How do homeopathic remedies work? Detractors contend that remedies contain very little active substance and may merely work as a placebo. They usually ignore the most recent results from research that show the uncommon physical properties of homeopathic remedies.
Physics rather than chemistry provides new conceptual and observational tools to explore how matter is organized, referring to quantum fields as the building blocks of the universe. What we see as solid, matter, objects, trees, and rivers or to remedies for that purpose, are rather conglomerates of particles. We know from quantum physics that each particle at the most granular level is both a point in space and a wavelength. Electrons spin at a given speed around an orbit and the orbit can change with the magnetic field around it. Hence, at one given point in time scientists can predict either the wavelength or the position of the electron but not both. Quantum physics now recognizes twelve different fields that support twelve distinct types of particles that exist below the level of atom. This means that what we perceive as matter can also be seen as a wave of energy that happens to have certain properties at a given time. Homeopathic remedies have been produced from trituration of a natural substance, then diluted many times with steps of vigorous succussing in water. It is usually considered that after the 11th step of water dilution and succussion, homeopathic remedies have fully lost the matter content in their chemical compound. (Scientists say that the theoretical limit of molecular presence is reached and use the reference to the Avogadro threshold below which no molecular presence can be ascertained). However, homeopathic remedies keep the wavelength imprint that continues to interact with its energy field. Scientists have consistently been able to measure a wavelength emitted by homeopathic remedies, despite the absence of the original underlying matter [1]. Homeopathy infers that when the remedy is adjusted to the pattern of the ailments, the wavelength of the remedy will interact with the energy field of the body and promote restoring health.
Let’s take an example. Witnessing a car accident may create distress and a sense of shock. It can shake our energy to the core and disrupt appetite, sleep, or possibly adversely affect our ability to function. Each of us will have a different response to stress, chiefly depending on our history, our constitution, our belief system, among other factors. A well-adjusted homeopathic remedy will help the body restore its total balance by working on the energy that will eventually trickle down to the ailments manifested in the body. Using the ailments and characteristics of the person, the homeopath will research the best matching remedy adequate in that precise moment. A superbly matched remedy that is known to help in case of emotional shock will help the body remove the imprint of the accident from its emotional memory and assist in restoring health.
So, what’s the difference with a placebo?
Some argue that because homeopathic products have been dissolved so many times, the efficiency attributed to homeopathy merely results from a placebo effect. This is the main argument used to dispute the efficiency of homeopathic products—homeopathy is like absorbing sugar and water!
These critics are unaware of the current state of nuclear and spectroscopy research. In fact, scientists measure the energy field of homeopathic products using nuclear magnetic resonance of the water molecules impregnated with homeopathic remedies (see in particular Baumgartner and al., 2009; Demangeat, 2022). They found that homeopathic remedies, where the concentration of the initial underlying substance was less than 10 ppb (parts per billion, which equates to one particle in one billion particles, which is below the threshold for existing matter in the Avogadro definition) were substantially behaving differently than water. Interestingly, the behavior of homeopathic remedies dynamized in water tends to change with dilution. Water soaked with homeopathically prepared remedies tends to conserve a magnetic load for measurably longer time than simple water. Furthermore, the more the homeopathically-infused water was succussed, and the more it is able to keep its magnetic load—a counterintuitive but nevertheless quantifiable result. [2] The scientists inferred that molecules of water exposed to homeopathic remedies tend to organize in nanostructures—possibly under the form of nanobubbles.
Research in the 21st century provides new demonstrations to ground homeopathy as a fully fledge potent and active medicine.
References:
- On the peculiar properties of water: Scientists Say…Homeopathy Is Not Just Placebo, by the Homeopathy Research Group, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACBheCzE9U
- More on energy fields and quantum physics: Presentation by David Tong, Professor of theoretical physics, Cambridge University, at at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVQfWC_evg
- Milgrom,L., 2006, Towards a New Model of the Homeopathic Process Based on Quantum Field Theory, June 2006, article at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16868363/
- On the use of spectroscopy to analyze lactose impregnated with different homeopathic substances and their properties:
o Baranova A., Lykina A., Antonova D., Smolyanskaya O., 2021, Optical Properties of Crystalline Lactose Fluidized with Dilutions of Various Substances in the Terahertz Frequency Range, Dec 2021, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35056928/
- On the use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) in exploring the energy fields of homeopathic remedies:
Michelle B. Hassine was trained by Dr. Edouard Broussalian in Geneva, Switzerland before joining the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine (CCHM). She is currently consulting on homeopathy at Healing Homeopathic Solutions, LLC in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She can be reached at michelle.hassine@gmail.com
[1] Scientists use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and spectroscopy applied to homeopathic remedies; examples include Kalliantas and al. (2018); Botha and al. (2008).
[2] Specifically, they report that the changes in relaxation times increases gradually with dilution, the relaxation time being the time it takes to the solution once magnetized at a given frequency to return to its earlier state. That relaxation time (called T1) describes how the return of the excited nuclei from the high energy state to the low or ground state is associated with loss of energy to the surrounding nuclei.
