TikTok is all a-buzz with the wonders of castor oil. With over sixty-thousand TikTok posts on the newly-popular longtime home remedy, and a huge bump in Google searches since 2002, it’s safe to say that suppliers of the oil of the castor bean need not fear for their financial future. The cash will, at least for a while, continue to flow into their coffers as easily as Castor oil induces flow in…other areas.
Pressed from the seeds of Ricinus communis, castor oil has been used in medicines, cosmetics, and poisons since the days of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
Jane Clarke, a nurse at ConfidenceClub who specializes in incontinence, told Newsweek that castor oil is an excellent moisturizer and an ideal remedy for dry skin and for improving hair’s strength and shine. But when one drinks castor oil to “detox,” fight off illness, or lose weight, as the current trend advocates, one might find oneself in the grip of severe and possibly dangerous abdominal discomfort.
Castor oil, Clarke says, is not a cure-all, cannot be used to treat cancer, and does not miraculously enhance weight loss. In fact, by encouraging large scale consumption of castor oil, such claims can be incredibly harmful.
What castor oil does do is activate the body’s prostaglandin receptors, which induces rapid contractions in the smooth muscles of the abdomen, pushing food through the small intestine faster than it can be digested, and out the large intestine before it can be properly formed into solid waste. It also interferes with fluid absorption in the gut, increasing pressure in the bowels and putting the consumer at risk for severe dehydration.
The results of all of this?
Intense, painful, explosive diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.
Clarke advises that TikTok influencers be ignored, and that the public avoid ingesting castor oil for any reason. In the past, it was mostly used to induce labor, and as a laxative, however there are now safer products available for both of these purposes.
