You've seen the commercials: People stick their feet into water-filled basins that quickly turn dark with horrifying slime, supposedly drawn out of their body. Trying ionic foot cleansing yourself doesn't come cheap. You can expect to pay close to $100 at a spa or even as much as $1,000 for your own home version. Don't pull out the wallet yet, however, as the science behind these devices is even more murky than the water they produce.
Identification
While explanations differ by supplier, ionic foot baths operate around a similar premise. You immerse your feet in a basin of saltwater with a slight electric charge. This charged water, proponents claim, interact with your body to pull out a variety of toxins, heavy metals and other nasties through the pores in the soles of your feet. While this happens, the water turns a murky yellow to brown, which proponents point to as evidence of the lost toxins. Some even claim a color code for the toxins: yellow for toxins from your excretory system, for example, or black from your liver.
Claimed Benefits
Both spas pushing ionic foot cleansing and manufacturers of such devices claim a wide variety of health benefits from the procedure. These claims include higher energy levels, healthier joints, the elimination of acne and other skin conditions, lower stress levels, weight loss, better digestion and protection from disease. Some say it will alleviate symptoms of specific conditions such as fibromyalgia and insomnia. None of the claims, however, is backed up by scientific research.
Expert Insight
Medical and scientific professionals who have researched ionic foot cleansing concur that the claims mostly are bunk. The sludge in the water is a result of the corroding electrodes, not from anything in your body. Guardian science columnist Ben Goldacre in 2004 created his own "ionic bath" with a pair of nails and a car battery. He then sent a colleague for a foot-cleansing treatment. A comparison of the resulting water from both showed that each had higher iron content but no toxins.
Misconceptions
Besides the ineffectiveness of the devices, they also are based on bad science. Stephen Barrett of Device Watch points out that your skin is not designed to excrete toxins. Your liver and kidneys help remove toxins through urine, not sweat. Further, the low electric current in these baths are not enough to split water molecules into ions. Even if they did, there's no research indicating these ions have any effect on toxic substances or free radicals in the body.
Warning
So long as they are operated properly, ionic foot baths do not carry any health risks. If you find the tingly water relaxing and are not deterred by the hefty price tag, there's no harm in using them. Some retailers, faced with published debunking, in fact have moved away from claims of toxin removal and instead claim less tangible benefits such as energy balance. Don't be fooled into thinking they're providing any sort of medical benefits, however, and certainly do not use them as a replacement for any prescribed treatment for a disease.
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