How Does an Ion Cleanse Work?

Introduction

Ion cleansing works off the preface that each of us are exposed to a multitude of toxins each day of our lives. These toxins range from pesticides to pollution. Many believe that these toxins are slowly making us sick. Unless we draw those toxins out of our body, we will continue to get worse. Those who use ion cleansing believe that you can detoxify your body of these chemicals by soaking your feet in an ionizing foot bath. Whether or not the the process works is still under debate, so it is up to you to decide whether or not it will benefit your body.

The chemistry behind the ion cleanse is based off of positive and negative charged ions. The founders of ion cleansing believe that since an ion becomes positively charged when it gains a molecule and negatively charged when it loses one, that this theory can help to detoxify the body.

For the ion cleansing theory to work, the foot bath equipment is equipped to shoot an array of metals into the water contained in the bath. Once sea salts are added to the water, the array of metals reacts with the water and salt to create a host of charged atoms (ions). These ions are believed to create a magnetic field which neutralizes any surrounding ions, including the ions found in the skin. This causes a process called osmosis (moving from a lower concentration to a higher concentration through a barrier) through the skin barrier and into the water bath.

As the neutralized ions move out of the body through the skin, ion cleansing founders believe that the toxins in the body attach themselves to these ions. The toxins are then pulled through the pours of the feet, out of the body, and into the water bath. The water then turns yellow or brown, which is supposed to prove that the toxins have left the body.

Much controversy has erupted over the ion cleanse and its claims. Independent scientists from the Bad Science column in the Guardian Newspaper took on the ion cleans' claims and came up with these results. When the water was tested after the foot bath, no human waste products such as urea or creatine were found in the remaining water, as would be seen by any chemicals being drawn from the body. All that was found was an increased level of iron. This find allowed the scientists to explain why the water really changed colors. It was not the toxins from the body that caused the color change, it was actually corrosion of the iron electrodes in the foot bath. Since the water is electrolyzed, it increases the rate in which the iron on the electrodes corrodes. This releases ferric oxide, or rust, into the water turning it a yellow or brown color.