I get questions about detoxification regularly from clients. “Would it be a good idea to do a cleanse?” My common response is that being on a customized clinical nutrition program is cleansing and detoxifying in and of itself. This, along with eating a whole food-based diet with low sugar intake is often all that is needed. That said, there is one cleansing tool that can go even further and enhance a nutritional healing program.

Enter, the coffee enema.

The little understood and much disparaged coffee enema is one method of purification that cleanses the liver – the body’s largest filter – and provides a multitude of health benefits, including:

-reduced pain
-liver cleansing
-digestive tissue repair
-improved blood circulation
-improved cellular regeneration
-relief of frequent constipation, bloating, nausea, etc.
-increased energy
-better moods
-improved immune function
-reduced allergies
-natural treatment for cancer

The value of a coffee enema may result from an understanding of its history and therapeutic benefits.

Water enemas have been used for detoxification throughout the ages. In fact, the Vatican holds a third-century Aramaic manuscript. The use of therapeutic coffee enemas began during WWI when the time-tested water enema that had evolved during WWI when German medic supplies – including morphine – were in short supply and nurses were desperate to find ways of alleviating the post-surgery pain of severely wounded soldiers. Water enemas were routinely used, but anxious to find a more potent pain reliever, one resourceful nurse intuitively used leftover brewed coffee and found it to be highly effective.

Coffee enemas are a vital part of the detoxification process. The purpose of the enemas is to remove toxins accumulated in the liver and to remove free radicals from the bloodstream.

How They Work

Without entering the digestive tract the caffeine is absorbed through the bowel wall, via blood vessels, and makes its way directly to the liver. The caffeine and palmitates (palmitic acid) work synergistically to stimulate and cleanse the liver and blood. The caffeine travels via the hemorrhoidal vein and the portal system to the liver, opens up the bile ducts and allows the liver to release bile, which contains toxins. The theobromine, theophylline, and the caffeine in coffee dilate blood vessels and bile ducts, relax smooth muscles, and increase the bile flow. The enema fluid triggers peristalsis (intestinal muscle contractions) and the efficient removal of wastes from the body.

The coffee enema is capable of removing circulating toxins and partial metabolites for one specific reason, and that is that the coffee enema not only dilates bile ducts but also that these palmitates in the coffee stimulate an enzyme system in the liver, most importantly the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, that stimulates glutathione which is capable of neutralizing a vast variety of free radicals and poisons in the bloodstream and facilitates detox on the liver.

Glutathione is the primary protein based antioxidant in every cell in the human body. It is primarily synthesized in the liver where it is abundantly present. It is not an essential nutrient since it can be synthesized in the body from pre-existing amino acids.

The palmitic acid, in coffee’s caffeine, increases the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST) by 600% in the liver and a 700% increase in detoxification in the small intestine. No materials, other than coffee, are known to stimulate it as much.

Glutathione-S-transferase is an enzyme that catches the free radicals and throws them onto the glutathione molecule of the bile. The glutathione molecule has a branch that absorbs many free radicals and neutralizes them.

The purpose of the coffee enema is not to clear out the intestines, but the quart of water in the enema stimulates peristalsis in the gut. A portion of the water also dilutes the bile and increases the bile flow, thereby flushing toxic bile (loaded with toxins by the glutathione S- transferase enzyme system) out of the intestines. At least part of the water passes through the wall of the gut and dilutes the hemorrhoidal and then the portal blood which goes into the liver and actually dilutes the bile and causes more readily increased bile flow.

Ideally, the coffee enema should be retained for twelve to fifteen minutes during which time the body’s blood supply circulates and passes through the liver approximately five times (Every three minutes). Since the blood serum is detoxified as it flows through the caffeinated liver, the enema is essentially a form of blood dialysis (filtering) across the colon wall. Drinking coffee has no such therapeutic benefits and is in fact counter-productive.

Now, you still may be thinking, this is not for me… and that is okay if it’s not. You will still get great benefits from doing a customized nutritional healing program. But if you are looking to enhance your healing process further follow the instructions below.

Coffee Enema Preparation

1. Purchase good quality coffee from Cafe Mam. Buy the blend called “Therapy.”
2. Get whole bean and grind yourself on medium setting.
3. Purchase an enema bag and enema bucket. Here is one good option. Replacement supplies can be found here.
4. Add 3 tablespoonfuls of ground coffee beans to a 1/2 quart (.5 litre) of boiling water (either distilled or bottled water). Let the mixture boil for 3 minutes and allow it to simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Filter the mixture with a sieve.
6. Add cool water to the liquid portion to fill up to a total volume of 1 quart (1 litre).
7. Hang the enema bag or bucket about 18 inches above the body. Prepare yourself to instil the coffee solution into the rectum.
8. Place some soft padding on the bathroom floor, cover it with plastic sheet and a towel, put down a pillow. Or just do in the bathtub.
9. Lie on your back and lift pelvis up to allow gravity to work for you. You may then turn on either side if that helps you to hold the liquid in better. Some theories say that lying on right side better helps deliver to the liver. The goal is to keep the coffee IN. You can also use a little coconut oil as a lube for easier insertion into the rectum.
10. Open the clamp for about 5 seconds and then re-clamp. Take time to let gravity force the liquid into rectum and bowel. Repeat until as much liquid is in the bowel that can be tolerated.
11. Hold the liquid inside the body for about 15 minutes, and then release the liquid. Some days the body will not tolerate it for more than 3 minutes so do not be discouraged as to the difference of times day to day. The best time to do the enema is in the morning and after a bowel movement.

Coffee enemas can be done as much as several times a day for the severely ill person down to long term maintenance levels for healthier individuals at one per month.