posted
Last night the show 20/20 had a segment on foot pads that supposedly absorb toxins from your feet. I know I have tried them and always have wondered if they work. Last night I took a foot pad and added distilled water to it. It turned black just like it does when on my feet. Since distilled water has no toxins in it, I am convinced that food pads don't work and that is it the sweat from the feet that cause the color change. Maybe that's why the directios say to put them on an hour before bed time, so you will walk around some and sweat.
The segment said they also had the pads analyzed for toxins and none were found. These were pads with the vinegar and bamboo that have been talked about on this site, although not necessarily the same brand name that has been mentioned.
Anyway food for thought. Hiker53
-------------------- Hiker53
"God is light. In Him there is no darkness." 1John 1:5 Posts: 10193 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2004
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D Bergy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9984
posted
I am fairly sure these pads do little or nothing. I do not know of any mechanism, even the most theoretical one, that could make them work.
D Bergy
Posts: 2924 | From Minnesota | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Well, I've never tried the foot detox pads, but I found this abstract on one particular brand.
Published in The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Volume 20 Fourth Quarter, 2005 Number 4.
Abstract:
A small study of commercially available was undertaken to determine if there is evidence of heavy metal detoxification after using the foot patches as instructed by the manufacturer.
Three foot patches were used in the experiment: an unused ``virgin'' foot patch as a control, one that was used by Patient A who's mineral status showed no heavy metal poisoning, and another used by Patient B, who's mineral status showed contamination with several heavy metals.
Patient A's and B's mineral status was determined by Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis [HTMA] testing at Anamol Laboratories in Concorde, Ontario.
Anamol Laboratories also did the mineral analysis of the foot patches. Mineral analysis of these foot patches ascertained there was no evidence of any detoxification of heavy metals.
More importantly, the experiment revealed the control foot patch contained toxic levels of six heavy metals.
For this reason, employing them as a therapeutic method of detoxification may contribute to toxic exposures of heavy metals they are purposed to be detoxifying.
Study in the Effectiveness of Detoxification Foot Patches
As an Orthomolecular Nutritionist and Hair Tissue Analyst, part of my practice involves counseling patients to detoxify body stores of heavy metals when they are detected by Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis testing.
Recently, I was stimulated by claims made by manufacturers of Detoxification Foot Patches.
The manufacturers claim these foot patches draw heavy metals into the patches from your body while you sleep with them attached to the bottom of your feet.
Because this is relatively easy to test scientifically, I decided to do an experiment. I used three foot patches for the experiment; an unused ``virgin'' foot patch as a control, one that was used by Patient A who's mineral status showed no heavy metal poisoning, and another used by Patient B, who's mineral status showed contamination with several heavy metals, and had toxic levels of Cadmium [0.92 ppm] and Lead [28.2 ppm].
Patient A's and B's mineral status were determined by the use of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis [HTMA] testing at Anamol Laboratories in Concorde, Ontario. Anamol Labs also did the mineral analysis of the foot patches.
According to the manufacturers of the foot patches, they contain the following ingredients:
Wood vinegar and bamboo vinegar extract Houttuynia cordata extract Loquat leaf extract Chitosan Tourmaline Dextrin Vegetable fibre Vitamin C
The manufacturer of these foot patches also claim that by applying the foot patch [F.P.] to your feet, far infrared is generated in one's body. They also claim in their literature that the foot patches work just as well or better than IV chelation therapy.
Before I summarize the data from the mineral analysis of the foot patches, I want to address the claim that foot patches generate far infrared in one's body.
Any object which has a temperature will emit infrared radiation.
The wavelength of infrared radiation depends upon the temperature of the object.
The wavelength for far infrared radiation [FIR] is between 30 and 200 micrometers.
Interestingly, objects emitting radiation in the far infrared spectrum have a temperature between 10 and 120 Kelvins.
To give you an idea how cold this is, liquid nitrogen [which I certainly would not want to put on the soles of my feet!], has a temperature of ~170 K.
The manufacturers imply that irradiating the bottom of one's feet [the combination of ingredients somehow acquires this capability], would somehow impart a force on the heavy metals [and heavy metals only!], thus drawing them into the foot patch.
It is difficult to conceive of what physical process could be at work under such circumstances!
Summary of Foot Patch Experiment
Measurements are in ppm
The virgin - ``control'' - foot patch contained toxic levels of heavy metals.
In this ``control'' F.P. Aluminum was 9th highest ppm out of 38 minerals with a level of 324 ppm!
Any exposure of Aluminum over 10 ppm is considered toxic and over acceptable limits. The level of 324 ppm is 32.4 times over the acceptable limit!
Barium measured in at 33.9 ppm - anything over1.5 ppm is toxic. The barium in the control F.P. measured 22.6 times over the acceptable limit!
Four other heavy metals had levels over the acceptable limits in the control F.P.; Lead, Arsenic, Tungsten and Zirconium.
Cadmium was also found, but within acceptable limits.
Out of 7 toxic elements present in the control patch, 6 were over acceptable limits, with Aluminum and Barium being very toxic!
Patient A's Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis showed no heavy metal contamination, yet this patient's F.P. showed the exact same heavy metals as the control F.P., and all measuring in toxic ranges except for Cadmium.
Patient B's Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis showed elevated levels of these toxic elements: Antimony, Bismuth, Mercury, and Thallium, yet this patient's F.P. did not list these elements upon analysis.
The same elements detected in the control F.P. mineral analysis were found in Patient A and B foot patches, with no deviations and no statistically significant differences.
A good example to use is Tin. The control F.P. had 6.53 ppm, Patient A's F.P. recorded 1.9 ppm, and Patient B's F.P. had 8.33 ppm.
There was more than 3 times the amount of tin in the control F.P. than Patient A's.
Molybdenum was over twice as high in the control F.P. than Patient A.
Conclusion:
This experiment involved only a small sample of foot patches, yet mineral analysis of these foot patches determined there was no evidence of any detoxification of heavy metals.
I surmise from this experiment that the claims made by the manufacturer of these foot patches are dubious at best.
In fact these foot patches contain significant toxic levels of heavy metals, and it seems implausible that such patches are going to benefit patients with already elevated levels of such toxins.
Accordingly, detoxification foot patches should never be applied to feet or any other body part because of the great possibility of contamination with the heavy metals that are present in them. ---------------------
To be fair this study only used 3 foot pads for analysis and it doesn't say which brand. They may not all use the same quality of ingredients.
I also read reports from people having foot patches analyzed and they did not contain any toxins.
So to have a more useful study they should do a larger investigation using several brands and more test subjects before they can say none work.
At this point I am not convinced I should use them, nor am I convinced that all of them are garbage. More info needed.
Looking
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
Small levels of lead were detected in some of the samples - however it was suggested that the pads may have been contaminated at the factory. I think it's also possible that someone may have gotten some tiny particles of lead containing paint on their feet if they live in a home with some lead paint, or in an area that has homes with lead paint.
The amount of predatory industries out there that prey on the chronically ill is incredible. Q-Ray, Kinoki, homeopathic pain mouth sprays, "detoxify your colon", "10 medical secrets they don't want you to know", etc. If I include half a sentence on my Mypsace page about Lyme, I get endless targeted advertisements (thanks google Adsense!) about how to CURE LYME FAST. These vultures can burn.
Posts: 32 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Sep 2007
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posted
Don't know whether to laugh or shake my head!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Greatcod
Unregistered
posted
Actually, the pads can help you detox if you pee on them.
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Carol in PA
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 5338
posted
One time someone posted here at LymeNet that she had her used foot pads analyzed, and one of the things it showed was asbestos.
Since asbestos does not travel through the skin, it could not have passed through her foot into the pad.
One of the problems with asbestos is that when you breathe in the fibers, they stay in your lungs, causing cancer.
If you eat the fibers, they stay in your intestines, and can also cause cancer.
Carol
Posts: 6956 | From Lancaster, PA | Registered: Feb 2004
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
We tried the foot pads for a while. It seemed to help my daughter's lower leg itching. We were new to treatment, and thought that toxins were pooling in that area.
It really didn't seem to help anything. I'm sorry to say. I was really hoping they would.
Well, that's a couple of hundred dollars thrown away.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
I actually got very sick from these pads. I tend to be sensitive to many things, medications, homeopathy, etc.
My LLMD wondered if I had an allergic reaction to the pads. It took me a few months to get over it. It was a definite major setback in my Lyme treatment.
Now that I read the pads themselves (at least in the small study cited here) might contain heavy metals, perhaps I was actually absorbing some through the skin and getting sick. We never knew what went wrong but it was definitely the pads for me, because nothing else in my disease treatment had changed except that.
Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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