Young women are risking organ damage by following a social media craze that promotes drinking a toxic cleaning product to relieve joint pain, fight infections and aid weight loss.
Experts have warned that at best the concoction can cause diarrhoea and vomiting – while at worst it could trigger lung problems and even liver cancer.
Hundreds of clips posted to social media app TikTok show advocates of the worrying trend mixing a US multi-purpose cleaner called Borax with water and drinking it daily. And on Facebook, users recommend that soaking in a bath containing it can ease joint and muscle pain. But Borax, which contains the mineral boron, is toxic, even in amounts as small as a quarter of a teaspoon.
Also known as sodium tetraborate, it is a white, powdery cleaner that can remove stains from fabric, destroy mould, brighten whites and kill pests. It was banned in Britain in 2010 due to concerns about risks to human health. Despite this, some online shops still sell similar products to UK customers.
Young women are risking organ damage by following a social media craze that promotes drinking a toxic cleaning product to relieve joint pain, fight infections and aid weight loss
It is the latest in a series of dangerous health trends emerging on TikTok, which The Mail on Sunday has been documenting over the past year. We’ve reported that women were getting filler injections in the tip of their nose to look like a fairy, risking blindness, coating the face in calamine lotion for perfect make-up while damaging the skin, and using bleach to dissolve earwax.
Borax fans on TikTok say that, when ingested or applied to the body, it can ‘reduce inflammation’, ‘draw out toxins’ and ‘provide all the minerals your body needs’.
In one video that has since been deleted, a woman named Melody shares her experience of drinking the product for three days with her 49,000 followers. ‘A lot of people have noticed a difference in their inflammation and pain levels,’ she says. ‘My lower back feels significantly better.’
Another woman, with the pain condition fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis, claims her suffering ‘dramatically diminished’ after three days of consuming a drink made with Borax.
Hundreds of clips posted to social media app TikTok show advocates of the worrying trend mixing a US multi-purpose cleaner called Borax with water and drinking it daily
And Florida-based alternative medicine practitioner Dr Anthony G Beck appears to recommend using Borax as an intimate wash to treat vaginal infections. ‘It’s an amazing treatment for when the girly parts aren’t doing so well,’ he tells his 72,000 followers. ‘Add a quarter teaspoon of Borax [to water] – that’s all it takes. You will be amazed at what it does to the chemistry and flora down there.’
But amid the seemingly miraculous results are horror stories. In the Facebook group Borax For Arthritis And Health, which has roughly 40,000 members, user Lisa writes: ‘I soaked last night in a hot bath of one cup Borax, one cup magnesium chloride and one cup baking soda.
‘I lost track of time and was soaking for 1.5 hours! It was amazing! [But] after I had explosive diarrhoea (couldn’t even make it out of the bath tub in time). Is this normal when you do your soaks?’
Last week, US health chiefs from the National Capital Poison Center reacted to the trend with a stark warning. ‘[Borax] can cause stomach irritation and potentially result in vomit or diarrhoea if ingested,’ wrote toxicologist Dr Kelly Johnson-Arbor. ‘Over time, it can cause anaemia and seizures. Soaking in Borax could cause rashes that make the skin start to fall off.’
Boron, like other minerals, is found in trace amounts in a wide variety of foods. It plays a role in bone formation and regeneration, and some studies have previously suggested that boron supplements may reduce bone pain.
‘But the quantity needed to benefit patients was so high it caused bad side effects,’ says Professor Penny Ward, expert in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London.
She adds that the amount TikTokers are drinking is likely to be around 100 times the amount we take in every day in food and twice the World Health Organisation’s daily safe limit. ‘The short-term side effects of low doses – even a large pinch – include nausea, stomach upsets and vomiting,’ she says. ‘And a higher dose, for instance a teaspoon, risks convulsions.’
But most worrying, says Prof Ward, is the potential effect on the liver. ‘Research has shown that if you eat small amounts daily for a prolonged period, the liver – which processes the mineral – gets damaged. And we know that an accumulation of damage can lead to liver cancer.’
Bathing in the substance isn’t risk-free either. ‘Boron is a known skin irritant – in the 1960s the public were advised to wear gloves when touching it to avoid itchiness and rashes,’ says Prof Ward. ‘Inhaling it for even a short period of time has been shown to irritate the lungs, which could lead to permanent damage over time.’
One 1994 US study of factory workers found just 15 minutes of boron exposure caused symptoms of lung irritation, including persistent coughing and nose bleeds.
‘The impact depends on the amount of boron in the atmosphere. So it is unlikely one or two baths will have the same impact, unless you use heaps of the stuff,’ says Prof Ward.
The origins of the dangerous fad can be traced back to November 2021 and the Covid pandemic – and has been likened to then President Trump’s notorious suggestion that the virus could be treated by injecting bleach into the body.
US alternative health gurus took to social media with recommendations for ridding the body of the Covid-19 vaccine – which they wrongly claimed was poisonous.
One influential TikTok video by osteopath Dr Carrie Madej, which has since been deleted, recommended bathing in baking soda, salt and Borax to expel ‘nanotechnologies’ that she claimed were in the jab. The video was shared hundreds of thousands of times and the so-called ‘detox bath’ replicated by scores of TikTok users.
Many of those jumping on the latest Borax trend have shared previous posts that make spurious claims about Covid-19. Dr Beck, for instance, has referred to the jab as an ‘injection cult’ on his Instagram page, which features anti-vax content. ‘In short, it is not a good idea to drink this substance or bathe in it,’ concludes Prof Ward.
And as for potential weight-loss benefits, she adds: ‘Well, I’d expect you’d lose weight if you’re rushing to the toilet every five minutes after you eat it.’