Has anyone tried detox patches are they a gimmick?

Hi
I purchased a packet of the above at a price of 25 euro for 10. I had read about them in a womans magazine and bought them in a Health Store.
You put the white patches on your feet at night and they "supposedly" eliminate toxins while you sleep. So next morning yes indeed patches were brown as I expected.. however my 11 year old son wanted to try one! So last night stuck one on his foot and this morning his patch was brown also!? I am thinking either these things react to dampness and change colour automatically or else my son is up to no good!
I smoke and would have a drop of wine regularly. So has anyone else any suggestions? Or should I put the whole thing down to a learning experience!?

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

I also read about those in a magazine. They claim to eliminate toxins through the soles of your feet as you have more pores there than anywhere else. As a test the writer of the article placed the patch on her thigh overnight (where there are not as many pores) and the patch did not change colour so she was convinced they were genuine. I am not sure....

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

My gf swears by them and doesn't smoke or drink often. She puts me to shame the amount of vegetables and high quality food she puts into her system. She uses the detox patches fairly often and they always come off dark in the morning. Nature might not be as pure as we're led to believe.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

These things are designed to change colour. There is absolutely no evidence that they work, but they are certainly a good way of parting with money.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

The Irish Times health supplement just after Xmas had a feature on detox products and all the experts bar the Boots marketing woman concluded that there was absolutely no evidence that they were any use. Basically drinking the recommended 6-8 glasses of water a day and watching what you eat/drink otherwise is a much better idea.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

another gimmick no doubt drink plenty of water its the only thing you need to clean out the system

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

for plenty of objective/skeptical coverage of this sort of stuff.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

My Mam tried them, she said they turned brown ans she felt she had a bit more energy for a couple of days and then back to normal.

She said she wouldnt recommend them, but i heard a few girls over on WOL say they found them great.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

Somebody once said and its so true " No one ever lost money underestimating the commonsense of human beings"

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

Send me €10 in used notes and I'll tell you who said it.

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

This detox thing is a laugh. Think just how good the liver is at detoxing the body, even within 24 hours of a massive bender! If skin was so permeable that a patch could draw out toxins, women would be absolutely terrified of the chemicals in cosmetics.

The people who sell this stuff are preying on peoples love of the quick fix. A fool and his money is soon parted!

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

Well I think I will pass on purchasing them again! I drink about 2 litres of water a day anyways so will stick to that. Much cheaper!
Thanks

Kidneys beat the pants off Brita filters too!

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

rob30 said:

This detox thing is a laugh. Think just how good the liver is at detoxing the body, even within 24 hours of a massive bender! If skin was so permeable that a patch could draw out toxins, women would be absolutely terrified of the chemicals in cosmetics.

The people who sell this stuff are preying on peoples love of the quick fix. A fool and his money is soon parted!

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Actually the skin is the biggest organ and does help detoxify the body. As to the feet..if you rub a clove of garlic on the soles of the feet, the smell will be on your breath within half an hour. You might have sore feet after it though as garlic oil is very potent and can even remove veruccas!

The jury is still out for me as to whether or not these patches work. I bought some last year and was pretty sceptical. I thought the moisture created by the soles of the feet made the patches turn colour, so I applied water to one of them and no change. Then I figured the salt content of sweat might have had an effect, so I added salt. However, when I placed them on the soles of my feet, they turned a green and brown gunky patch overnight. As the week wore on the colour was lighter and the gunk had disappeared! Go figure.....the one thing I did notice was that I felt much more rested and had the best sleep I've had in years. Placebo or no? Think I'll buy another pack!

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

liteweight said:

Actually the skin is the biggest organ

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Speak for yourself.

The jury is still out for me as to whether or not these patches work.

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Can you point to some info about clincial trials/tests that back this statement up?

Placebo or no?

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In the absence of any evidence to back up the claims that they have any detoxifying effects I'd have to assume placebo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4576574.stm

Thats your decision. One thing is, why the feet? It has the body's thickest layer of keratin on top of the skin cells. The flank would be a much beter option for a detox. Do you not think that they ask you to put it on a part of the body that sweats a lot, so it would react with urea? Ideal choice for them would be the armpit, but removing it would be difficult.

I suggest an experiment for you. Put one on your foot, and another on a drier bit of skin. The toxins in you body are in balance due to a good circulation, so any difference in colour could be explained by it better power in "drawing" the toxins out. See if it only works on the feet. Also, try another moist part of the body to see if it works there.

The effect you see may only just be a chemical reaction from your bodys own elimination system, and the patch is only an indicator, not a catalyst, for this.

Have to agree I think its sweat and body moisture that causes them to discolour.

That said I don't understand as they're continued to be used how the discolouration fades?

Re: Had anyone tried Detox Patches are they a gimmick?

HighFlier said:

Somebody once said and its so true " No one ever lost money underestimating the commonsense of human beings"

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"No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby."
Henry Louis Mencken

One of the great quotes.........mind you, he also came out with this:

"The educated Negro of today is a failure, not because he meets insuperable difficulties in life, but because he is a Negro. His brain is not fitted for the higher forms of mental effort; his ideals, no matter how laboriously he is trained and sheltered, remain those of a clown."

Sounds like John Waters talking about women

Clubman, if your skin isn't the biggest organ then your in trouble...unbalanced I'd say! I'm starting to think of Ricky Gervais' 'flanimals' for some reason.

Have never seen any clinical trials but I've never looked as I bought them on a whim one day.

I imagine the feet are the best place as all the blood in the body circulates through a relatively confined space. A number of holistic treatments concentrate on the feet.

From what I remember, the only ingredients listed on the pack were oyster shells, crushed. Maybe someone can come up with an example of why these would turn brown/green and gunky?

I have no connection to this product by the way but I did feel better after using it. I did wonder about the placebo effect but then I thought that should only happen with someone less skeptical about the whole thing.

Good to know there are still some mysteries in life!

I have my doubts about drinking 8 glasses of water a day being 'good for you'.
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I find beer to be much better.