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Mucoid plaque or mucoid rope is a thick coating of mucus-like material in the alimentary canal. It has been used in urban myths and is a phenomenon widely believed within holistic health circles.

The practice of cleansing the bowels of mucoid plaque has been known since ancient times for treating constipation which was believed to have been the root of many diseases and illnesses. The first recorded reference to colon cleansing date back more than 3000 years to the Ebers papyrus, an Egyptian medical document. This document outlines bowel and colon cleansing procedures using various herbal concoctions and water, and has been carbon dated to between 1500 and 1700 B.C. In some cases, colon bypass or a colectomy was done.

Background

A term used by naturopath Richard Anderson N.D. N.M.D to describe the buildup in the digestive system of the normal mucosa mixed with undigested foods:

"I coined the term mucoid plaque, meaning a film of mucus, to describe the unhealthy accumulation of abnormal mucous matter on the walls of the intestines. Conventional medicine knows this as a layering of mucin or glycoproteins (made up of 20 amino acids and 50% carbohydrates) which are naturally and appropriately secreted by intestines as protection from acids and toxins." (What is Mucoid Plaque?, by Richard Anderson)

It develops from unhealthy, usually Western, lifestyle factors such as overconsumption meat and processed foods, taking pharmaceutical medicine, caffeine and stress.

Mucoid plaque inhibits the body's ability to properly digest food and metabolize toxins by blocking digestion, constricting the passage of stools and accumulating toxins that pass into the bloodstream. A variety of conditions result, such as constipation, lethargy, and weight gain, as well as many dis-ease conditions. Pharmaceuticals are also said to become lodged in the plaque, active ingredients leaching into the body years after they were taken.

Dr. Anderson states that “clinical and anatomical studies from many papers and textbooks have demonstrated that mucoid plaque exists in the alimentary canal” (Anderson 60). As an example, he points to a reference to the gastric mucosa in the 7th edition of Textbook of Medical Physiology by A.C. Guyton.

A search of PubMed does not return any research that uses the term at all, or in this way.

Dr. Anderson explains the absence of the description of this condition by surgeons, gastroenterologists and anatomists by stating that medical doctors are not trained to recognize the difference between mucoid plaque and the normal mucosa. “Until the mucoid plaque begins to mix with fecal matter, its color and texture may appear similar to healthy bowel mucosa,” he says (Anderson 66; 88).

Dr. Anderson states that because there are many different names used by medical scientists to describe this phenomenon, he consolidated them under one convenient term. Before him, other alternative medicine practitioners used their own terms. Robert Gray referred to it as mucoid matter, Victor Earl Irons and Bernard Jensen referred to it as toxic mucous lining or layer, and John R. Christopher referred to it as catarrh or simply mucus. Robert Gray also explained his reasoning for such a novel terminology: “In a book such as this, the author is not trying to communicate with biochemists and other life scientists. The aim here is to communicate to the common person what he or she needs to know about proper health care. To use precise technical terminology in such a discussion would only overwhelm the average person and defeat the purpose of what is being said”.

Richard Anderson claims that many doctors are not trained to recognize mucoid plaque. In his book, Richard Anderson cites numerous conventional scientific sources referring to intestinal mucus and claims they support his assertion (Anderson 59). None of them mention mucoid plaque, rather, they describe conditions similar to Dr. Anderson's own findings.

Treatment

Enemas, rigorous fasting and herbal treatments are said to expel the plaque, which appears as a rope-like rubbery stool matching the shape and length of the part of the digestive tract it came from.

Criticism

A major objection is that this concept has never been described in the major medical journals, i.e. New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Gastroenterology, et cetera.

Edward Thuman, M.D., a practicing pathologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Texas School of Medicine, has said on the basis of never having seen it in several thousand intestinal biopsies: "This is a complete fabrication with no anatomic basis" (Thuman).

Another practicing pathologist, Ed Friedlander, M.D., at Brown University, states, “As a pathologist, I have opened hundreds of colons and never seen anything like ‘toxic bowel settlement’”. Furthermore, in reference to those pictures of mucoid plaque he says, “Sites they have shared include one depicting what I recognize to be a blood clot” (Friedlander).

Advertisements for some products marketed to cleanse the colon of mucoid plaque claim that an autopsy of John Wayne after his death from cancer revealed that the famous American actor had over 40 pounds of this plaque/fecal material accumulated in his colon. In fact, an autopsy was never performed on John Wayne. Similar false claims are made about singer Elvis Presley.

References

1. Urban myth on snopes.com
3. ^ http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/fecalcolon.asp

• Anderson, Richard. Cleanse & Purify Thyself: Book Two. Mt. Shasta, California: Christobe, 2000.
• Thuman, Edward. “Mucoid Plaque.” Quackwatch. <http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/QA/mucoidplaque.html> No such thing.
• Forstner, JF. “Intestinal mucins in health and disease.” Digestion 1978 17(3) 234-63. Medline.
• Gray, Robert. The Colon Health Handbook: New Health Through Colon Rejuvenation. Reno, Nevada: Emerald, 1991.
• Friedlander, Ed. “Ed’s Guide to Alternative Therapies.” The Pathology Guy. <http://www.pathguy.com/altermed.htm#colonic>.
• http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/fecalcolon.asp
• The Jerusalem Post. "Pomegranate Feast Ends in Constipation." 4 September 1994 (p. 2).

External links

• "Mucoid Plaque" - Edward Thuman, M.D.
• Colon Plaque - Mucoid Plaque - Dr. Richard Anderson
• Mucoid Plaque - a dubious idea
• Urban legend that is used to support such beliefs

• Alternative medicine
• Fraud
• Quackery