Investigative journalists from Radio-Canada have revealed that a woman who presumably had died from a detox treatment last summer was actually part of a self-help group practicing intense 9- hour sessions of sweating (with boxed heads and mud-covered bodies in plastic). Hyperthermia claimed her life.
When the story first broke out shortly after her death, owners of detox spas and their peripheral industry had become nervous. Carol Perehudoff, a travel and spa journalist wrote,
But people in the industry should not breathe so easily. Out of pure self-interest they keep perpetuating fallacies about skin and health. Nobody is suggesting they should shut their businesses. But if a mud bath is relaxing, and they run a clean operation with friendly people, isn't that good enough? Why do they have to pretend that their mission is to release toxins from skin ?
With the exception of thallium or selenium compounds, the skin is not much of an outlet for toxic materials. I guess it's easy to associate the skin as an outlet for something undesirable since it can reek in certain circumstances. But skin can smell bad not from what it exudes but from the bacterial breakdown of some of skin's secretions like ortho and para-cresol.
Unless you are a small animal with a high surface-to-volume ratio, like an insect, you don't depend on your skin for respiration either, so for humans, skin is not a breathing organ. A sophisticated sensory organ and protective envelope, skin also helps us stay cool because after sweating, water absorbs heat from the skin's surface to become a gas. It can also conserve heat by constricting blood vessels and storing subcutaneous fat. It's the latter that lead to a 40.5oC (105 F) body temperature and the subsequent death of the woman.
And it goes beyond mud baths and spas. There are Kinoki foot pads, which contain vinegar and chitin, the main component of fungal cell walls and lobster shells. These are supposed to suck toxins out of skin. Analyses of the pads revealed no heavy metals were found in the perspiration.
If you're going to believe something out of the blue, why not convince yourself that a massage from your special one will get the poisons out of your system. At least the illusion will not cost anything, and it will have a wonderful placebo effect.
When the story first broke out shortly after her death, owners of detox spas and their peripheral industry had become nervous. Carol Perehudoff, a travel and spa journalist wrote,
Tragic events like these are frightening, but done in a safe and controlled way, detox is an important key to well-being.
With the exception of thallium or selenium compounds, the skin is not much of an outlet for toxic materials. I guess it's easy to associate the skin as an outlet for something undesirable since it can reek in certain circumstances. But skin can smell bad not from what it exudes but from the bacterial breakdown of some of skin's secretions like ortho and para-cresol.
Unless you are a small animal with a high surface-to-volume ratio, like an insect, you don't depend on your skin for respiration either, so for humans, skin is not a breathing organ. A sophisticated sensory organ and protective envelope, skin also helps us stay cool because after sweating, water absorbs heat from the skin's surface to become a gas. It can also conserve heat by constricting blood vessels and storing subcutaneous fat. It's the latter that lead to a 40.5oC (105 F) body temperature and the subsequent death of the woman.
And it goes beyond mud baths and spas. There are Kinoki foot pads, which contain vinegar and chitin, the main component of fungal cell walls and lobster shells. These are supposed to suck toxins out of skin. Analyses of the pads revealed no heavy metals were found in the perspiration.
If you're going to believe something out of the blue, why not convince yourself that a massage from your special one will get the poisons out of your system. At least the illusion will not cost anything, and it will have a wonderful placebo effect.
