If you’ve been diagnosed with a liver condition such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease — now known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) — you may spend time scrolling online looking for help. Here’s one trend that’s sure to come up: cleanses that profess to “detox” your liver. These miracle “cures” are hawked by internet influencers and, in some cases, celebrity spokespeople.
The claims such as less puffiness, bloating, brain fog, and cravings, along with more energy and better sleep, sound great. But could any of this be true? Can a liver detox or cleanse help your MASLD, a condition in which fat builds up in your liver, causing swelling, inflammation, and damage?
No, and that’s a hard no, says Meena B. Bansal, MD, FAASLD, the system chief of Division of Liver Diseases at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “There’s no such thing as a liver cleanse,” she says. “It doesn’t exist, and if you take them, there’s a good chance that what you’re doing is unhealthy or dangerous.”
The liver, she says, is an organ that already removes toxins and waste from your body, clearing them by breaking them down and excreting them via your urine or feces. It’s a long, multistep process that starts with filtration of the blood and ends in the toilet.
What Is a Liver Detox?
Liver detoxes are marketed as ways to remove toxins from your liver on a long-term basis. They’re often completed over weeks, months, or years, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). They can include:
- Drinking only juices or similar beverages
- Eating only certain foods
- Using dietary supplements or herbs
- Fasting
- Reducing environmental exposures
- Sweating in a sauna
Other detox methods include cleansing the colon or lower intestinal tract with:
- Enemas
- Laxatives
- Colon hydrotherapy
- Colonics
Most of the liver detoxes you see online are over-the-counter products that contain herbal potions or supplements.
What Is a Liver Cleanse?
A liver cleanse differs from a liver detox because it’s more of a one-and-done process. Liver cleanses focus specifically on your digestive system. They can involve ingesting specific foods, supplements, or drinks. Some liver cleanses promise to help you lose weight, get rid of bloating, and improve energy.
One popular liver cleanse promises to “support healthy liver enzyme function, ensure optimal liver function, increase the flow of bile, and improve long-term liver health.” The product, called a liver cleanse, contains orange, ginger, turmeric root, milk thistle, and dandelion root — herbs, roots, and vegetables — and its manufacturer suggests taking it either once or twice daily. The price is $160 for a six-pack set.
Are Liver Detoxes Useful for Fatty Liver?
There are many treatments and lifestyle changes that can help you take control of your MASLD. These include exercise, medications, and weight loss. But none of the liver detox programs, drinks, or supplements you see advertised on social media actually detox the liver.
Even manufacturers of liver detoxes confirm this is true, with most adding the following disclaimer to their websites and advertisements: “These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
In fact, the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have taken action against companies selling products claiming to detox or cleanse the liver. Some had risky hidden ingredients. Some had false claims that they could treat disease. And some had unapproved uses, such as devices marketed for colon cleansing.
Can Liver Detoxes Be Dangerous if You Have Fatty Liver?
Liver detoxes can be dangerous for regular people, and if you have MASLD, you may be at an even higher risk for damage or harm. Studies have found that liver injuries from herbal and dietary supplements are on the rise. Too much green tea extract, for example, can damage the liver, and coffee enemas involved in some regimens can lead to infections and electrolyte problems that might be deadly, Bansal says.
“The important thing is herbal and dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA, and so actually no one is held accountable for what’s actually in that supplement or cleanse,” she explains. “The manufacturer could say that this liver cleanse is made up of X, Y, and Z, and you actually have no way to know that that’s factual. Drug induced liver injury from herbal and dietary supplements is very much on the rise because of this.”
What Are Some Popular Liver Detoxes and Cleanses?
There are dozens of different liver detoxes and cleanses you can purchase online or make at home. Here are a few examples, some that are better to ask your doctor about and some best to avoid:
Ask your doctor about these
Herbal supplements. Many of the herbal supplements on the market designed for liver detox contain the same things that popular detox shots contain: milk thistle, vitamins, glutathione, NAC, chlorella, and spirulina. They are taken daily. They often profess to bind to heavy metals and heal the liver’s cells by reducing oxidative stress and supporting immune function.
A review of 26 randomized controlled studies shows that silymarin, a compound from milk thistle, improved markers of liver disease: cholesterol levels got better, liver enzymes decreased, and the fatty liver score went down. But that doesn’t mean you should take milk thistle supplements, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with MASLD and haven’t talked to your doctor about it.
“When patients come in with elevated liver levels, I always ask if they are taking any herbal supplements. If they are, I ask them to stop and we recheck their labs to see if they return to normal,” Bansal says. Unfortunately, if your liver is already affected by disease, it doesn’t have the same ability to regenerate as a healthy liver does, and you may get even sicker.
Restrictive dieting. A liver cleanse diet is usually high in healthy, whole foods, cutting out anything processed as well as sugars, carbohydrates, and alcohol. Of all the popular liver detoxes and cleanses, this one is actually a smart move, Bansal says. While it won’t reverse MASLD immediately, it can help you on a path back to good health.
Juice fasts. Someone doing a juice fast avoids solid foods for a set period. Instead, they drink fruit and vegetable juices made from things such as carrots, lemon, parsley, celery, ginger, beets, spinach, and kale — foods high in antioxidants but low in calories. Juice fasts aren’t dangerous if done for a few days here and there, but they aren’t a cure for MASLD. They may have some benefits to overall health, though.
One recent study found that juice fasts helped people lose weight and made significant changes in the intestinal microbiota — the good bacteria that live in your digestive system. But since juices can be high in sugars, juice fasts can actually worsen liver disease if not done in moderation. In addition, there’s been mixed results in juice cleanse trials for MASLD patients.
Detox teas. Teas contain more than 2,000 components such as minerals, elements, vitamins, amino acids, and anti-inflammatory polyphenols. For example, studies have found that people who drink tea have lower levels of C-reactive protein, a sign of inflammation. But there’s no direct link between drinking detox teas and curing MASLD.
Best to avoid
Enemas. Enemas, which use fluids to cleanse or stimulate the emptying of your bowel, are often marketed as a way to treat fatty liver disease. A tube is inserted into your rectum, and fluid is used to flood your colon. The most common ingredients include coffee, baking soda, peroxide, soaps, and oils.
Although enemas can have real benefits for someone who has constipation or inflammation, they cannot remove toxins and can be dangerous. Putting foreign substances into your colon can lead to pain, chemical or physical burns, infection, colitis, and even death. One report found that two people died from doing coffee enemas because it depleted sodium and chloride levels in their bodies.
Intravenous (IV) fluids. IV fluids from a non-health care setting are often infused with vitamins, antioxidants such as glutathione, and supplements such as NAD+. They will not cure your MASLD. If you’re dehydrated, IV therapy may help — but so will drinking water. And there are risks, including overhydration, blood pressure issues, and infections, especially if administered by someone inexperienced. Plus, since the service typically costs hundreds of dollars, it will hurt your wallet, too.
Do Liver Cleanses Help You Lose Weight Safely?
A few studies have linked liver cleanses with weight or fat loss, but they’ve been low-quality or looked at only a small number of people. Other research has found that a detox program’s low-calorie diet may lead to early weight loss, but the pounds usually come back.
“Sure, you can lose weight if you’re not eating or you’re restricting your calories,” Bansal says. “But that’s not a healthy or sustainable way to do it.”
Ways to lose weight and help fatty liver
Some of the lifestyle changes that may protect against liver disease can also help you lose weight and get rid of inflammatory fat in your liver.
- Eat a healthy plant-based diet
- Drink plenty of water
- Exercise regularly
- Follow guidelines on alcohol use
Why Are Liver Cleanses So Popular if They Don’t Work or Are Unsafe?
There’s one reason that liver cleanses are so popular, Bansal says: Money. Liver cleanses were nearly a $1 billion market in 2024, and sales are only expected to go up. Manufacturers are spending money on marketing them, and the ads — often disguised as simple posts — proliferate on social media.
“As soon as you use the word cleanse that has a positive connotation,” Bansal says, “people think, ‘Oh, it must be good to clean out my liver.’ This is the whole marketing game. And then you have an influencer who says, ‘Oh, I lost weight doing this,’ and it makes it more appealing. It’s just human nature.”
Bansal tells her patients that they don’t need a liver detox or cleanse because the liver itself is so regenerative. “It takes much injury to even cause cirrhosis. It takes 30 years because the liver can take the insult, regenerate, and heal. It’s the most amazing organ.”
What Can You Really Do to Treat Your Fatty Liver?
About 4 out of 10 people (38%) will develop fatty liver disease or MASLD over their lifetimes. Between half and three-quarters of people who have type 2 diabetes have the disease. But there is plenty that you can do to reverse the disease or lessen the effects of excess fat in the liver — typically fibrosis or scarring — which can lead to cirrhosis, Bansal says. Treatments vary by person and disease, but they include:
Avoiding alcohol. If you’re going to drink alcohol, experts recommend no more than one drink a day for women and two for men. A drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or one shot of liquor. Your liver can heal minor damage from alcohol in days or weeks. More severe damage could take months to heal. And after a long time, it may be permanent. Give your liver a break by avoiding alcohol at least two days in a row each week and completely avoid alcoholic beverages if you can, Bansal says.
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Even losing 5%-10% of your weight can help reduce fat in your liver. Following a Mediterranean diet can help you get closer to a healthy weight. The Mediterranean diet has been proven to reduce inflammation, reduce fat in the liver, and help people lose weight.
Using a GLP-1 drug.GLP-1s are injectable medications such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound). Bansal points to the fact that Wegovy is now FDA-approved specifically for treating liver disease in patients with at least stage II fibrosis. This is the first time a GLP-1 medication has been approved for a liver diagnosis rather than just treating the underlying conditions of diabetes or weight loss, she says.
Managing diabetes and keeping blood sugar controlled. Diabetes increases the risk for liver disease because when blood sugar is high, excess sugar gets stored in your liver. Too much sugar means too much fat, and the excess fat in your liver can build up. A fatty liver can develop inflammation and scarring that leads to cirrhosis. Keeping blood sugar in good control (between 70 and 180 mg/dL) minimizes the risk of damage from fat in your liver.
Getting regular exercise. Moving daily changes the way your body uses blood sugar and reduces the amount of fat in your liver. Experts suggest getting at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week — about 20 minutes daily. But even small bursts of exercise, such as walking around the block or housecleaning, can help.
Treating your other conditions. Both high blood pressure and high cholesterol can damage the liver. Up to 40% of people who have MASLD have high blood pressure, and another study found that 50% of people with high blood pressure have MASLD. Treating both high blood pressure and cholesterol may help your liver.
