercise. The quiz will also “prescribe” the amount of Colonbroom you should take each day.
What’s in Colonbroom?
Colonbroom is a plant-based, sugar-free and gluten-free supplement whose main ingredient is psyllium husk. It also contains rice hulls, citric acid, and crystallized lemon. The advertised shake is strawberry flavored and sweetened with Stevia.
Colonbroom is mixed with water and consumed once or twice a day.
Does Colonbroom Work?
To date, there aren’t any scientific studies on Colonbroom specifically. However, I did find plenty of consumer reviews and complaints. Most positive reviews come from “Thinfluencers” that are hired or or otherwise compensated to be ambassadors for the company. For example, many ambassadors will be given a discount code for the product and receive a percentage of sales if someone orders it.
Ironically, the biggest customer complaint is bloating -- a symptom Colonbroom is supposed to relieve.
Colonbroom’s main ingredient, psyllium husk, is also found in Metamucil. There is plenty of research out there about psyllium husk and bowel regularity as well as gut microbiota. For example, a study that compared fecal microbiota after treatment with psyllium husk or a placebo (in women of reproductive age) found that psyllium husk successfully relieves constipation by altering gut microbiota.
A similar study compared subjects with constipation and healthy volunteers found a greater impact on gut microbiota with psyllium husk use in those suffering from constipation. Psyllium husk use increased stool water and was linked with changes in microbiota.
As for psyllium husk and weight loss, a viscous fiber supplement may aid with weight loss, particularly in overweight and obese individuals. A recent meta-analysis of randomized control trials found reduced body weight, BMI, and waist circumference (but not body fat) with the use of viscous fiber (including psyllium husk) in overweight and obese subjects. The weight loss was independent of calorie restriction.
More research is needed to confirm the results.
References:
Yang C, Liu S, Li H, Bai X, Shan S, Gao P, Dong X. The effects of psyllium husk on gut microbiota composition and function in chronically constipated women of reproductive age using 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Aging (Albany NY). 2021 Jun 3;13(11):15366-15383. doi: 10.18632/aging.203095. Epub 2021 Jun 3. Erratum in: Aging (Albany NY). 2022 Mar 30;14(6):2923. PMID: 34081625; PMCID: PMC8221300.
Jalanka J, Major G, Murray K, Singh G, Nowak A, Kurtz C, Silos-Santiago I, Johnston JM, de Vos WM, Spiller R. The Effect of Psyllium Husk on Intestinal Microbiota in Constipated Patients and Healthy Controls. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Jan 20;20(2):433. doi: 10.3390/ijms20020433. PMID: 30669509; PMCID: PMC6358997.
Jovanovski E, Mazhar N, Komishon A, Khayyat R, Li D, Blanco Mejia S, Khan T, L Jenkins A, Smircic-Duvnjak L, L Sievenpiper J, Vuksan V. Can dietary viscous fiber affect body weight independently of an energy-restrictive diet? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Feb 1;111(2):471-485. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz292. PMID: 31897475.
Jiang TM, Liang Y, Liu B, Liu BY, Li X, Zhao JY, Li JT, Liu YP, Chen LJ. Changes in the intestinal microbiota of healthy adults induced by brown yogurt and relationships of bacterial taxa with specific components. Food Funct. 2022 May 23;13(10):5701-5714. doi: 10.1039/d1fo03885k. PMID: 35521810.
Yoshinaga Kawano, Madeline Edwards, Yiming Huang, Angelina M. Bilate, Leandro P. Araujo, Takeshi Tanoue, Koji Atarashi, Mark S. Ladinsky, Steven L. Reiner, Harris H. Wang, Daniel Mucida, Kenya Honda, Ivaylo I. Ivanov. Microbiota imbalance induced by dietary sugar disrupts immune-mediated protection from metabolic syndrome. Cell, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.08.005
