Objective Assessment of an Ionic Footbath (IonCleanse): Testing Its Ability to Remove Potentially Toxic Elements from the Body
Table 5
Changes in element concentrations in tap water after running the machine with participants feet.
Elements (μg/L)
Pre-FBS ()
Post-FBS ()
Post-FBS FF–Pre-FBS
Mean ± Std dev
Mean ± Std dev
Difference ± Std dev
%change
Aluminum§
110.80 ± 51.79
126.75 ± 44.05
5.00 ± 58.43
4.5
0.239
Antimony§
1.00 ± 1.41
1.71 ± 1.52
1.21 ± 1.50
120.8
0.056
Arsenic§
1.00 ± 0.00
6.58 ± 1.02
5.58 ± 1.02
558.3
0.0001
Barium§
22.00 ± 4.47
26.04 ± 4.89
6.04 ± 4.89
27.5
0.034
Boron†
40.00 ± 10.00
41.13 ± 6.31
4.04 ± 9.12
10.1
0.118
Cadmium§
0.80 ± 1.10
8.54 ± 2.55
8.04 ± 2.80
1,005.2
< 0.0001
Calcium†
39,316.00 ± 617.36
39,091.46 ± 1,198.06
−231.04 ± 1,354.99
−0.6
0.250
Chromium‡
1.60 ± 2.07
23,548.21 ± 4,783.09
23,546.21 ± 4,782.52
1,471,638.0
< 0.0001
Cobalt‡
1.00 ± 0.00
332.05 ± 57.69
331.05 ± 57.69
33,105.0
< 0.0001
Copper‡
406.00 ± 190.34
836.71 ± 152.62
456.71 ± 318.01
112.5
< 0.0001
Iron‡
388.60 ± 178.33
114,629.83 ± 23,404.94
114,200.08 ± 23,447.22
29,387.6
< 0.0001
Lead§
2.40 ± 1.14
2.50 ± 0.78
0.00 ± 0.78
0.0
0.607
Lithium†
1.40 ± 1.95
2.00 ± 2.30
0.25 ± 0.94
17.9
0.985
Magnesium†
10,647.60 ± 315.70
10,600.83 ± 398.56
−128.67 ± 509.11
−1.2
0.218
Manganese‡
5.20 ± 0.45
1,643.83 ± 275.35
1,638.58 ± 275.26
31,511.2
< 0.0001
Molybdenum‡
48.00 ± 48.79
3,575.50 ± 569.09
3,515.50 ± 567.16
7,324.0
< 0.0001
Nickel‡
2.00 ± 2.12
15,946.42 ± 2,770.42
15,943.92 ± 2,769.51
797,195.8
< 0.0001
Phosphorus†
26.60 ± 9.81
70.29 ± 26.79
44.29 ± 26.82
166.5
0.004
Potassium†
2,118.00 ± 132.36
2,586.71 ± 171.82
489.21 ± 162.18
23.1
< 0.0001
Selenium†
0.22 ± 0.44
1.04 ± 0.69
0.77 ± 0.64
348.5
0.032
Silicon‡
634.00 ± 217.55
1,933.38 ± 250.56
1,338.38 ± 238.36
211.1
< 0.0001
Silver§
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.0
0.000
Sodium†
96,458.00 ± 8,298.75
95,941.42 ± 8,473.96
−1,958.58 ± 6,064.23
−2.0
< 0.0001
Strontium†
204.80 ± 14.24
190.83 ± 12.16
−11.67 ± 9.95
−5.7
0.070
Sulfur†
9,858.00 ± 2,707.58
8,685.71 ± 1,471.65
−496.79 ± 2,448.86
−5.0
0.512
Uranium§
0.20 ± 0.45
0.29 ± 0.46
0.04 ± 0.36
20.8
0.851
Vanadium†
0.60 ± 0.55
59.96 ± 12.70
59.04 ± 12.66
9,840.3
< 0.0001
Zinc†
18.00 ± 8.37
34.13 ± 8.78
16.63 ± 7.65
92.4
0.001
Total
160,313.82 ± 7,685.23
319,923.84 ± 37,781.00
158,783.82 ± 34,556.21
99.0
< 0.0001
Array components‡
1,486.40 ± 7,702.91
160,512.55 ± 31,630.27
160,970.43 ± 31,896.70
10,829.5
< 0.0001
Essential elements†
158,689.22 ± 368.55
159,238.88 ± 9,413.96
−2,212.53 ± 8,230.33
−1.4
0.8013
PTEs§
138.20 ± 49.37
172.42 ± 41.38
25.92 ± 58.46
18.8
0.0423
§PTEs: potentially toxic elements were defined to be aluminium, antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, lead, silver, and uranium. †Essential elements were defined to be boron, calcium, lithium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, strontium, sulphur, vanadium, and zinc. ‡Array components were defined to be chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, and silicon. Bold indicates a statistically significant difference, (Mann-Whitney U test).
