Ionic Foot Detox: A Simple Cleansing Routine

As a holistic healthcare professional, I do not believe these work and it makes me sad to know that such things are scamming people and making the rest of us honest natural healthcare professionals look bad and like quacks.

For those that say that it does work. I have one question. If so, then how does the water turn the same "detox" color if you put absolutely nothing in it?

Please do not fall for this scam. Check out this website made by a chemistry professor: http://www.chem1.com/CQ/ionbunk.html#FBF

Here's some of what they said.

We borrowed a popular unit from a friend of ours and ran our three employees through it according to the instructions provided with the unit. Then we ran the unit twice without feet in it at all. Here's what we found.

The water was visually identical in all cases.

This is most likely because the gunk that you see in the water has nothing to do with your feet or detoxing your body. It comes from the corroded metal electrode in the water. This electrode corrodes at a hyper rate caused by a process called electrolysis. The result is everything from foam to slimy films to black flecks in the water.

We had the water lab tested for metal content, including heavy metals. We found no difference between the normal sample and the control samples (samples that had no feet in them).

I also know that some people say that the water looks different depending on who's feet are in the water. We found this to be somewhat true as well, but, when the water was mixed, it all looked exactly the same. In fact, when the feet came out of the water, I could see that the water began to settle towards a similar appearance in all cases. It's possible that the initial differing appearance is caused by various oils or other substances on the surface of the skin of the person being bathed.

The appearance of the water also -I tend to believe - depends on how much a person moves around in the water. The electrode gives off a lot of muck in the water. If a person is fidgety, they tend to mix more of the greens and browns into the water from the corroding electrode. If they are more still, the water has a lighter brown hazy appearance. I believe that this is likely why companies that have been more honest in their advertising have admitted that, even with no feet in the water, the water turns brown. They then say that the water is more brown when feet are in it, but this is, in my opinion, because of the movement of the feet in the water. This mixing action increases the efficiency of the electrolysis by circulating fresh water near the electrode. This circulation also carries the particles from the electrode into the water instead of allowing it to settle.

In speaking to a number of people at the convention we attended in September, we also learned that many people believe that the black specks that are found in the bottom of the water are heavy metals that have come out of the feet.

Well, I was initially skeptical of this because the basic physics of this make it quite impossible. When confronted with this idea, some explained that they believe that the metals come out in very small particles and then coagulate because of the electricity present. Since we found these same dark specs at the bottom of both of our foot bath sessions that had no feet in them, I believe this is, at least, unlikely. It is also very unlikely because if the amount of particles that came out of the bath really came from a person and were heavy metals, they would be dead to begin with. The amount of mercury (and other heavy metals) that cause death is way too small to be seen, especially in the volume of water used in a foot bath.

I've also seen live cell analysis showing that peoples' red blood cells look healthier after an electronic foot bath. This could be true, yet, in speaking to a person I know who does live cell analysis, they told me that it's very easy to manipulate these tests- making one look like the cells are "lazy" and making the very next test making the cells look healthy and active. I'm not saying the company did this. I'm just saying that I would like to see tests done by a disinterested third party.

I would like to see a study where people take the supplements that are normally given to people when they have a foot bath and they soak their feet in water with the minerals added but have no electricity applied to the water. It would be interesting to see if this causes people to feel differently as well.

I truly wish our tests had shown that these foot baths remove heavy metals because I would have been thrilled to have found a quick and safe way to detox. Also, I would be manufacturing these devices right now and making quite a bit of money. Unfortunately, we don't make much money doing what we're currently doing, but we pay the bills (usually) and people benefit, and that's rewarding.

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I realize that the idea of 'Ionic Foot Baths' (IFB) can seem very convincing, and I'm sorry to have to rain on the parade, but I feel I must point out that anyone who has learned how to make Colloidal Silver (CS) can see at once what these baths are really about.

Both procedures, IFB and CS, use electrolysis - the setting up of a small current of electricity between two electrodes that are immersed in water. When making CS it's extremely important to use the PUREST water available. It's also important to control the current so that it never exceeds 1.0 milliamp.

If the water is impure and contains a lot of minerals (as is the case with most tap water), or if the current is too high, you will get exactly the same results as these 'Ionic Foot Baths'; you will end up with dirty discolored water. The sludge and discoloration will have come from the electrodes, and from the impurities in the water which will have undergone chemical changes by reacting with electricity. The various colors that have been reported could simply be the product of the kind of mineral salts, such as sea salt, that have been added to the starting solution.

You can very easily duplicate what happens in an 'Ionic Foot Bath' by connecting up three nine-volt batteries to two wires, stripping the ends of the wires, inserting them in a jar of water, and adding a pinch of sea salt or some other mineral salt. Cloudiness and discoloration should appear fairly quickly, and sludge will eventually build up on your electrodes if you let this little experiment in electrolysis run for half an hour or so.

A foot bath is always nice and refreshing. An 'Ionic Foot Bath' is probably even more stimulating. But to suppose that the resultant debris has actually been drawn from deep inside your body is, I'm sorry to say, really stretching the imagination. The impurities in tap water, which are normally invisible to the naked eye, quickly become visible when you run a current of electricity through it.

Here the link: http://herballure.com/Studies/IonicFootSpa.html