Detox

I have noticed the above sign outside a beautician’s shop in my local shopping centre recently. Every time I have walked past the amazing claims it lists have made me raise an eyebrow. So after a few weeks of eyebrow raising I decided that I should investigate.

The text reads:

If you are living, eating, breathing…YOU need to DETOX

NO TABLETS, NO DIETS…

Detox & Re-energize the Easy way in 30 minutes with ION SPA

• Detoxify & eliminate harmful toxins.
• Boost Metabolism promoting weight loss.
• Rejuvinate cell tissues, slow aging.
• Boost energy and release endorphins.
• Relief from joint pain & enhance circulation.
• Enhance mind & body wellbeing.

An impressive list of claims no doubt. Ion Spa is easily Googled. Turns out that it is an American company selling a range of pseudo-scientific sounding foot spas for home and professional use. The IonSpa personal designed for the home is available for the very reasonable price of US$795. The IonSpa portable is US$995 and the IonSpa Professional is UU$1395. Quite an investment but if it works as claimed then surely a worthwhile one.

Let’s have a look at those claims they make. Turns out that the Ion Spa website limits its claims to the very vague – as it must due to regulations in the U.S. It refers to “positive ions” (I thought these were cations), “negative ions” and “electrolysis of water”. According to the website “the epidermis of the foot excretes many organic materials” and “when the foot’s epidermis is in contact with a soluble liquid such as water these excreted materials become soluble themselves and float off into the water.” Actually waster isn’t soluble - it is a solvent i.e. substances may be dissolved in it. In defining toxins mention is made of bee stings and botulism, but otherwise no specific toxins are mentioned other than “soaps, creams, and other products introduced to the epidermis by the person” and “any naturally released germs, bacteria, funguses” (I believe the plural is fungi) in other words things that most people have on their feet.

Apparently when the “organs responsible for ridding your body of wastes are over-stressed with environmental toxins” they delay the processing of other toxins. The makers of the IonSpa explain the mechanism of detoxification thus: “large quantities of negative hydrogen ions are released during electrolysis” these are apparently absorbed into the body via “osmosis through the epidermis of the foot” and then “act as an ultra high-powered antioxidant…helping to prevent cell and tissue damage that could lead to cellular damage and disease”. This seems to be in contradiction to the excretion of toxins model mentioned elsewhere on the site.

Leaving aside the claims on the sign, which I’ll return to shortly, let’s take a look at detox in general. According to the UK group Sense About Science detox is a word with “little or no scientific meaning” outside of drug rehabilitation. Further The Skeptics Dictionary in its newsletter examines claims about free radicals. According to the Skeptics Dictionary David Concar writing in The New Scientist states that:

Our bodies produce free radicals all the time as cells convert oxygen and food into chemical energy. Free radicals can damage DNA and cell membranes in ways that might lead to ageing. Virtually all organisms have natural antioxidants and enzymes to stop this happening. Supplement these with antioxidant vitamins or drugs that mimic the enzymes and you will slow down ageing. This is the theory that underpins much of today’s multibillion-dollar trade in vitamins and anti-ageing supplements.

The catch is that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never eliminate all the free radicals. Even if you could, it might be harmful—our bodies need a certain number of free radicals to maintain their immune defences. Besides, the body’s inbuilt defences against free radicals may be so good they’re hard to improve on….

And there are other signs that boosting defences against free radicals is not the key to eternal life. Two of the most important enzyme defenders are superoxide dismutase and catalase. Flies engineered to make more of these enzymes live at most 10 per cent longer and some even have shortened lives. When the same mutation pops up in human superoxide dismutase it leads not to a longer life but to the nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (“Forever Young,” September 22, 2001).

Further certain studies have found that antioxidents may be damaging.

All of this is beside the point, however, since there is no mechanism I could discover for “ultra high-powered antioxidants” to enter the body through the feet in any quantities to be significant. Ben Goldacre writing in his blog Bad Science tested another foot spa detox making similar claims to IonSpa. He concluded (after replicating an electrolysing spa with a car battery and rusty nails) that:

“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.

The brown sludge pictured below and on the sign? Rust and possibly some calcium carbonate already present in the water.

Since IonSpa offers no scientific evidence for their claims and based on the information above one must conclude that the claims made on the pictured sign are also not under-pinned by any real science.

According to the Trade Practices Act 1974 Section 55A ” A corporation shall not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, the characteristics, the suitability for their purpose or the quantity of any services.” I would say that the onus is on the company in question to provide some scientific evidence as to the efficacy of their product.