Foot Detox: Healing Or Hype?

Young woman sitting with her feet in a bowl
It’s one of the hottest spa treatments around. A foot bath that some spas claim can actually remove toxins from your body right through your feet.

It’s called a foot detox and spas charge up to $85 for this seemingly miraculous treatment that supposedly draws toxins into a tub of water that changes color based on the organs being detoxed.

But does it really work?

In order to see if all the hype is true, we’ve got to take a look back and the human body and it’s ability to detox. An alkaline body is crucial to a person’s health. Diseases thrive in an acidic environment. So basically, the less acidic your body is and the more alkaline, the less prone you are to contracting a disease, such as osteoporosis or cancer, according to Christine.




(foot soak photo credit: facebook)

Let’s presume that toxins are being released and excreted through your feet as is claimed by the foot bath detox people. As you can see from pictures online, the color change makes it look incredible. But, that’s not the whole story.

The amount of toxins needed to be released in order to turn the water a dark brown would have to be substantial in quantity. This brings two very interesting observations to the forefront. First, the body hides these toxins in cells because they are indeed dangerous. In fact, exposure to too large a quantity of these toxins at one time could kill you. So, many “detox experts” want you to believe that the body released so many toxins that the water was turned black/brown and that the person actually felt good afterwards! If all of those toxins were released at one time, the majority of people would become extremely ill and some would even die!


Actually, the change in the color of the water has nothing to do with toxins coming out of your body and especially not from your feet. So what causes the change? The answer is simple chemistry. Some curious person asked the question of whether the water in the tub would change colors without the presence of a body part. The answer is, yes. Here is an excerpt from the manufacturer of one product:



So what does this all mean?  It means that if you really want to detox, you should try one these true full body…