Abstract
Quantitative meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials investigating the specific therapeutic efficacy of homeopathic remedies yielded statistically significant differences compared to placebo. Since the remedies used contained mostly only very low concentrations of pharmacologically active compounds, these effects cannot be accounted for within the framework of current pharmacology. Theories to explain clinical effects of homeopathic remedies are partially based upon changes in diluent structure. To investigate the latter, we measured for the first time high-field (600/500 MHz) 1H T1 and T2 nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation times of H2O in homeopathic preparations with concurrent contamination control by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Homeopathic preparations of quartz (10c–30c, n = 21, corresponding to iterative dilutions of 100−10–100−30), sulfur (13x–30x, n = 18, 10−13–10−30), and copper sulfate (11c–30c, n = 20, 100−11–100−30) were compared to n = 10 independent controls each (analogously agitated dilution medium) in randomized and blinded experiments. In none of the samples, the concentration of any element analyzed by ICP-MS exceeded 10 ppb. In the first measurement series (600 MHz), there was a significant increase in T1 for all samples as a function of time, and there were no significant differences between homeopathic potencies and controls. In the second measurement series (500 MHz) 1 year after preparation, we observed statistically significant increased T1 relaxation times for homeopathic sulfur preparations compared to controls. Fifteen out of 18 correlations between sample triplicates were higher for controls than for homeopathic preparations. No conclusive explanation for these phenomena can be given at present. Possible hypotheses involve differential leaching from the measurement vessel walls or a change in water molecule dynamics, i.e., in rotational correlation time and/or diffusion. Homeopathic preparations thus may exhibit specific physicochemical properties that need to be determined in detail in future investigations.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Tim Logan, Vincent Salters, Jack Skalicky, Hans J. Schneider-Muntau, Afi Sachi-Kocher, Ted Zateslo, and Jeroen Sonke for practical and theoretical help during the NMR and ICP-MS experiments. Critical and helpful comments from four anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Software Foundation, Darmstadt, Germany; Wala Heilmittel GmbH, Boll, Germany; and Dr. Reckeweg & Co. AG, Bensheim, Germany. The sponsors had no influence whatsoever upon design, realization, evaluation, and publication of the study. The experiments comply with the current laws of the countries in which they were performed (USA and Switzerland).
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Baumgartner, S., Wolf, M., Skrabal, P. et al. High-field 1H T1 and T2 NMR relaxation time measurements of H2O in homeopathic preparations of quartz, sulfur, and copper sulfate. Naturwissenschaften 96, 1079–1089 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0569-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0569-y