Objective Assessment of an Ionic Footbath (IonCleanse): Testing Its Ability to Remove Potentially Toxic Elements from the Body
Table 6
Summary of differences between element concentrations after footbath runs with feet and without feet.
Elements (μg/L)
Post-FBS–Pre-FBS no feet
Post-FBS–Pre-FBS with feet
P value
Mean ± Std dev
Mean ± Std dev
Aluminum§
14.17 ± 12.22
5.00 ± 58.43
0.487
Antimony§
1.00 ± 0.63
1.21 ± 1.50
0.8859
Arsenic§
4.50 ± 0.84
5.58 ± 1.02
0.016
Barium§
5.00 ± 5.48
6.04 ± 4.89
0.911
Boron†
3.33 ± 5.16
4.04 ± 9.12
0.814
Cadmium§
5.50 ± 2.43
8.04 ± 2.80
0.064
Calcium†
1,206.67 ± 893.37
−231.04 ± 1,354.99
0.02
Chromium‡
17,286.67 ± 4,239.65
23,546.21 ± 4,782.52
0.003
Cobalt‡
248.17 ± 44.02
331.05 ± 57.69
0.001
Copper‡
253.33 ± 64.39
456.71 ± 318.01
0.162
Iron‡
88,388.17 ± 17,532.11
114,200.08 ± 23,447.22
0.008
Lead§
0.33 ± 1.37
0.00 ± 0.78
0.909
Lithium†
1.17 ± 2.86
0.25 ± 0.94
0.994
Magnesium†
405.00 ± 427.73
−128.67 ± 509.11
0.024
Manganese‡
1,235.00 ± 211.83
1,638.58 ± 275.26
0.001
Molybdenum‡
2,505.17 ± 438.10
3,515.50 ± 567.16
0.001
Nickel‡
11,621.00 ± 2,075.55
15,943.92 ± 2,769.51
0.001
Phosphorus†
37.33 ± 21.73
44.29 ± 26.82
0.502
Potassium†
−11.67 ± 163.64
489.21 ± 162.18
< 0.0001
Selenium†
0.00 ± 0.00
0.77 ± 0.64
0.010
Silicon‡
1,003.33 ± 170.37
1,338.38 ± 238.36
0.003
Silver§
0.00
0.00
Sodium†
19,190.00 ± 38,454.88
−1,958.58 ± 6,064.23
0.016
Strontium†
3.17 ± 10.94
−11.67 ± 9.95
0.009
Sulfur†
−628.33 ± 1,253.99
−496.79 ± 2,448.86
0.490
Uranium§
0.00 ± 0.00
0.04 ± 0.36
0.731
Vanadium†
42.50 ± 11.71
59.04 ± 12.66
0.005
Zinc†
16.67 ± 10.33
16.63 ± 7.65
0.956
Total
142,837.17 ± 36,748.30
158,783.82 ± 34,556.21
0.2962
Array components‡
122,540.83 ± 24,659.98
160,970.43 ± 31,896.70
0.0051
Essential elements†
20,265.83 ± 39,878.15
−2,212.53 ± 8,230.33
0.1011
PTEs§
30.50 ± 19.85
25.92 ± 58.46
0.8697
§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).
