Detox foot pads are adhesive pads that you place on the bottoms of your feet while you sleep. Manufacturers claim that these little pads will draw out heavy metals and other toxins through the soles of your feet. When you apply the pads to your feet, as you sleep, the pads draw out the toxins and turn color, usually brown, indicating that they are working.
The idea is that through reflexology and pressure points, on the bottom of your feet, which are aligned with your vital organs, the medicine on the detox foot pads will cleanse your system of toxins. These toxins are collected through daily exposure to pollution and other contaminants. Other distributors claim that detox foot pads work through reflexology to access lymph nodes.
Most manufacturers claim that their detox foot pad's benefits include better sleep, better or normal circulation, reduces the burden on the immune system, removal of heavy metals, removal of toxins in the body, and detoxifying of the lymphatic system. There are some manufacturers who sell organic detox foot pads that are 100% natural and free of all chemicals and pesticides. Some manufacturers will seal their detox foot pads in Mylar bags or other special packaging to prevent contamination.
While there are many users who are happy with their detox foot pads, there is no real science to back up the claims made by manufacturers. Critics assert that the placebo effect is the reason some users are so happy with their product. Most critics are equally disturbed by the lack of scientific evidence offered by the manufacturers to back up their claims. Often there is not a list of ingredients offered, and if there is, it doesn't include how much of the ingredients are used. This makes testing in controlled environments difficult to impossible.
There are users who complain of the smell, probably from the vinegars, that the foot pads have. Some users complain that there is a residue left on their feet from the ingredients of the foot pads. Another drawback seems to be price. Some detox foot pads will set you back $34.95 US Dollars (USD), plus shipping and handling, for a ten day supply.
Many critics find that the wood vinegar in the detox foot pads, which is an ingredient in nearly all of the foot pads available, will turn brown with a little water. Critics claim that as your feet sweat, the moisture activates the wood vinegar and, its dark pigment, stains the pads. They assert this discredits claims that when the pads turn color it is an indication that toxins have been removed from your body.
Critics of detox foot pads go on to state medical facts that disprove the functionality of the pads. Those include skin's inability to allow heavy metals to pass through it. One reporter did some informal independent testing and had foot pads, used by volunteers, tested for heavy metals and toxins, but the lab didn't find arsenic, mercury, or any other toxin in the used pads. What critics fear most is that people, who are seriously ill, will postpone getting medical help, believing that the detox foot pads are the cure they're looking for. In this way, detox foot pads can be considered very dangerous.