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DVICE TV: The high-tech detox

We're all for living healthier, but the Alimtox "Detoxifying Unit" has us wondering where to draw the line. It works like this: Put unit in basin. Fill Basin with water. Immerse feet in basin. Proceed to get grossed out by all the putrid and disgusting stuff that supposedly gets drawn out of your body thanks to the ions generated by the zinc electrodes in the detoxifier. (Step 4 optional.) By the end of the process, the Alimtox promises to make you feel more energetic and focused. And presumably get rid of that heavy-wallet problem.

Bravely, our own Vanessa Rae volunteered for the foot-washing detox technique. We caught the whole escapade on camera — watch it anytime, though we'd recommend waiting a little while if you just ate.

 
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(39) Comments

julbo:
I recently went to the Ventura County Fair in CA, and did the foot bath. It was amazing the stuff it pulled out of ...More »


Comments

By LoveFarscape at 5:25 PM ON 02/04/08

You Have got to be F@#king Kidding me!!!!

By murray at 6:01 PM ON 02/04/08

Highly dubious. The crud in the water is no doubt caused by a simple chemical reaction. Until there is reliable scientific evidence for this, I'm assuming it's a scam just like the various foot detox pads you can buy on TV (2 week supply for the price of shipping!)

By testicleez at 6:11 PM ON 02/04/08

Easy to debunk: remove person, put wristband in water. If cloudy, then BS. Otherwise, something is leeching out of the person, and it looks like dirt to me. Might be a nice full body cleanse machine.

By aisley at 10:55 PM ON 02/04/08

We need to send the biz owner a bottle of Tylenol. His face most be hurting from the lie. Check the little thinge they put in the water. It is a type of metal that in the presence of hydrogene oxidizes the water. Boy, there's a sucker born every minute...

By dalekurt at 11:06 PM ON 02/04/08

They tell the girl she has parasites... but they didn't show them? What the heck.

By Scam at 1:30 PM ON 02/05/08

This is a scam, I saw it a few years ago on a TV program, and if you don't put anything in the water, it still gets cloudy.

By Zello3d at 12:31 AM ON 02/07/08

I actually did an experiment in middle school with electrolysis in a bed pan, using a zinc anode and cathode, running 12volts through it, and bamo, an orange-brown sludgy mess. Also if you keep the process going for a while in a sealed container, you can release Hydrogen from the water, HOray for Exploding FEET!

By me at 8:04 AM ON 02/07/08

The only way to determine if the foot bath is acctually doing what they say is by analyzing the water afterwards. It doesn't matter if the water get cloudy or brown or stays clear. Why wouldn't your body be able to release toxins through the skin? It can absourb them through the skin.

By igiggi at 12:28 PM ON 02/07/08

The owner should have got a sample of the water afterwards to see if the client has any kind of parasites etc. Then show her on a micriscope the parasites. This would be more believable. Also there is a site called www.drnatura.com that explains that we all carry worms, parasites in our bodies. I had went through the detox cleanse program from Dr. Natura and his stuff is very excellent. I would do that first then try this meathod next just to see if the water still turns brown or, if it would be much clearer to verify that the natural detox had worked.

By noconflicts at 2:26 PM ON 02/07/08

"Most of the diseases we have are caused by toxins in the body..." Umm, No! Where did he get his MD?

So show me the peer-reviewed evidence. Show me the basic research.

Did he build this in garage?

21st century snake oil.

By Rinaldi at 4:30 AM ON 02/08/08

Where do I got one of those?

By bbock at 6:06 PM ON 02/08/08

Isn't this the Sci-Fi channel? Don't you have ANY smart people working there who have the ability to debunk this junk science for what it is?

By jrcaptain at 4:28 PM ON 02/09/08

I find it hard to believe that parasites will just leach out through the bottom of your feet.

By Toshie at 12:33 PM ON 02/11/08

"I find it hard to believe that parasites will just leach out through the bottom of your feet."

I agree, they usually leave through your chest (I saw it in a movie).

By wintermute44 at 9:21 AM ON 02/12/08

"Also there is a site called www.drnatura.com that explains that we all carry worms, parasites in our bodies. I had went through the detox cleanse program from Dr. Natura and his stuff is very excellent. I would do that first then try this meathod next just to see if the water still turns brown or, if it would be much clearer to verify that the natural detox had worked."

Oh good. You want to try testing junk science with junk science. That should go well.

By CaptainSmurf at 2:13 PM ON 02/12/08

SciFi or FiSci
Fictional Science Channel
brought to you by
Comet cleanser, made from a real Comet!!!

By ghoti at 3:25 PM ON 02/12/08

Yeah, so this is called elctrocoagulation.. And it's used to remove metal and industrial salts from waste water..

No real benefits to putting your feet in it.

By feistyterrier at 6:54 PM ON 02/14/08

Hello? I have never done this but this *can be tested*.
1. use 2 tubs one with "regular water" and one with "disilled water" which has all the minerals ect pulled out of the water. (to see if the mechanism is reacting to the water)
2. run the little machines in both tubs with NO ONE in them. See if the water turns color. If the water turns color, how much does it turn before the color is stable.
3. put someones feet in the tub and see if the color starts to change again becoming deep colored and filthy. Can some one run this test?

By feistyterrier at 6:58 PM ON 02/14/08

Hello? I have never done this but this can be tested.

Use 2 tubs one with regular water and one with disilled water which has all the minerals ect pulled out of the water. (to see if the mechanism is reacting to the water)

Run the little machines in both tubs with NO ONE in them. See if the water turns color. If the water turns color, how much does it turn before the color is stable.

Put someones feet in the tub and see if the color starts to change again becoming deep colored and filthy. Can some one run this test?

By ochreluna13 at 7:27 AM ON 02/21/08

"Isn't this the Sci-Fi channel? Don't you have ANY smart people working there who have the ability to debunk this junk science for what it is?"
---
"SciFi or FiSci
Fictional Science Channel
brought to you by
Comet cleanser, made from a real Comet!!!"
---
Did y'all miss that this is the Science FICTION channel on television... If that's where you go for your hard science, you need to start looking elsewhere... It's not SciFi's job to run empirical tests on the detox stuff or anything else... They are supposed to ENTERTAIN, which they did.

By godzilla at 2:53 PM ON 02/21/08

More snakeoil. As some of your other posts point out, this is pure nonsense. Why don't the people running this page test this junk before appearing to promote it? Or is the Sci-Fi channel getting some commercial benefits from this????

By Stone at 11:14 PM ON 02/21/08

OK. We all know it's snake oil, but it will be great TV on Mythbusters.

By mishele at 8:04 PM ON 02/26/08

I belong to a Hepatitis C support group whose members have tried all the blood cleansing stuff (colloidol silver, oxygenated water, etc.); pretty much everything desperate people will, and none of them have reliably worked. Have you seen the latest ads about some foot pad that overnight will remove cellulite, among other things such as parasites, heavy metals, etc. Yeah, I'd like to see all my cellulite migrate from my thighs out the bottom of my feet overnight!

By GOATEAMAN at 4:58 PM ON 02/27/08

so why not immerse the whole body

By no media spam at 6:07 PM ON 02/28/08

I would love to watch the great video's that you have posted here, but the F'ing spam that I am forced to sit through before everyone is just too much....WHY do you force this crap on us WHY ??

By Michele at 9:29 PM ON 02/28/08

It's just another SNAKE OIL I tell ya! LOL

By Michele at 9:30 PM ON 02/28/08

SNAKE OIL!!

By invertsky at 9:08 AM ON 02/29/08

quote from alimtox website

"Some people claim that what you see in the water are toxins being drawn right out of your body, but most of what you see happening with the water is related directly to the water being used. You can easily test this for yourself, if you have the opportunity to run the Ion Cleanse in a container of water, with no body parts in the water. You will probably see a pretty dramatic color change take place"

By coonass at 5:38 PM ON 02/29/08

When you consider that when your average person dresses for business, his or her feet are shut up inside leather pouches - in which the leather was cured by chromate salts or something even more toxic - and have been sweating for quite a while by the time that their owners get to the part of the exhibition where the foot bath is located - nothing they found in the foot bath after a good soak would surprise me much. Your feet stink after a long day at work for a good reason - immersion in fermented sweat and the metallic salts and other toxins used to treat shoe leather.

All you have to do is think about it for a second or two.

By a.rational.thinker at 3:05 PM ON 03/02/08

Fake, fake, fake. Snake Oil.
1. Your body doesn't accumulate toxins. It just doesn't work that way. If you have accumulated toxins, metals, and or parasites, then you're liver has failed and you're probably near death.
Biology 101...

2. What do you think will happen if you take metal, put it in salt water, and apply electricity? Rust!
Chemistry 101

3. What about the after effects, like energy increase, focus, clarity, libido(!)? The placebo effect can do wonders.
Psychology 101

So much for the "Science" in "Science Fiction". This nonsense isn't even fiction. It's hucksterism...

By BeenThereDoneThat at 5:41 AM ON 03/06/08

I've used Arise and Shine products to do the same thing. They don't come with so many warnings either. You can draw toxins out of your skin, but still leave a large amount of them in your body. I feel better cleansing toxins from my organs as opposed to trying to suck all of them out of my feet. Inasmuch as diabetic people are supposed to be so careful about their feet, I can't see this being a good thing for them to use - whether they've eaten or not.

By RICHARD at 7:54 PM ON 03/06/08

HOW/WHERE DO I GET STARTED WITH A DETOX?
WHY THE characters you see in the picture?
My 7th try. I'm serious are you?

By RICHARD at 7:56 PM ON 03/06/08

Forget it. You owe me for your scam.

By livelook at 6:56 PM ON 03/26/08

I own one unit currently for my business (facials, massage and energywork) I work with a chiropractor who owns a different unit which detoxes the body. My unit is the one seen in this video. He finds that his clients get liver and kidney relief when these machines are used regularly. The units work and are science backed, I am working on blood panels to show internal results. They have been used for years in other countries to achieve wellness results.

By www.soulessencespa.com at 7:07 PM ON 03/26/08

www.soulessence.com - visit my website
Our bodies do fill up with toxins, we are exposed to harmful chemicals everyday. We recieve toxin from plastic containers, foods we eat, water, household products, Skincare Products, Man-Made fragrance/scents, electrical devices. Please reference Dr. Nancy Gardner Breast Cancer Research:
http://www.healthybreasts.info/staying-healthy.html
Educate yourself this is a very conscious invention helping the average person detox without changing much in their lifestyle.

By jane@vetsforbetterhealth.com at 9:01 PM ON 03/28/08

After reading the various opinionated comments about the ion cell cleanse, it became very apparent that not one of you has ever actually tried the procedure yourself (besides the last one). You are the ones being scammed by one biased video! Let's see what you really think after you experience a foot bath detox for yourself. I can tell you that after a few sessions with the same machine (and the same body/feet), the toxins are less and the water isn't nearly as polluted. When a person diagnosed with MS can actually walk up the stairs again or an elderly person with arthritis gets total pain relief in just 30 minutes without all the side effects common with prescription drugs, I challenge you to convince them that this is just a hoax! Do it for yourself, then your comments may have some credibility. Until then, you can go on believing every media hype (simply for reaction) that you see or read.

By true lies at 8:16 AM ON 07/21/08

I would like such a device to be evaluated by the FDA. If what they demonstrate is true then we could be on the verdge of a medical breakthrough.

On the other hand it could merely be a cemistry prank.

By cocopuff at 7:18 PM ON 12/27/08

lobito....?

By julbo at 12:19 AM ON 08/18/09

I recently went to the Ventura County Fair in CA, and did the foot bath. It was amazing the stuff it pulled out of my feet, and yes, I had parasites and you could see them. The woman who was working the show was a homeopathic practitioner and she said she uses the device in her practice. I believe in the reverse osmosis and in the negative energy that pulls out the impurities. It's all simple science. I think this is the future of the health care system; preventative health care.
This is a great product and I am considering it for my business.


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