10 Most Mind Numbingly Stupid Alternative Medicines

5. Wheatgrass Enema

If someone told you to put your lawn through a juicer and stick it up your butt, you'd probably think they were threatening you in some way, but this is a service that people are shelling out large sums of money for in fancy holistic spas.

According to its proponents, wheatgrass is a wonder-plant and one shot of its juice will, amongst other things, provide you with a full day's worth of veggies, help you lose weight, detoxify you and oxygenate your blood.

Oh, and apparently all of its many benefits are greatly increased if you put it up your arse rather than swallow it.

Unfortunately, wheatgrass isn't as miraculous as people claim it to be. For a start, any claim that a product will "detoxify" you should be approached with caution. There are very few ways to actually flush toxins out of your system, and the most effective one by far is by drinking water. No amount of expensive green juice is going to speed that process up.

The claim that the juice will oxygenate you blood is based on its high levels of chlorophyll. The molecular structure of chlorophyll happens to look similar to that of haemoglobin, the molecule in your blood that carries oxygen. 

Unfortunately, this is another case of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 17. Chlorophyll cannot be absorbed by the human body and it certainly can't replace your haemoglobin. Even if it could, chlorophyll converts sunlight into energy in plants, and there's not exactly much sunlight in your veins and arteries.

And, no, this doesn't change if you put it up your bum.