I mentioned in one of my last few posts about some scams that I want people to know about. First up is a product called Ion Cleanse (there are other products that claim to do the same thing, this just happens to be the one I saw):
Now, this is actually a known scam, as you can read here:
The water is being electrolyzed. This promotes rapid corrosion of the iron electrodes in the foot bath. Ferric oxides to the chemist, or rust to most everyone else is what turns the water yellow then brown. Insoluble iron precipitates are what form the scum on top too.
A couple of year ago, the Bad Science column in the Guardian looked at one of these devices. They concluded that none of the common waste products from the human body (creatine and urea) were appear in the “toxic” water. The only change they detected was a rise in iron levels.
This appears to be a way to scare people with rusty water. Inadvertant on the part of the operator or not, it’s a complete scam.
If that’s not enough to deter you, see this (read Aqua Detox as Ion Cleanse):
Thinking back to GCSE chemistry, it seemed likely to me that it was rust rather than toxins, since they have, after all, got a pair of metal electrodes in a salt water bath with a current passing across them. And so we set up, on a kitchen table, a bowl containing salt and water, with two metal nails attached to a car battery. And what do you know: our water goes brown too, with a nice sludge on top. Could this be the same brown as the Aqua Detox water?
Bravely I sent along my friend Dr Mark Atkins to have himself Aqua Detoxed. He took water samples from the bowl, which we sent off to the Medical Toxicology Unit at New Cross, south-east London. You can only imagine our excitement, especially as they charged us £200 for the analysis. And so - triumphant music - the water taken out before they switched their Aqua Detox machine on contained only 0.54mg per litre of iron (probably from the metal spoon); but afterwards it contained … 23.6mg/l. Our water, from our kitchen table setup, contained 97mg/l (and it was a bit browner).
But did it extract toxins? “Toxin” is classic pseudoscience terminology. Essentially, the Aqua Detox people are offering dialysis, through your feet. Urea and creatinine are probably the smallest molecules - call them “toxins” if you like - that your body gets rid of, in places like urine and sweat: if “toxins” were going to come out, anywhere, you’d expect those to come out, too. There was no urea or creatinine in the water before the Aqua Detox, and there was none in the water afterwards. Which means, I believe, that we win.
So there you go… the sad truth is that this is a very popular item at trade shows and I’ve seen crowds form around these devices. It’s absolutely horrible. Please steer clear of these scams and feel free to tell people you know. This warning also goes for those looking at those late night commercials for Kinoki Foot Pads (or any other “Foot Detox Pad”). They claim to “detox” you through “Ions”… here’s the ingredients:
Kinoki Detox Foot Pads contain only 100% pure & natural ingredients, harvested and blended at the peak of their potency-bamboo vinegar, tourmaline, chitin and detox herbs.
Let’s take a look shall we? Bamboo Vinegar is just Wood Vinegar (or Pyroligneous acid):
Pyroligneous acid, also called wood vinegar, is a dark liquid produced by the destructive distillation of wood. Its principal components are acetic acid and methanol.
Interesting… a dark liquid you say? Perhaps something that, in a powdered form, could cause a white foot pad to look like this in the morning after mixing with sweat (pic stolen from here):
You see kids, it’s all a scam! They just want your money so they’ll give you whatever snake oil they have!
Oh, one last thing… what is it with scams and their love for ions? Do you know what an ion is? Here’s the definition:
An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more valence electrons, making it positively or negatively charged.
That’s it. No magical cures… no detoxing. That’s all an ion is. Here’s how to tell if something is a scam, ready? If it uses the word “ion” in it and the word “detox” in any way… it’s a scam. I promise.
