Homeopathy reduces arsenic poisoning in mice

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Homeopathy reduces arsenic poisoning in mice

18:05 22 October 03 NewScientist.com news service

A homeopathic remedy based on arsenic oxide has shown " highly promising results "

in mice poisoned with arsenic, say Indian scientists.

 

The homeopathic antidote reduced the liver toxicity induced by arsenic in mice,

where distilled water did nothing, and alcohol actually exacerbated the poison's

effects.

 

Anisur Khuda-Bukhsh and his colleagues at the University of Kalyani, West

Bengal, believe the remedy, called Arsenicum Album, might provide a safe, cheap

and easily available remedy for the hundreds of millions of people around the

world who are at risk from arsenic-poisoned water. It is a particular problem in

some parts of West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh. Even if efforts to make

drinking water arsenic-free succeed, contamination could still come from other

sources, the researchers say, meaning other approaches are needed.

 

Khuda-Bukhsh told New Scientist the homeopathic remedy " can very well ameliorate

the toxicity produced by arsenic oxide in mice " . If the success could be

repeated in humans, it would be " a boon to society " , he says. However, other

scientists remain sceptical.

 

 

Serial dilution

 

 

The researchers took groups of five mice either with or without arsenic

poisoning and drop fed them Arsenicum Album, distilled water, or alcohol that

had been through the same preparation procedure as the homeopathic antidote.

 

Two different dilutions of the homeopathic remedy cut the levels of two liver

enzymes - ALT and AST - which are indicators of liver toxicity and are boosted

by arsenic poisoning. This positive effect occurred within 72 hours and liver

lasted for up to 30 days, they report in their journal paper.

 

Distilled water had no effect on either enzyme. And alcohol actually enhanced

the activity of AST.

 

Homeopathic remedies are based on the serial dilution of a medication - to the

extent that extremely little, if any, of the original substance remains.

Khuda-Bukhsh says the preparation used was so dilute that it should not have

contained even one molecule of the active ingredient.

 

He says his team is striving to understand the mechanism of action of

homeopathic drugs, which despite being used for over 200 years has remained

elusive to science.

 

 

Water mark

 

 

A notion central to many advocates of homeopathy is that water could retain an

imprint or " memory " of substances once dissolved in it.

 

This view cost one of France's top allergy researchers, Jacques Benveniste, his

lab and funding after his results were discredited in 1988. Benveniste claimed

in a Nature paper that a solution that had once contained antibodies still

activated human white blood cells. But, other researchers failed to reproduce

his experiments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" It comes down to the same old dilemma, " says Andreas Gescher, a biochemical

toxicologist at Leicester University, UK. " This kind of study uses a dilution so

high there is hardly anything there - philosophically it's the same as the

Benveniste case. Is it really possible? "

 

Although Gescher told New Scientist he is " extremely sceptical " , he adds that

the study is interesting. Gescher is on the UK government's Medicines and

Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency advisory board for the registration of

homeopathic products, which checks the safety - but not the efficacy - of

voluntarily registered products.

 

Khuda-Bukhsh's group aims to test the drug in human trials, subject to funding.

" We think this would open up another avenue for others to either confirm or

refute, " he says.

 

Journal reference: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (vol 3, p 7)

 

Shaoni Bhattacharya

 

 

 

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