In June 2003, "Daily Telegraph" journalist Greer Harris giddily extolled the benefits of her personal experience with the Aqua Detox spa treatment, which purportedly removed harmful "toxins" through the soles of her feet. Harris claimed that after the ionic foot bath--which was comprised of water and plain sea salt--she experienced a "glow of well-being (that) lasted all day." But slightly over a year later, Aqua Detox and similar foot bath detox treatment devices were revealed as nothing more than quackery.
The Aqua Detox Scam
The Aqua Detox International scam originated in the United Kingdom, where consumers paid between £15 to £30 per one 30-minute treatment, notes Dr. Stephen Barrett, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud. Mary Skaggs, the alleged maker and marketer of the Aqua Detox device, purported it produced "a frequency of positive and negative ions, which gently resonates through the body and stimulates all the cells ... (and) release any toxins that may have built up." Those who fell prey to Aqua Detox treatments noted that when they placed their feet in the water of the tub of the device, it soon turned rusty, sometimes with a film of sludge, indicating to consumers that they were indeed being "detoxed." Barrett notes that a similar competitor's device, Mobile Beauty, claimed that its device could cure a litany of problems, some of which include arthritis, joint pain, menstrual pain, mercury poisoning, food allergies and poor liver and kidney functioning.
Foot Bath Ionizer Detox Scam Revealed
In September, 2004, journalist Ben Goldacre of "The Guardian" wrote an expose on the foot bath detox in his "Bad Science" column. His article, "Rusty Results," revealed how the Aqua Detox foot bath--and those just like it--really work and why people think that their bodies are releasing "toxins." Goldacre placed metal electrodes in a bowl of salt water and hooked it up to a car battery with nails. The water in the brown also turned brown and acquired a film of sludge, similar to that noted in the Aqua Detox treatments. Goldacre subsequently dispatched a friend to receive an ionic foot bath treatment. A water sample was then sent for a toxicology analysis, which indicated that no urea or creatinine ("call them 'toxins' if you like," Goldacre writes) was present in the Aqua Detox water. The brown sludge in Goldacre's experiment and in the Aqua Detox water was the simple effect of rusting as salt water passed through the electrodes.
Ionic Foot Baths: Revised Marketing
Barrett states that the Goldacre expose changed the way that Aqua Detox and other copycat ionic foot baths were marketed to the public, noting that many marketers will now readily admit that the brown water is the result of rust. Ionic foot baths now place emphasis on claims that cannot be medically refuted, Barrett states. For example, many claim to "balance" the body's "energy," and place less focus on toxin removal. In April 2005, the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority addressed the problem of Aqua Detox International's direct mailings, which made unsubstantiated claims through personal "testimonials" that the device cured brain tumors, lowered cholesterol, straightened hammertoe, and helped wheelchair-bound patient walk again. Aqua Detox agreed to remove misleading testimonials.
Foot Detox: Other Fraudulent Products
Ionic "detox" food baths soon had other spin-offs targeting uneducated consumers, and hot on the trail were detox foot pads. The Kinoki Foot Pad scam was revealed by ABC's "20/20" in April 2008, in which a group of volunteers wore the adhesive foot pads--which purportedly removed "heavy metals, metabolic wastes, toxins, parasites, and cellulite" during sleep--for several days. The 20/20 producers sent the pads for toxicology analysis at NMS Labs to test them for a variety of heavy metals and other solvents. No toxins were found on the used foot pads.
Dr. George Friedman-Jimenez, of Bellevue/New York University Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic in New York City, attributed the benefits of the pads to the placebo effect. "I think what we are seeing with treatments like Kinoki footpads is that people are expecting them to help, and expecting to feel better, and some people feel better just by chance, and some people feel better because of the expectation," he told "20/20." Friedman-Jimenez added that toxins could not be removed from the body through the feet. In January 2009, the Federal Trade Commission charged Kinoki with deceptive advertising and sought reimbursement for consumers.
Prevent Health Fraud
Aqua Detox International has since gone defunct, but an array of similar ionic foot baths continue to be marketed and sold on the Internet--usually by multi-level marketers anxious to make a quick buck (in December 2008, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration refused import of the "Ionic Detox Accessory Foot Bath" from a Chinese manufacturer due to product misbranding). The Federal Trade Commission encourages consumers who fall prey to purchase of or treatment with a questionable medical device to file a complaint with the agency.
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