Anybody else remember seeing ads for these on tv? According to the infomercial, our bodies are teeming with toxins, poisons, and other impurities. The Kinoki foot pads work by naturally draining all these toxins and chemicals out through…your feet. Apparently, if you stick these pads on the bottom of your feet before you go to bed, by the time you wake up in the morning, the pad will be brown and disgusting from all of the “toxins” extracted while you were sleeping.
According to the manufacturer, Kinoki foot pads will “collect heavy metals, metabolic wastes, toxins, parasites, cellulite and more, giving you back your vitality and health.” Like many pseudoscientific remedies, the ingredients are very vague. The only ingredients listed are tourmaline, a glucose derivative called chitin, and bamboo vinegar. There are also no scientific studies conducted to prove that the brown residue contains toxins or whether it is just sweat reacting with the ingredients in the pad. Many skeptical customers held the pads over boiling water and after a few minutes they turned brown. In fact, a laboratory in Pennsylvania that does toxicology testing tested used Kinoki foot pads for heavy metals like mercury and arsenic as well as 23 solvents like benzene, styrene, and toluene and found absolutely nothing.
Testimonials from people who have used the foot pads range from “completely useless” to “I feel like I have more energy.” Because there is no scientific evidence to prove they actually work, positive effects from the foot pads can usually be attributed to the placebo effect. People who use the pads feel better because they are expecting them to work. They usually don’t take in other possibilities like maybe they slept better that night and that’s why they have more energy. People who used the pads also complained of a terrible smell. Somebody should have told them that sticking vinegar soaked pads to the bottom of your feet probably won’t smell like roses…or remove toxins.
Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/525341/do_kinoki_detox_foot_pads_work_pg2.html?cat=68
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Stossel/story?id=4636224&page=2
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I was interested in trying this a few years ago, but this changed my mind. It sounds more gross than anything because it smells bad and stuff. Consumers should always beware of these treatments that remove toxins from your body.
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