Expert: Florence M Rollwagen - 5/7/2008

Question
My experience with science is from grade school nearly 50 years ago, so please excuse my questions if they’re unbelievably basic and sound silly.  We’re thinking of buying a ion footbath machine for better health and I’ve researched many machines and I still don’t have a clear understanding if they can really work, but many friends swear by them.    The machines indicate that they are able to create an alternating or all positive or all negative field during electrolysis.   So my questions are as follows:

1.   If you create a positive electrical field will that create negative ions and vice-a-versa.

2.   If you place your feet in a tub with an electrical field will the same creation of ions also happen inside your feet or does the skin barrier prevent the electrical field from penetrating within.

3.   Will cells within the body that are within the electrical field and that are electrically unbalanced attract to it self and allow the ion it is missing to be attached to become an electrically balanced and fully charged cell.

4.   Will a positive or negative electrical field in the tub draw any molecules or particles from the body by osmosis, and if it does, does a positive field draw negative particles and vice-a-versa.  

Answer
Hi Sam:  No, your questions sound basic, but not silly.  I’ve never tried one of these things, but I did a quick Internet search to find out about them.  

1.  The ionic foot bath is a foot bath that is filled with salt water.  Salt (sodium chloride) is a combination of two ions, sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-).   So there is your ionic component.   It’s not created by the electrical field, but by the salt.

2.  Running a current through the salt water will give your feet a “tingly” feeling, such as the one you feel when you stick your finger in a light socket (just not as strong).  Cells are very picky about the ions that they let in and out.  They have elaborate mechanisms to maintain ion concentrations.  There are NO missing ions.  Aren’t we all being told to eat LESS salt?  Skin is very impermeable to outside materials.  In our microbiology class we teach the students that an intact skin surface is the best barrier to infection.  There is a process called electroporation, which disrupts the skin so materials can enter.  The voltage is MUCH higher, and used only very locally, not on the whole foot.

3.  How would we tell if our cells were unbalanced?  Cells naturally maintain an electrical charge across the cell membrane (remember those ions above?) .  Cells carry a positive charge outside and a negative charge inside.  Nerve cells use this charge differential to transmit impulses.  Loss of this charge differential is detrimental to the cell.  But you can’t replace the cellular charge differential by applying an electrical current.

4.  No

In my search on this equipment, I found a site where someone had run the machine without added feet.  Guess what?  The water changed color and became “yucky” (a scientific word here) even by itselt.  

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/33333

There are no studies in the medical literature, either supporting or denying the benefits of this treatment.  Not an indication that it doesn’t work, just that there are no studies.

My own private opinion is to try this thing (maybe borrow it from your friend) Test it with and without feet to see the color changes.  Try soaking your feet in warm salt water by itself and see if you get a good effect.  It seems to me that you will not lose any ions by buying this equipment, but you will lose money.

If you want to feel better, eat a healthy diet (lots of vegetables, less fat), drink water (not anything else) and take a walk every day.  It’s amazing how that will help.  

I hope these answers have helped you, please write back if you have more questions.

FM Rollwagen, PhD