HOUSTON -- Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Wednesday, May 23, 2007, on KPRC Local 2 at 10 p.m.

Local 2 investigates cancer, Alzheimer's, arthritis. No matter what ails you, one Houston business says it can help.

But you won't find it in the Medical Center or your doctor's office. Investigative reporter Amy Davis found the therapy offered in a shopping center. She's here now to show us what she found when she went undercover.

Bill and Dominique, the treatment is not new. We're told the detoxifying footbath is already about 10 years old. But what we are seeing is more businesses popping up, pushing the therapy for everything from allergies to weight loss problems.

If you've ever wondered if this stuff really works, take a look.

It's in the air we breathe, the foods we eat and our favorite coffee drinks. We're told even the fibers in our carpet are teeming with toxins.

"We are introduced to 75 times more toxic levels than two generations back," said Joe Vasquez with River Oaks Detox.

… or so goes the pitch from Joe Vasquez of River Oaks Detox, where he claims he can help wash those unwanted toxins away with this state-of-the-art foot bath.

"I notice an increase in my energy level," Pamela Ferguson said.

Pamela Ferguson is here today for her 37th detoxification at $55 a pop. How does she know it's working?

"When I first came in the water was a lot darker," she said.

In a 23-minute treatment, we watched the water go from clear to cloudy yellow with black chunks floating on the surface.

The River Oaks Detox Web site shows an even murkier tub -- the water almost muddy.

"The main purpose behind it is to cleanse the body," Vasquez said.

He isn't the only business soaking clients -- selling them on the notion of cleansing their systems. But we wanted to clear it all up and find out what's really in the water.

In 2005, we went undercover at a Tomball chiropractor's office, where they described the debris floating in the foot bath.

"See the black chunks? Those are mostly metals from tap water, smoking, tobacco or even second-hand smoke," an employee said.

But the detox trend is spreading. Since our investigation, the foot baths have popped up in shopping malls, spas, and now here in the heart of River Oaks, where we picked up a brochure that tells us users of the foot bath have reported improvements with arthritis, pains and aches -- even diabetes and blood sugar handling.

It's why we sent a KPRC employee with a hidden camera -- a diabetic who relies on an insulin pump to live.

But listen to what this River Oaks Detox employee told her.

"Um, we've had clients that come in that have diabetes where they have noticed that they do not need as much insulin and it helps a lot with their circulation," the employee said.

She said some clients need less insulin -- no needles, fewer injections. It sounds like a diabetic's dream or a doctor's nightmare.

"We don't want to do that," said Dr. Alan Garber with the Baylor College of Medicine. "This becomes potentially a problem for patients."

Dr. Alan Garber is an endocrinologist at the Baylor College of Medicine, where researchers are testing new treatments for diabetes every day.

"I don't believe anyone is investigating foot baths as an approved treatment," he said.

The detox footbath has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration either. But that didn't stop this employee from giving our reporter the hard sell.

"Because our immune system, our cells aren't moving fast enough to fight off those bacteria. So what we're doing is when we put 300-400 millivolts in the body, your cells are working 300 times more faster than they normally would, and so it's jump starting yourself," the employee said.

She says the this device called an Array releases an electrical charge that speeds up your body's cells and pulls toxins out of the pores of your feet.

"Scientifically that doesn't make any sense," said Dr. Andrew Barron with Rice University.

Rice chemistry professor Dr. Andrew Barron read the claims and even tested the cloudy water from our toxin-filled bath.

"The types of chemicals that we found, you wouldn't expect to put them in a foot bath and feel any benefit whatsoever," Barron said.

"Why would doctors trained in medicine and trained in biology say there's no way this can work?" Davis asked.

"There's detractors for everything. I can't answer why they're not," Vasquez said.

As for all those poisons, the pesticides on your produce and pollution in the air, Garber says we all have built-in detoxifiers.

"Those are the kinds of things that a healthy functioning kidney will do," he said.

But what about Pamela and all the other customers keeping River Oaks Detox running in this posh high-rent retail space?

"It may be in their minds or it may be actual benefits that they're receiving. I kind of like to think that it's both," Vasquez said.

"But there's no way to know," Davis said.

"The person knows themselves whether they're feeling a benefit or not. That's why they keep coming back," Vasquez said.

While the doctors we spoke with say you won't get any real physical benefit out of the detox footbath. It won't really hurt you either.

But they say claims that the treatment can lower blood sugar or help to wean diabetics off of their medications could be harmful if patients try to use it instead of scientifically proven treatments.