High-field 1H T1 and T2 NMR relaxation time measurements of H2O in homeopathic preparations of quartz, sulfur, and copper sulfate
Stephan Baumgartner & Martin Wolf & Peter Skrabal & Felix Bangerter & Peter Heusser & André Thurneysen & Ursula Wolf
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.
Keywords Homeopathy .NMR relaxation .
Homeopathic remedies . Potentization