From the pages of ISIS, the Institute of Science in Society
In 1992, the United Nations designated March 22 as “World Day for Water”…
To deepen our appreciation of water, we present the latest findings on the strangeness of water, how it supports life and health, and how it might enable homeopathic remedies to work, even when diluted beyond the point where any molecules of the dissolved substances are present…
1. Molecules Clump on Dilution
Two chemists from the Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea made news last year. Their surprising discovery that molecules dissolved in water clump together was reported in the New Scientist and the popular media as a possible explanation of why homeopathy works.The obvious ‘explanation’ is that some dilute solutions may have more molecules in it than expected, perhaps even at dilutions beyond the point at which any molecule could be left in solution. But if some parts of a solution contain more molecules than expected, other parts would contain less, so most of the time, homeopathy should not work at all. And that, indeed, is the conventional wisdom of the medical establishment.
The researchers themselves were surprised by the suggestion that their work had any relevance to homeopathy. However, the finding itself has significance far beyond its applicability to homeopathy.
The investigations started on a class of chemical substances known as cyclodextrins (DC), which, when combined with non-polar molecules (molecules without electrical charge, see “The strangeness of water”, this series), enable the latter to dissolve in water. They make a complex of b-cyclodextrin with [60]fullerene, more popularly known as Buckyball, or Buckminster fullerene, in honour of architect/polymath Buckminster Fuller, who invented the shape as a geodesic dome. These complexes were found to form clusters in water.
But then scientists found that a wide range of other substances such as salts and polymers also form clusters in solution.
The new discovery made by the South Korean researchers is that cluster size increased steadily with increasing dilution in water. In contrast, no clustering of the molecules occurs in organic solvents. They found the same behaviour for cyclodextrin-fullerene complex, b-cyclodextrin by itself, sodium chloride, disodium guanosine monophosphate and a DNA oligonucleotide.
Using the technique of laser light scattering, it was possible to estimate the size of b-cyclodextrin clusters. The diameter of the clusters increased from 0.55 mm at a starting concentration of 0.216 mM to 3.255 mm at 0.01mM. The clusters were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy after the solutions were dried.
Interestingly, when the starting concentration was 14.27mM and diluted down to 0.3524mM, cluster size increased from 0.393 mm to 3.12 mm. Thus, the size of the clusters varied depending on the starting concentration.
In other words, “the solution history is an important factor in the growth dynamics of the aggregates”. That was the really unexpected finding, and flies in the face of conventional linear chemistry.
For sodium chloride, a starting solution of 5.5M diluted down to 0.785M gave an increase in aggregate size from 1.491 to 4.95 mm. The results were similar in all the other substances investigated. The increase in cluster size was non-linear, slow at first, and rapid at higher dilutions.
The increase in cluster size was “almost instantaneous”, and remained stable at least over the next three days.
Why do these clusters form? No one knows for sure, and certainly the importance of solution history is impossible to accommodate within conventional, classical chemistry.
2. Homeopathy Enters the Mainstream
Chemists in Korea discovered how molecules clump together on dilution in water. Their report triggered off speculations on how that might explain homeopathy. But does homeopathy really work? According to the medical establishment, the answer is no, there is no known mechanism whereby it could conceivably work.But on 30 April 2002, the Royal Homeopathic Hospital became a member of University College London Hospital. This marks a decisive change in attitude of the medical establishment towards homeopathy. But the scientific controversy remains.
The most recent controversy regarding homeopathy erupted around distinguished French research scientist, Dr. Jacques Benveniste, well-known for his discovery, in 1971, of PAF (Platelet Activating Factor) a mediator implicated in allergies and inflammations e.g. asthma.
In 1984, Benveniste made another remarkable discovery: water is capable of carrying molecular information or biological messages. This “imprinting” is activated when a substance is dissolved in water and then diluted repeatedly until not a single molecule of the substance could remain.
Benveniste’s dilutions went way beyond the level investigated by the Korean chemists Samal and Geckeler. The highest dilutions could have contained nothing but water molecules. Yet, these gave effects just as if the drug molecules were still present. The water appears to “remember” the original molecules dissolved in it.
Benveniste does not think the new phenomenon can explain his findings. Fred Pearce of University College Hospital London, who repeated Benveniste’s experiments agrees, but thinks it could explain the effects of low-dilution homeopathic remedies.
The debate over the effects of homeopathy has certain similarities with that over the harmful effects of mobile phones and other electrical installations in the environment. Both are connected with the sensitivity of organisms to extremely weak electromagnetic fields, for which there is no explanation accepted by the scientific establishment.
Homeopathy has a long history with notable successes. For centuries, practitioners of homeopathy have successively diluted extracts of organic substances by either a factor of 10, the decimal scale, designated d or by 100, the centisimal scale, designated c. Between each dilution, remedies are shaken energetically to “potentise” and remove impurities. Higher potency (more dilute) remedies are used for acute symptoms while the lower potency (less dilute) for milder symptoms. The level of dilution tested by Samal and Geckeler is comparable to a six-fold dilution, classified as low-potency in homeopathic remedies.
Dr Peter Fisher, Director of the Royal Homeopathic Hospital in London comments “The whole idea of high dilution homeopathy hangs on the idea that water has properties which are not understood”. Clusters and aggregates “happen with a variety of substances suggesting it’s the solvent that’s responsible.” He concludes “It doesn’t prove homeopathy, but it’s congruent with what we think and is very encouraging.”
The world is experiencing rising tides of cholera, malaria, yellow fever and typhoid epidemics partly as the result of de-forestation and flooding associated with global warming, and current medical practices exacerbate the problems. Forestry disturbs natural habitats, and swamps that are breeding grounds for infectious diseases become exposed. This contributes to outbreaks of malaria and other diseases. Over-use of prophylactics and drugs have created quinine resistant strains of the parasitic protozoa causing malarial disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes found in tropical and subtropical countries. The need for reliable treatments and prevention for malaria and other diseases is becoming acute.
In recent years homeopathic research has centred on alternative prevention and treatments of malaria using the alkaloid Artemisin and extracts of the shrub Artemisia annua. There are 25 different plant sub-species of Artemisia (Compositae) of which Artemisia abrotanum (Abrotanum), A. maritima (Cina), A. absinthium (Absinthium) are fully proven homeopathic remedies.
Artemisia annua also known as “sweet Annie”, has been used for 2000 years in Chinese medicine as a potent tea to cure malaria and other fevers. The plant has been successfully cultivated in central Africa and the aerial parts extracted by simple tea preparation method. In a trial of 48 patients with malarial symptoms 44 showed disappearance of parasitaemia within 4 days. In 1972, the active part of the plant was isolated using alcohol and since then clinical evaluations have focussed on pure, isolated artemisinin and its semi-synthetic derivatives, artesunate, artemether and arteether. A study over 13 years in two large camps for displaced Karen people on the northwest Thailand boarder used initially a monotherapy of mefloquine to control P. falciparum (most commonly occurring malaria strain). Resistance increased even as higher doses were used and cure rates fell to 71%. Artesunate was combined with Mefloquine in 1994 and cure rates have reached 100% since 1998 with a general decline in incidence of P. falciparum since 1995Conventional medicine’s store for treating viral infections is running low, and the use of vaccines is increasingly controversial on account of the range of side-effects different vaccines can cause.
Homeopathy is based on stimulating the body’s defence system instead of attacking pathogens directly, and may offer protection without undue side-effects, though few practitioners have the confidence to recommend it due to the lack of research and plausible mechanism of action.
A trial in HIV infection was reported by the British Homeopathic Journal in 1999. The study aimed to evaluate the role of homeopathic remedies on the immune status in 100 HIV positive individuals. The CD4+ and CD8+ve lymphocyte counts were monitored after homeopathic treatment, and compared with placebo over a six-month period. There were significant increases in both lymphocyte counts in symptomatic AIDS patients after homeopathic treatment. No improvements were seen in the asymptomatic or placebo groups.
At Lyon University Hospital, a pilot study was conducted with 75 HIV and/or Hepatitis C (HCV) patients with a combination of homeopathic and orthodox antiviral treatment. Orthodox antiviral medicines induce well-known and unknown side effects due to individual variation in reacting to drugs. The study concluded that a synergy exists between the two therapies; anti-viral drugs reduced viral load while non-toxic homeopathic remedies improved the patients’ quality of life by treating symptoms not related to the viral disease.
Childhood diseases such as measles, whooping cough and chickenpox are not normally targeted for prevention by homeopathic treatment. It is thought if a child succumbs to these illnesses it’s their way of naturally shedding any “miasms”, or suppressed inherited susceptibility to diseases. If symptoms linger, a ‘potentised-microdose’ of the specific virus may be given to effect a cure. For example, variecellinim is given for chickenpox and protidinum for mumps. With suspected links of autism to MMR jabs a worrying spectre for many parents, some have turned to homeopathy.
Homeopathic veterinary medicine is now used to treat common health problems presented by cows. Treatments are applied at the earliest sign of disease. Homeopathic vaccinations are called nosodes and are encouraged in America for most bovine conditions including mastitis and fevers. For the treatment of mastitis, common homeopathic remedies are phytholacca, byronia and hepar sulph.
A study of pigs in 1999 revealed that between 24% and 69% became ill during some stage of the fattening process. Most prevalent is a disease of the upper respiratory tract. Homeopathic remedy was more effective than both the placebo and the routine dose of antibiotics. Only when the antibiotic dose was increased did it compare favourably to homeopathy. Homeopathy offers hope on different levels to a conventional medicine system desperately searching to cope with multi-drug resistance.
There is an urgent need to support research, not just in more clinical trials, but also in the possible mechanisms whereby homeopathy might work, which would greatly enhance our understanding of the organism itself.
3. The Strangeness of Water & Homeopathic ‘Memory’
Water is the most abundant substance on the surface of the earth and is the main constituent of all living organisms. The human body is about 65 percent water by weight, with some tissues such as the brain and the lung containing nearly 80 percent. The water in our body is almost completely tied up with proteins, DNA and other macromolecules in a liquid crystalline matrix that enables our body to work in a remarkably coherent and co-ordinated way.Although water is the most familiar of liquids, it is also the most mysterious. Water is densest at 4 C and expands on freezing at 0 C, which is why ice floats, fortunately for fish and other aquatic creatures.
The water molecule consists of an oxygen atom bonded to two hydrogen atoms (H2O). The water molecule has the shape of a tetrahedron, a three-dimensional triangle. The oxygen atom sits in the heart of the tetrahedron, the hydrogen atoms point at two of the four corners and two electron clouds point to the remaining opposite corners. The clouds of negative charge result from the atomic structures of oxygen and hydrogen and the way they combine in the water molecule.
Oxygen has eight negatively charged electrons disposed around its positively charged nucleus rather like layers of the onion, two in the inner shell and six in an outer shell. The inner shell’s capacity is filled, but the outer shell can hold as many as eight. Hydrogen has only one electron, so oxygen, by combining with two hydrogen atoms, completes its outer electron shell. The hydrogen’s electron is slightly more attracted to the oxygen nucleus than its own nucleus, which makes the water molecule polar, and it ends up with two clouds of slightly negative charge around the oxygen atom, and its two hydrogen atoms are left with slightly positive charges.
The positively charged hydrogen of each water molecule can attract the negatively charged oxygen of another, giving rise to a hydrogen-bond (H-bond) between molecules. Each molecule of water can form four H-bonds, two between the hydrogen atoms and the oxygen atoms of two other molecules, and two between its oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms of other molecules. Ice is usually composed of a lattice of water molecules arranged with perfect tetrahedral geometry. In liquid water, however, the structure can be quite random and irregular. The actual number of H-bonds per liquid water molecule ranges from three to six, with an average of about 4.5. At ordinary temperatures, liquid water consists of dynamic clusters of 50 to 100 water molecules, in which the H-bonds are constantly making and breaking (or flickering). The tetrahedral H-bonded molecule also gives water a loosely packed structure compared with that of most other liquids, such as oils or liquid nitrogen…
The importance of water to living processes derives not only from its ability to form hydrogen bonds with other water molecules, but especially from its capacity to interact with various types of biological molecules. Because of its polar nature, water readily interacts with other polar and charged molecules such as acids, salts, sugars and various regions of proteins and DNA. As a result of these interactions, water can dissolve those substances, which are consequently described as hydrophilic (water loving). In contrast water does not interact well with nonpolar molecules such as fats, oil and water don’t mix. Nonpolar molecules are hydrophobic (water-fearing).
Hydrophobic interactions in water are very important for protein folding, because the chain folds so as to keep the hydrophobic parts inside, and expose the hydrophilic parts on the surfaces next to water. Proteins only work when they are folded properly and when there is water around, when they become ‘plasticised’ or flexible.
The properties of water and its interactions with proteins and DNA have been extensively studied using molecular dynamic simulations. These computer simulations follow the motions of populations of molecules according to interactions between atoms within the molecules and between molecules.
Molecular dynamic simulations show that while polar molecules such as urea form hydrogen bonds with water and dissolve in it, water molecules either don’t mix at all with nonpolar substances such as fat and oil, or tend to form a cage around the molecules.
These simulations also show that water is integral to the structure and function of all macromolecules. Early attempts to create molecular dynamics of models of DNA failed because repulsive forces between the negatively charged phosphate groups in the DNA backbone cause the molecule to break up after only 50 picoseconds. (The 50 picoseconds are in terms of real time as experienced by the DNA, and would have taken hours, if not days of computer time.) In the late 1980s, Levitt and Miriam Hirshberg showed that when water molecules were included, the DNA double-helical structure was stabilised by the water molecules forming hydrogen bonds with the phosphate groups. Subsequent simulations showed that water interacts with nearly every part of the DNA’s double helix, including the base pairs.
In contrast, water does not penetrate deeply into the structures of proteins, whose hydrophobic regions are tucked within. So, protein-water simulations have focused on the protein surface, which is much less tightly packed than the protein interior. From experiments, we know that heat causes the alpha-helices (a predominant structural feature of proteins) to uncurl, but in early simulations without water, the helix remained intact. Only by adding water were Levitt and Valerie Daggett able to mimic an alpha helix’s actual behaviour.
Recent investigations in our own Institute are showing that water is integral to the liquid crystalline structure of living organisms. The liquid crystalline structure of organisms holds the key to rapid intercommunication within the organism and the perfect co-ordination of living processes.
While most physicists and biochemists are still trying to understand the interactions of water molecules in terms of classical mechanics, a number of physicists have begun to think of the quantum properties of water.
Conventionally, quantum properties are thought to belong to elementary particles of less than 10-10m, while the macroscopic world of our everyday life is ‘classical’, in that things in it behave according to Newton’s laws of motion. Between the macroscopic classical world and the microscopic quantum world is the mesoscopic domain, where the distinction is getting increasingly blurred. Indeed, physicists are discovering quantum properties in large collections of atoms and molecules in the nano-metre to micro-metre range, particularly when the molecules are packed closely together in the liquid phase.
Recently, chemists have made the surprising discovery that molecules form clusters that increase in size with dilution. These clusters measure several micro-metres in diameter. The increase in size occurs nonlinearly with dilution and it depends on history, flying in the face of classical chemistry (see “Molecules clump on dilution“, this issue). Indeed, there is as yet no explanation for the phenomenon. It may well be another reflection of the strangeness of water that depends on its quantum properties.
In the mid-1990s, quantum physicists Del Giudice and Preparata and other colleagues in University of Milan, in Italy, argued that quantum coherent domains measuring 100nm in diameter could arise in pure water. They show how the collective vibrations of the water molecules in the coherent domain eventually become phase-locked to the fluctuations of the global electromagnetic field. In this way, long-lasting, stable oscillations could be maintained in the water.
One way in which ‘memory’ might be stored in water is through the excitation of long-lasting coherent oscillations specific to the substances in the homeopathic remedy dissolved in water. Interaction of water molecules with other molecules changes the collective structure of water, which would in turn determine the specific coherent oscillations that will develop. If these become stabilised and maintained by phase coupling between the global field and the excited molecules, then, even when the dissolved substances are diluted away, the water may still carry the coherent oscillations that can ‘seed’ other volumes of water on dilution.
The discovery that dissolved substances form increasingly large clusters is compatible with the existence of a coherent field in water that can transmit attractive resonance between the molecules when the oscillations are in phase, leading to clumping in dilute solutions. As the cluster of molecules increases in size, its electromagnetic signature is correspondingly amplified, reinforcing the coherent oscillations carried by the water.
But then, one should expect changes in some physical properties in the water that could be detectable.
Unfortunately, all attempts to detect such coherent oscillations by usual spectroscopic and nuclear magnetic resonance methods have yielded ambiguous results. This is not surprising, in view of the finding that cluster size of the dissolved molecules depends on the precise history of dilution rather than on concentration of the molecules.
It is possible that despite variations in the cluster-size of the dissolved molecules and detailed microscopic structure of the water, a specificity of coherent oscillations may nonetheless exist. The failure of the usual detection methods is because they depend on measuring the microscopic properties of individual molecules, or of small aggregates. Instead, what is needed is a method for detecting collective global properties over many, many molecules. Some obvious possibilities that suggest themselves are measurements of freezing points and boiling points, viscosity, density, diffusivity, and magnetic properties.
