45 Comments Add your own

• 1. jdc325  |  February 13th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

  Nice one Frank. Science Punk at its best, I reckon. Five-year-olds helping debunk detox pads? Excellent.

• 2. Charles Betz  |  February 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

  Better than Mythbusters!
  I love the TV ads for these detox products though!

• 3. gimpy  |  February 13th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

  Nice one Frank. Maybe a word with Trading Standards?

• 4. Debra  |  February 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am

  I am amused. Never heard of these things before, but now I know better just the same.

• 5. Hizzoner  |  February 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

  You’re crazy these things really work. I put them on my feet and they suck out all of the poison. When you are dead in the ground, I will be alive and healthy because the poison is out of my organs. Your organs will wither and die because of the poison. Bye poison lover.

• 6. Sceptic  |  February 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

  @Hizzoner

  They say mind over matter is a powerful thing so if you believe hard enough that a tea bag full of grit will save your life maybe it will. Just don’t get hit by a bus while concentrating on the tea bag.

• 7. Mr. Biochemist  |  February 15th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

  Good job, Frank. The biochemist in me wants to slap my forehead at the ignorance people exhibit and willingness to stand up for a product based on nothing scientific. The capitalist in me rubs his hands together at the prospect of selling people $0.75 worth of chemicals for $20. Chained to the bench? No more!

  Nice dissection kit, btw.

• 8. Wakela Runen  |  February 15th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

  It’s amazing the gullibility of people. There are people who spend thousands of dollars each year on products just as this. They go to “healers” to get herbs and other things.

  If they want the toxins out of their body, they just need to stop eating and drinking crap. Simple.

  There is no magic product for that.

• 9. Aramis  |  February 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

  I knew someone going through breast cancer for the second time, she was enduring chemo as well, if you know what that’s like you’ll realise it is pretty awful.

  She used these pads, or ones like them. She also used other herbal remedies & stuff on top of the meds she had to take from the hospital.

  I took one look at them and said “these can’t possibly work, they’re a scam.”

  She replied “They may well be, but frankly I’ll try anything to avoid dying.”

  I saw her point.

• 10. Snowcrash  |  February 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

  Excellent! My fiance’s sister has been trying to get everyone to use these things. She swears they’re great, but I could smell the BS the moment she compared the human body to trees. Now I can show this to her and have her hate me even more! There is nothing in the world quite as fun as antagonizing your future in-laws!

• 11. James  |  February 15th, 2008 at 6:57 pm

  I’m interested in how these actually work, but my only gripe with the dissection is that you stated the foil backing would make your feet sweaty. You don’t wear the foil… you wear the package in “all it’s virginal glory” with the gauze tape they give you to keep it there.

  I tired these out once, and it may have been mind over matter, but I had the best sleep in months after it. The thing that really caught me off guard was that, and excuse my candor, my farts smelled like the footpads.

  Not sure what is really going on there, the package states that it is working off of the same idea of acupuncture and reflexology… so there may not be a good scientific way to work it out.

  Good work all in all, interesting article.

• 12. Michael Oliver  |  February 15th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

  Thank you for doing this!

  However, did you use distilled water? Because otherwise you’ve got a pretty obvious source of ‘toxins’. Don’t get me wrong, these are obviously bogus, but that’s no excuse for sloppy controls.

• 13. Josh in California  |  February 15th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

  “I tired these out once, and it may have been mind over matter, but I had the best sleep in months after it.”

  Placebo effect.

  “The thing that really caught me off guard was that, and excuse my candor, my farts smelled like the footpads.”

  More like the footpads smell like farts. I imagine that wood vinegar + starch + sweat doesn’t smell very good.

  “Not sure what is really going on there, the package states that it is working off of the same idea of acupuncture and reflexology… so there may not be a good scientific way to work it out.”

  There is, and he did it. Reflexology and acupuncture are bunk as well.

  And how could this work based on the same idea as acupuncture? Acupuncture ancient chinese mumbo-jumbo that says you can manipulate invisible, undetectable energy in the body by sticking long, thin needles in it. Acupuncture has nothing to do with “toxins”, it’s all about the manipulation of non-existent “chi” energy.

• 14. James  |  February 15th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

  Well, in the fart debate I can assure you that it was the farts smelling like foot-pads, it normally does not stink the same way. However, I’m not saying that the above is evidence for the effectiveness of the pads, if anything it should be a deterrent.

  And I agree on the placebo effect, some people just call that mind over matter, and I think there is a lot to be said for it. For some people it has done wonders.

  As for the acupuncture bit, I’m only saying what was on the manual.

  What about another test where someone wears these things for a week and reports on their experience? Instead of cutting it open and saying ‘oh this is bunk.’ Just playing the devil’s advocate here.

  As a side note, I don’t claim to be a scientist, I’m merely a computer technician interested in science and the pursuit of discovering new things.

• 15. Frank the SciencePunk  |  February 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

  You don’t wear the foil… you wear the package in “all it’s virginal glory” with the gauze tape they give you to keep it there.

  Look closely at the pictures… The detox pad is foil on one side and gauze on the other.

  However, did you use distilled water? Because otherwise you’ve got a pretty obvious source of ‘toxins’.

  Unfortunately the kitchen tap was all out of distilled water, but it’s the cleanest water I had access to. (I was tempted to use homeopathic solution, being so purified, but figured that would just confuse things)…

• 16. James  |  February 15th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

  Got me there, I was blinded by my own chance encounter with the pads (there was probably foil on the inside, none on the out it was even packaged in plastic vs the shiny foil you had there), and got confused because the line you had was right underneath the pre-packed packet still in the plastic.

  The other question I had was, after time the pads claim that they don’t change colors or smell anymore, is there any way to test that besides wearing them for a week? Although that would make for a couple nights of feeling ridiculous.

  Thanks for the response by the way mate.

• 17. Jason  |  February 15th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

  Thanks for this article. It’s always amazing to me how quickly people buy into things as soon as advertisers says it’s “natural” and works on “toxins.” Especially if you don’t have to eat right and exercise… just put this on your foot and it will cure what ails ya!

  This is probably the same scammy deal as those Kinoki foot pads they advertise on cable late at night.

• 18. Andyk  |  February 15th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  This is the same tree hugging hippy bullyshit as those ear candles you can buy. They say they draws out the wax from your ears, but the actual wax thats left is what comes out of the candle!

  Bloody hippies!

• 19. Erika  |  February 15th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

  I see how body sweat would turn the pads brown and sticky, but what about elemental analysis before and after the pads were used? If the pads to absorb toxins, those toxins should be detected by an ICP-MS. If there are toxins like mercury and other heavy metals that couldn’t possibly come from the pads themselves after use, then we would definetely have our answer.

• 20. mbzm  |  February 16th, 2008 at 12:47 am

  Do the pads come numbered or in some way organized as to which ones you use first and later? Because the Kinoki Foot Pads (the only ones I’ve seen advertised on TV) say they get lighter and lighter, supposedly indicating the that your body has less and less “toxins” left in it. So, how does that work, unless they get you to use the pads in some kind of order with the pads having less of the wood vinegar ingredient in them? Or is it just a lie, so people keep buying more thinking they are really, really full of toxins (although they promise to send you more free for life if you ever need to do it again)?

• 21. Jason  |  February 16th, 2008 at 1:28 am

  nice Frank,

  You and your 5 year olds should do the same with ear candles. they are deceptive in a similar way.

• 22. xoc  |  February 16th, 2008 at 2:19 am

  Just like the Hopi candle scam.

• 23. ken davies  |  February 16th, 2008 at 5:44 am

  Frank, you performed a very poor quality and unscientific analysis.

  And all the people congratulating you on such a fine job and their amazement that people would fall prey to such a scam — just fell prey to YOUR pseudo-scientific scam analysis. They’re guilty of the same behavior they complain about in others.

  Without wasting a lot of my own time attempting to educate you on scientific methodology — and appropriate conclusions that can legitimately be drawn from it — I’ll simply point out one HUGE and GLARING error that you made that all the others seem to simply agree with. This same error is often found to be at the basis of pseudo science that the “scientific” people complain about.

  You said “So there you have it. Champneys detox pads contain a powder that turns brown, sticky and smelly when wet. Which means none of these things are a result of ‘toxins’ exiting the body.”

  That’s a TOTALLY unscientific conclusion. The fact that the pads turn brown, sticky, and smelly when simply wet — does NOT mean that when used as directed — they don’t ACTUALLY draw out toxins which simply add to the brown, sticky smell. Did you compare the brown, sticky smell of simply being wet with that from being used? How do you know that they’re identical?

  All you proved was that the material turns brown, sticky and smelly when simply wet. You didn’t disprove any claimed benefits at all.

  I don’t know whether or not these things actually work — but I do know that your so-called “proof” doesn’t!

• 24. dan  |  February 16th, 2008 at 7:09 am

  question, how does it get lighter as you wear it a few times? also how do you explain the labs toxins results? and as for them being numbered, they are not. i bought a week supply and they really did get lighter. i was actually thinking of doing it again, maybe i will do a test myself, and these were kinoki foot pads not this brand.

• 25. Black Cat » Så fun&hellip  |  February 16th, 2008 at 8:17 am

  […] anledning av AB artikel om detox är det kul att se hur SciencePunk dissikerar en sk Detox Pad och visar hur de verkligen fungerar, alltså inte hur de rensar kroppen […]

• 26. daniel  |  February 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am

  I knew some ignoramus would use this as an excuse to rag on acupuncture. Ignorance and close-midedness will go a long way towards “discrediting” any practice. If you look at Soviet research you will see that sans modern technology, acupuncturists has correctly mapped the electroconductivity of the skin, which is scientifically measurable.

• 27. sbrd  |  February 16th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

  I had never heard of these pads before now. However, I’ve taken enough science in school and have enough common sense to recognize a physically impossible idiocy when I see one.

  There are plenty of people who don’t understand how their own bodies work, or how anything works in the physical universe, for that matter. To those people I say, it may be too late for you, but please, get a decent education for your children?!

• 28. downloadar  |  February 16th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

  Good work!!!

• 29. memos  |  February 18th, 2008 at 9:32 pm

  Interesting article which reminds me of a trick we used to use way back in my young bar tender days. If we didn’t want do a full shift
  and wanted an evening off we would make insoles out of blotting paper (Yes that was in the days of ink wells!) and put them in our shoes. After a while one would feel dizzy and faint. So what was the effect of the blotting paper? What did it draw from our bodies to have such an affect. Perhaps Champney detox pads do something similar.

• 30. FacePalm  |  February 20th, 2008 at 4:39 am

  Thank you so much for this. I work in a Food Co-Op where the assistant manager very much buys into this kind of psuedo-science hoobajoob. We just started carrying these things ($28 a box) and I can’t wait to toss this webpage in her face. Politely of course.

• 31. jdc325  |  February 20th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

  Daniel in comment 26 wrote: “I knew some ignoramus would use this as an excuse to rag on acupuncture.”
  Well I might have expected that someone might try and defend acupuncture. Sham acupuncture and the traditional Chinese version of the therapy have basically the same effects and meridians are meaningless - see Improbable Science for more details: http://dcscience.net/?p=166
  It may be relevant that you refer to Soviet research - I thought I would post this reference anyway: doi:10.1016/S0197-2456(97)00150-5 (’Do Certain Countries Produce Only Positive Results? A Systematic Review of Controlled Trials’) In relation to studies of acupuncture: “no trial published in China or Russia/USSR found a test treatment to be ineffective”. The authors state that “publication bias is a possible explanation”.

• 32. What the  |  February 26th, 2008 at 3:07 am

  STOP THE PRESSES. I’m not saying I believe in these either but come on. This is hardly a scientific study. The dude ripped it open and poured water on it. I do believe more tests should be done. Like using it and testing what “poisons come Out of the body” would be a good start.

  I agree you shouldn’t believe everything you see on tv. but to you “scientific” people leaving posts saying you knew it all along maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet.

• 33. Sue  |  February 27th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

  I’m a clinical hypnotherapist (more hoobajoub?) and i started off thinking “I won’t buy those patches then”, but many many postings later, now I’m confused …. If someone sends me some packets of the patches I’ll try them out though - perhaps I’ll lose the excess weight …….

• 34. G. Gilbert  |  February 28th, 2008 at 2:19 am

  I read of a test where an acupuncturist and a mock acupuncturist both went through the motions. As I understood it, the mock acupucturist had a slightly higher (but statistically insinifigant) postive response from those treated. I’m sorry I can’t attribute the article.

• 35. Frank the SciencePunk  |  February 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am

  @ G Gilbert

  Here is an article reporting the German study that found equal efficacy for real and fake acupuncture.

• 36. micky  |  March 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

  I tried the pad for the first time last night. I am searching the net for credible evidence of this pads ability to do what it says. yes, I should have researched before buying BUT I took the ‘word-of-mouth’ approach to this purchase.
  At any rate, while I find this experiment VERY interesting and exactly what I was looking for, my pad actually turned BLACK not brown.
  Maybe salt from my sweat made it darker. I am going to open and do this exact experiment myself right now with distilled water and adding salt to see what happens.
  I would like to think that “something” was removed from my body but alas, we may never know.

• 37. Ken  |  March 11th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

  Not very scientific - but as someone who imports this product I can tell you the results are absolutely accurate - any moisture introduced to these pads will turn them dark (black or brown depending on the ingredients), sticky and smelly.\

  The point however is that any company selling these products claiming that toxins are removed through the soles of the feet are doing consumers a terrible disservice, because except for whatever toxins are normally expelled via sweat, the true benefit of a detox pad is in the action of the far-infrared energy it emits at body temperature.

  The far infrared stimulates the meridians that run through the feet, or it stimulates the soft tissue if placed on other parts of the body - that’s it - it’s the far infrared energy.

  Whether or not you believe far infrared to be therapeutic is another discussion entirely … but don’t condemn a whole class of product that has a rich history in the orient (you can get them at any drugstore and they are accepted the same way we accept aspirin) without doing all the research.

  A reputable company will explain all this on their website or literature and a reputable company will list all the ingredients and importantly the weight of the powder - because size counts for something here … and the bottom line is this: when the pad turns dark and sticky, it means it’s effective life is over - the far infrared is emitted only from the dry powder.

• 38. badchemist  |  March 11th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

  @Ken, send me some of these lovely pads you import and I will put them in a spectrophotometer at 37 celsius and see what they emit in the far-infrared region. For comparison I’ll also stick one of my socks in.

• 39. Wyatt  |  March 13th, 2008 at 4:33 am

  I don’t know…I’m really torn on the subject of detox foot pads. I’ve read most of the comments on here, as well as threads on various message boards and no one can really prove one way or the other. I wish someone would just analyze these in a lab for some of the substances it claims to remove such as mercury, asbestos, aluminum, etc. and that would finally put this to rest, or at least it would prove that it doesn’t pull out toxins through the feet. That still wouldn’t debunk the acupuncture/reflexology part.

• 40. Frank the SciencePunk  |  March 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am

  @ 39

  Perhaps you missed this: scientific study of detox pads?

  Unfortunately there’s no way of knowing how rigorous this test was.

• 41. sapper leader  |  March 26th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

  I had to try these pads so I bought a set. I applied them to my feet before going to bed as directed. I woke with brown pads that were sticky and smelly. The amazing thing about it was that it had a faint smell of bar-b-que sause. I ate a couple of pulled pork sandwiches the night prior. I find it quite odd. If only I could make my farts smell the same……..

• 42. Suggestions for Future 30&hellip  |  March 30th, 2008 at 9:07 am

  […] like some of your trials which require whole changes in lifestyle! Bonnie Hey Bonnie, here is a good resource on the detox pads. They are basically kitty litter. __________________ Best, Dan […]

• 43. misha  |  April 17th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

  i love your website :]

• 44. Ethanol  |  April 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 am

  Badchemist on post #38 -”send me some of these lovely pads you import and I will put them in a spectrophotometer at 37 celsius and see what they emit in the far-infrared region”

  -Awsome. I love this site precisely because you can see responses like these.
  However, I feel the need to play devils advocate for a minute. While Ken’s reference to far infared is certainly confused and generally characteristic of psudoscience BS, basically all he’s really saying is “they get hot.” IR wouldn’t have much to do with the transmission of such heat, cause they’re pressed up against your feet, but there are certainly plenty of reactions that would produce heat in response to water. While they won’t do diddly for “toxins”, heat pads are used for things like muscle pain. While I obviously have to give props to the IR spectrophotometer, perhaps all you really need is a thermometer

• 45. Badger  |  May 8th, 2008 at 2:41 am

  So what if: 1) You wear a pad on just ONE foot. 2) It turns dark brown. 3) You keep wearing pads on that same foot until the “toxins” are all gone and the final pad stays white. 4) You then put pads on BOTH feet.

  Any predictions? One white pad, one brown? Both white?

  Any opinions as to what either result would mean?

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