Japanese Detox Food Pads: A Guide to How they Should Work and If They Do

Alternative health experts claim that our bodies are full with dangerous toxins, inhibiting us from living an active lifestyle. For thousands of years, Asians used detox foot pads to detoxify their bodies, and now this technique is available to us. This is how Japanese detox foot pads (supposedly) work to detoxify your system.

What Makes Japanese Detox Foot Pads Work
Japanese foot pads are based on the ancient art of reflexology and acupuncture. By applying pressure to a certain area, certain parts of your body are healed. Detox pads work the same way. By applying the detox pad to your feet, you are effectively detoxified and rejuvenated.

Japanese detox pads also contain a mixture of tree oils, such as wood vinegar or beech sap. This mixture contains healing properties; once applied to the foot, it goes to work and detoxifies your entire body. When you remove the foot pad, you remove the toxins. The toxins appear as brown muck on the pad, all excreted from the bottom of your feet.

Yum.

How to Use Japanese Detox Foot Pads
No fancy magic here. You just apply it firmly to your feet, sleep on it, and remove in the morning. Use it as many times as you like to reap those detoxing benefits. A true Japanese miracle.

Side Effects of Japanese Detox Foot Pads
Bad, bad news about Japanese foot pads: no conductive research is available. No scientific proof that these pads work either. It is also not regulated by the FDA, which means it has not been researched for any side effects or results.

The only side effects reported are allergic reactions to ingredients, such as wood vinegar or beech sap. The only way to find out is by, unfortunately, using the pad.

Great.

Speaking of side effects, there is another one foot pad manufacturers neglected to tell you. It has to do with the wood vinegar used to detoxify your body.

The Hidden Truth About Wood Vinegar
Wood Vinegar has a very intriguing side effect. In detox pads, the vinegar is dry. When the vinegar is wettened, it turns dark brown. This is what detox pad manufacturers claim are toxins. Coincidentally, this is what happens to Wood Vinegar when it is wettened. This is a problem -- obviously, the dark brown matter cannot be toxins. If detox pads are worn for a long period, your foot naturally sweats. What should be detoxification is actually the wood vinegar reacting to your sweat.

This is not the only problem people face, either. Doctors have another thing to say about Japanese detox pads.

Detox Pads Don't Make Sense, Doctors Say
Doctors say detox food pads don't work. Why?

* The liver already detoxifies your body each and every day. It takes longer to detoxify other substances, such as alcohol, but toxins do not freely roam in your body.
* Foot pores are not big enough to excrete toxins and dangerous metals in your body. That is only possible with internal cleansing, not skin excretion.
* None of the ingredients are proven to work.

In a nutshell, it is anatomically and chemically impossible for detox pads to work.

Final Verdict: Should You Try it?
Doctors agree that Japanese foot pads are ineffective. However, no real studies have been conducted. Also, he only common side effects with detox pads are allergies. If you think that detox pads truly work, keep on detoxing. There are no studies proving it does not work (although none prove that they do work). You have nothing to lose except a lot of money, so why don't you detox today?

Sources:
"Japanese Foot Pad", Shane Woods, ezinearticles.com
"What's the Point of Detoxing?", BBC News
"Kinoki Detox Foot Pads - A Scambuster Report", Dr. Ed Zimney M.D., healthtalk.com