Foot detox pads are marketed as being able to extract harmful toxins from the body through ingredients such as distilled bamboo vinegar. The product, which is to be worn while sleeping, claims to suck out the toxins through the skin at the soles of the feet. Studies by National Public Radio suggest that these claims are not accurate. The FDA also has stated that there is no evidence that foot detox pads are actually able to extract any toxins.
Doesn’t Really Detoxify
Dr. Stephen Barrett, who operates Quackwatch, analyzed a particular brand of foot detox pads, Sap Sheets, in 2007. He said that the product almost certainly could not extract toxins through the feet for several reasons. Firstly, the skin membrane is not semi-permeable and does not permit the passage of toxins. Additionally, he points out that the extraction of toxins is a complicated process. The use of a simple ingredient alone, such as bamboo extract in this case, would not galvanize the detoxification process.
Instead, the body has a complex system for removing toxins, and this process occurs in the liver, not in the feet. The liver detects substances that belong in the body and those that are unnatural. After toxins are detected, they are processed in the kidneys and exit the body through urine.
Barrett said that this process would be impossible for the feet, since there are no pathways between the internal processes of the organs and the feet for the toxins to exit through.
Plain Water Causes Color Change
Sarah Varney of National Public Radio conducted a study in August 2008 to see whether an examination of used foot pads would find the absorption of toxins. The picture on the box of Kinoki foot pads that Varney tested shows a white “before” pad and a brownish, blackish “after” pad. This color change is supposedly due to the residue of heavy metals and metabolic waste extracted from the body.
Varney and her husband wore the Kinoki foot detox pads during a night of sleep. When they awoke, the foot pads were gray and smelled rancid. A laboratory analysis, however, showed no difference between the used pads and an unused pad. The scientists who did the analysis hypothesized that the change in color and the terrible odor came simply as a result of the absorption of moisture from the foot. To test this, Varney held an unused pad above a pot of steaming water; the pad turned black quickly thereafter.
Promised Results Don’t Materialize
ABC’s John Stossel investigated the Kinoki and Avon foot detox pads in 2008. The companies’ infomercials not only claimed to rid the user of toxins, but to also provide more energy, better sleep and a feeling of overall well-being.
Volunteers were given both brands of foot pads to try out, and they reported no such results from the foot pads. Like the NPR study, the volunteers complained of a terrible odor, some likening it to a barbeque pit, while others noted that the pads left a strange film on their feet.
