A colon cleanser is an agent used in making colon cleansing possible. Colon cleansing is a therapeutic procedure which is aimed at eliminating from the colon, fecal matter and other toxins accumulated there. It is an alternative therapy that has proved to be extremely popular in recent days, as more and more people see the need to take a more holistic approach to their health maintenance.

As it turns out, most of the toxins that colon cleansing rids one of are toxins that would otherwise have had to accumulate in the body unchecked, as the body's natural detoxification systems are ill equipped to handle them. So what the colon cleanser does in the process is to nudge them out of the body through either a chemical process or a 'bio-organic' process. Thus we have the top 2 ways a colon cleanser can work in effecting colon cleansing being either by chemically or bio-organically nudging toxins out of the body. We can explore each of those at some length.

1) Starting with the 'chemical' nudging of toxins out of the body, the mechanism for working would be where the colon cleanser makes otherwise insoluble toxins dissolve in the water, with which they are then flushed out of the body. There are many colon cleansers that work through this mechanism. Most of those that work in this way also have in them ingredients that make the body able to tolerate the huge amounts of water necessary to flush the toxins out of the body. So the idea is to make otherwise insoluble toxins somehow dissolve, in pretty much the same way a detergent works in effecting cleaning.

2) Turning to the bio-organic elimination of toxins out of the body, the mechanism for working would be where the colon cleanser is made up of probiotics (friendly bacteria), that once inside the colon attack the toxins therein. The colon cleansers that work through this mechanism are the ones that are referred to as 'natural' - because this colon cleansing mechanism is the closest to the body's natural cleansing. The body's natural colon cleansing is effected through probiotics (symbiotic bacteria resident in the colon). Colon cleansing becomes necessary because the probiotics are often inadequate to deal with the toxins presented to the body today. So what the colon cleanser does is to enhance the number of the toxins and make effective colon cleansing a possibility.

Commentators on this subject seem to be divided as to which of the two mechanisms for working make a good colon cleanser. Some argue that the chemical approach of dissolving toxins and the flushing them out is better, with others arguing that the 'bio-organic' mechanism, of increasing the body's probiotic populations and thus enhancing its ability to detoxify is the best.

There are of course colon cleansers that work through a combination of these two mechanisms. They both enhance the body's probiotic population, thus strengthening the body's natural ability to detoxify, while at the same time making it possible for otherwise insoluble toxins in the body to dissolve in water and be flushed out.