10 Most Mind Numbingly Stupid Alternative Medicines

This one is a relatively new bit of pseudoscientific fluff and have been a real hit with the kind of people who spend a lot of their time trying to flush toxins out of their systems.

These detoxifying foot pads are made to be stuck to the bottom of the foot overnight where it will set about sucking the toxins out from your body. The "proof" of this is due to the fact that, in the morning when you peel the patch off, it will be a nasty black colour, and these are supposedly all of the toxins that it has rescued you from.

Seeing as skin has a low permeability (ironically, this is in order to keep toxins out), it seems highly unlikely that the "bamboo vinegar" in these pads would be able to pull nasties through it.

Actually, all that is going on is that the chemicals in the patch are just reacting with the sweat on your feet, turning them black. You can achieve the same effect by running them under a tap or holding them over some steam. Any benefits felt by the people who use them are probably, all together now, a placebo effect.

Whereas with a lot of alternative therapies, the practitioners will actually believe in what they're selling you, these ones are just a straight up fraud. They are so easily debunked that the manufacturers can not possibly believe that their claims are genuine, and are more likely to be genuinely just after your money.