Why the colors change during ionic foot bath?

You may be asking yourself where the bright colors come from when you're taking an ionic foot bath. You can indeed see a lot of colored stuffs, from white and yellow, to brown, green and even black.

However, in fact, the water will change color without having your feet in the foot bath. It's due to an electrochemical process, corrosion of the metal electrodes, and has nothing to do with toxins being removed from your body in the first place.

This doesn't necessary mean that there is no detoxification taking place, or the color of precipitations you see in the foot bath, couldn't be affected by the toxins that might leave the body through the skin. Some believe that the final colors will be the result of the interaction between the toxins and the complexated metal ions and different colors signifies the detoxification of different body parts and organs. I personally wouldn't go as far as to say that color changes are not affected by toxins and the single responsible for them are contaminants in the water and metal ions from the array.

A typical color chart looks like this:

- White: Yeast & Lymphatic system
- Yellow: Urinary tract
- Orange, Dark Yellow, Brown: Joints and Liver
- Red Flecks: Blood clots
- Green: Gall Bladder
- Blue: Kidney
- Black Flecks: heavy metals

The single most important underlying factor that determines the colors in the foot bath, is the quality of water itself. Water, especially ordinary tap water, contains a lot of impurities (both solved and suspended contaminants) but some of the influencing matter are coming from the surface of the skin or expelled through the pores.

Metal ions are continually being set free from the array while the current is turned on. This is called electrocorrosion. Due to the electrical decomposition of the metal electrodes, metal ions are entering the water and form colorful complexes with the water molecules. Salts and different impurities present in the water change the way these metallic complexes are interacting with light. The most important color modifiers are sodium, antimony, iron, chlorine, pesticides, magnesium, manganese, boron, barium, arsenic, nickel, asbestos, fluorine, nitrates, cadmium, thallium, chromium, copper, detergents and other organic materials.

Some of these complexated ions become insoluble and start to get accumulated on the wall of the container or float up to the surface of the water as all kinds of colorful stuff. These colored flecks will appear regardless of your feet being present or not while oeprating the ionic foot bath.

The pH and temperature also play an important role in the formulation of final colors. The skin's pH is not neutral and most of the time contains remnants of soap, dead cells, substances from the sebaceous glands, nail varnish, dyes from shoes, bacteria, fungi, etc. While pH is primarily determined by skin conditions, other internal influences will also manifest through the skin and subdermal tissues. Ionic foot bath sessions have a strong impact on the capillary microcirculation of the whole body, including the legs. This will mobilize circulation and help to release all the stored-up material in the skin.

Besides skin conditions, pH, temperature and the obvious salts and contaminants in water, there are other miscallenous factors that would modify the colors and precipitation pattern you can see after taking an ionic detox foot bath, such as the geometry of the electromagnetic field that the device generates.

Taking the above factors together, we can say that no color change will be the same for every occasion and for every individual. It's easy to understand that there are too many variables for it to be possible to make an all inclusive color chart. The colors don't correspond to any pathological state or specific organ deficit or at least the process is very difficult to match up to these conditions.

Many vendors make false claims about these color changes to pitch their products. They have all these color charts and tables as if colors were corresponding to specific organs and body fluids, different types of heavy metals, toxins and other substances. They try to impress people who do not actually understand or care about the chemical principles behind the color changes.

Would this mean that ionic foot baths don't work? Nope. It just means that the way they are advertised is wrong, or rather, they are being advertised to the wrong folks. Ion cleanse foot baths actually help detoxifying your body but you won't sweat toxins out of your feet. Instead of direct detoxification, ionic foot bath machines boosts the functioning of the detoxifying organs (such as the kidneys and the liver). And they do that extremely well.

But ion foot baths can do much more to your health, that is far more important than detoxification. It is obvious, that ion cleanse has a highly positive impact on the human body and well being. You can just forget about all these color changes all together.
If you are interested in the actual benefits of ionic foot baths, that come prior to detoxification, you may want to read this article: Ionic Foot Baths - The Real Benefits.

Want to know more?

Basic questions and answers on ionic foot baths

advanced FAQ on ionic foot bath therapy