Do Kinoki detox foot pads work?

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Looking at kinoki.com it only cites testimonials, one of which references an article in the Journal of Immunity, which despite its name is not a real medical journal and is little more than a compilation of testimonials.

A little research into how the body detoxifies (the liver) will tell you that the whole idea of removing "toxins", "parasites", and even "cellulite" from the bottom of the feet is completely false. The surface of the pad picks up dead skin and dirt, and a chemical on the pad ensures the color. Repeated use of this pad will clean your feet, but nothing else.

From other members of the community:

• No.
  
  
• Well I used it once and I felt much better.
  
  
• I used the footpads and believe they work simply because one night I placed the pads on my heels and the parts of the pad that were against the sides of my foot remained white. Only the part against the bottom of my foot turned brown.
  
  
• No they do not, bogus.
  
  
• I have never used them, nor do I think they work. I think many of the testimonials and other positive feedback about them works with the placebo effect. You believe a desired reaction will occur from a treatment, so your body reacts the way you expect it to when you use above said treatment.
  
  
• While the placebo effect may result in people feeling better, it has no bearing on the claim that the footpads remove any toxins, therefore any change in toxins cannot be explained by the placebo effect.
  
  
• After using the footpads one night, there was brown in the pad. Yuck. I guess it does work. However, I didn't feel any differently. Maybe I need to use them until they are clear of all brown. I'm going to try the epsom salt water. However, I won't see if any brown (toxins) are being removed to determine if it does indeed work.
  
  
• I must admit I have never personally tested the products, but if they are anything like other foot detox cures the reason the pads turn brown/black is because ferrous (iron-based) particles oxide (rust) when they come in contact with the sweat coming from your feet. As the particles change from their original state there will be less iron to react the next night than there was the previous night, leading to impression that your "toxin level" is decreasing.
  
  
• The footpads do not work. The discoloration on the pad is just an iron reaction with your sweat (basically creating rust on the pad). The change in time of the color of the pad until it is white is due to a layer (Im not sure of what yet) being deposited on your foot by the pad. When you dont wear the pad for a few days (ie, building up toxins) your socks, shoes, etc rub this layer off and when you wear the pad again after not having worn it for a few days, it will turn dark again, gradually build up another layer on your foot and the cycle repeats.. Any feeling of health obtained by the use of this product is the same as with a clinical placebo trial. It prays off the power of the mind. When you buy into the claims that it works, your expect it to work. You use it (expecting to feel better in the morning) and because you see a reaction (the pad turns dark) you think you are getting healthier and feel better. I would be willing to bet if you went to the doctor, had a blood tox screen done before using the pads, and without changing anything in your daily life, used the pads and had another round of blood tox screens done after the pad turned white, they would be virtually identical, even with the dark pad color.
  
  
• I just order the kinoki foot pads and will tell you if they work or not in a later posting.
  
  
• If toxins can be eliminated through the skin and/or through perspiration, why would this not work to eliminate toxins? Which toxins are eliminated is the big question, but it seems to me that the basic premise is a simple and proven one.
  
  
• The "foot pad" is white but contains a brown powder. When the pad gets wet, the brown shows through. You attach the pad to your foot with unbreathable adhesive, so, of course, your foot sweats during the night and wets the brown powder. I took a pad a put a tiny bit of distilled water on it and it turned brown. I feel so stupid.

• A friend of mine is a doctor, and I'm a Chef. We went to a free massage session in a nice part of San Diego. As a trial gift/thank you we were given "foot pads." She laughed later. She told me it doesn't take much to turn a "foot pad" to a different color. I tried it and yes they were brown. She told me that you can't remove toxins through your feet via a foot pad (not do you need detoxifiers, your body does it naturally). She told me this was in 2004!!!

• "The first, which can have serious side effects and requires close medical supervision, is called "chelation therapy" is very misleading. Chelation therapy is a very safe and effective therapy. It has been used since WW2 for standard therapy for the removal of heavy metals and is very popular in alternative medicine. Clinical studies are now being done for use in clearing up blockages. Doctors with experience have had very good results with Chelation Therapy.
  
  
• The white pads contain a light brown powder. When the powder gets wet, the powder/pad turns brown. You use unbreatheable adhesive to attach the pad to the bottom of your foot. Of course your foot sweats at night while you sleep and makes the pad wet -> brown. I put 5 drops of distilled water on one of the pads and it did the same thing - dark brown.
  
  
• I've read all these comments.. and some of you are doing JUST WHAT THE KINOKI people want you to do.. BUY THEIR SCAM PRODUCT. I'm laughing my head off - and at the same time, trying to figure out what kind of scam product I can create that gives just enough results "of some undefined type" to question whether or not it really works, then charge people for it and make a million!
  
  
• 20/20 Investigate Report. No, they don't work. It's a scam. They just had a special on 20/20 about how they don't work. They had scientific studies proving that it is not possible and did tests on the pads. The dark stuff that acts as toxins is merely placed in there and is even activated by distilled water.
  
  
• Why not try? I do not believe there is any published data--proving or disproving--on the Kinoki foot pad approach, but I see no harm in one trying it. Certainly, it would be safer and cheaper than many of the commonly prescribed drugs that cause hundreds of thousands of terrible side effects and early deaths in the United States each year. Today, we have kids down to age 5 being drugged for acting like kids who aren't being fed or raised right, suicides in all age groups increasing five-fold as a result of using SSRIs, a four-fold increase in cardiovascular disease since statin drugs were introduced in 1997, and hyperinsulinemia causing an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, at the total disregard by an entire healthcare field. Healthy people who are merely semi-dehydrated are put on diuretics at the peril of hypoxia and microvascular hypotension, those who need dietary changes are put on anti-reflux meds that cause terrible nutritional deficiencies, causing the loss of myelin and a host of idiopathic conditions that are mistreated with anti-convulsants, anti-seizure, and addictive pain killers.
  
  So, I say, why not Kinoki? Try it and see if it helps you. I read where one woman said it brought down the swelling of her ankles when conventional medicine only made it worse. Another said the pain in their feet resolved after only a week of using it. Another claimed they slept better and woke up feeling refreshed, something prescribed drugs failed to do. Placebo effect? Who knows? But then myriad studies show the placebo effect to be more powerful than many of the drugs commonly prescribed today, and without the side-effects. As a long-time researcher, I can attest that gentle is always better than forced, natural better than synthetic, and true health better than artificial health.
  
  As far as hard metal toxicity, our population is loaded with it. Most cases are chronic, causing a host of chronic diseases and deterioration states; some acute, needing immediate attention, but not getting it, except in the form of psychotropic drugs. EDTA oral chelation appears to the best solution for both chronic and acute cases, with lots of small-scale assay studies backing it up. Properly prepared and utilized there have been no reports of side-effects using EDTA oral chelation. But those with an interest in perpetuating the failed treatments of allopathy and Big Pharma are skeptical of it. Again, I say the gentle long-term effects of alternative is better than the bullying short-term results of allopathy; natural is better than synthetic; real healing is better than artificial appearances of healing. To those who have to break outside the box to find effective treatments, more power to them. Certainly, they could do no worse by doing so.
  
  
• Positive results. I have a tendency to try things out first before I decide if they are legit. Sometimes I get burned and throw my money away, so to speak, but when that happens, believe me, I let all my friends & family know and my money never goes in that direction again. I purchased the kinoki footpads because my feet would hurt so bad when I would stand up and put weight on them, anyway they did not help me for the first 3 days but I kept putting them on each night, they were more of a black brown in color than I saw on TV. The fourth morning after I got up and I walked down the steps and I could tell the difference right away. I have been completely pain free in my feet until recently, these last two days (I used them a little over a month ago) my pads never went to a white color. I used them the whole 2 weeks and the pads went from a large black brown portion of pad to a smaller lighter brown portion of the pad by the end of the 2 weeks.
  
  I have been waiting to receive more as I thought I was to receive them every month and I haven't yet. I am going to call the company and get more, I thought they were to be a lifetime supply. I'm not sure why exactly these work but I've contacted the Better Business Bureau in my state before to complain about products that don't work and I've received my investment back before. I just hope I don't have a hassle receiving more of these. I've soaked my feet in epson salt before and I've gotten relief for tired sore feet when I was younger but there definitely is a difference when I used these pads and less the water mess hassle.

• Response to "why not try?" and "Positive Results." The "why not try" posting reiterates that real healing and effective treatments are better than artificial ones--that is our point. The best that these foot pads offer is an artificial feeling of well-being. The color change on the pads is from the sweat on your feet reacting with iron within the pad. When iron reacts with oxygen, it forms rust (a brownish hue). Iron also produces a black color upon reaction with many other elements/compounds that your feet could pick up. This effect is evidenced by pouring pure water on the pad--the pad still turns brown. This is from the Oxygen from the water (H₂O). It turns out the foot pads are actually using heavy metals as "indicators" of "the release of heavy metals and toxins" on the pad. The absorbant material does result in the uptake of some chemicals, but you may in fact be introducing more toxins than you are releasing.

The fact that you are having trouble receiving your monthly shipments of your "lifetime supply" should be the finalizing proof that these detox foot pads are a rip-off, just another TV scam. Just type something like "iron oxidation in foot detox pads" into google and you will get plenty of feedback. For example, the publicized study on Kinoki foot pads can be found at (http://www.themockdock.com/category/kinoki-foot-pads/).

First answer by ID1108856098. Last edit by Ssquirl. Contributor trust: 4 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 209 [recommend question]

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