What really darkens those footpads?

If you put on a Kinoki footpad at night, in the morning the pad will indeed have turned brown. But that doesn't mean it has actually drawn toxins out of your body.

Robert Hoffman, M.D., director of the New York City Poison Control Center, says that while small amounts of toxins such as alcohol or cocaine can be detected in sweat, the amount excreted into the pads overnight is unlikely to be "clinically significant." A Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said that the agency was investigating claims made on behalf of Kinoki Foot Pads. And we were unable to reach anyone from the U.S. distributor of the product, despite our repeated phone calls.

Simple, informal experiments suggest that moisture from the body, not toxins, darkens the footpads. For example, one Web posting (www.sciencepunk.com/v5/2008/02/champneys-detox-pad-dissection) shows a 5-year-old girl removing the powder from a footpad similar to Kinoki's and adding a little water. Presto! The powder turns brown and sludgy.