Homeopathy as Nano Medicine

Homeopathy is a non-toxic system of western medical science originated in Germany by Dr. Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann. All system of medicines are prepared and administered in doses whose ingredients can be quantified to be below Avogadro limit except homeopathic medicine which is available in both below as well as above avogadro limit. The probability of finding a molecule (chemical or physical trace) of the original substance above avogadro limit is extremely small, but not zero. Homeopathic medicines above avogadro limit are known as high dilutions. The avogadro limit for potentisation is 23X/12C/LM4.

Avogadro limit was unknown at the time of Hahnemann. In his paper “Cure and prevention of scarlet fever”, published in Journal of Practical Medicine in 1801, Hahnemann mentioned the prophylactic properties of Belladonna in scarlet fever  and the method to prepare potentised Belladonna to 1/24,000,000 dilution.

He said, “we dissolve a grain of this powder … in one hundred drops of common distilled water, by rubbing it up in a small mortar; we pour the thick solution into a one-ounce bottle, and rinse the mortar and the pestle with three hundred drops of diluted alcohol (five parts of water to one of spirit), and we then add this to the solution, and render the union perfect, by diligently shaking the liquid. We label the bottle strong solution of belladonna. One drop of this is intimately mixed with three hundred drops of diluted alcohol by shaking it for a minute, and this is marked medium solution of belladonna. Of this second mixture one drop is mixed with two hundred drops of the diluted alcohol, by shaking for a minute, and marked weak solution of belladonna; and this is our prophylactic remedy for scarlet-fever, each drop of which contains the twenty-four millionth part of a grain of the dry belladonna juice.” [1]

Hahnemann recommended one drop which is equivalent to 0.0416 nanograms of belladonna (1 grain = 0.06479891 grams) and to repeat the dose every 72 hours. This is the first recorded nanodose of medicine used in treatment of any disease.

Now compare the above results with the paper published in 2010 in journal Homeopathy by Elseiver Science based on experiments conducted in Chemical Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, India which concluded that metal-derived homeopathic medicines retains their potency even when diluted to a nanometre or one-billionth of a metre and contains nanograms of fine nanoparticles of the original starting material [2]. In an article published in The Times of India dated 16 Dec 2010 titled “IIT-B team shows how homeopathy works”, co-author of the paper [2] Dr. Jayesh Bellare [3], Head, Chemical Engineering Department, IIT, Bombay, said, “Homeopathy has been a conundrum for modern medicine. Its practitioners maintained that homeopathic pills got more potent on dilution, but they could never explain the mechanism scientifically enough for the modern scientists.” [4]

He in his lecture, “Homeopathy as Nanomedicine” at World Homeopathic Congress 2011 [5] said, “Even the highest dilutions of remedies have left signatures of respective original molecules in their nanoparticle form, when subjected to electron microscopy studies, validated later by wavelength analysis.”

In 2007 study by Manju Lata Rao et. al, the paper concluded that succussion generates colloidal nanobubbles in diluted solutions [6]. A 2008 study showed that the dilution determines the number density of residual nanobubbles in diluted solution [7]. A 2009 study by Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier concluded that nanostructures in highly diluted biological samples of bacteria and virus DNA produces electro-magnetic (EM) signals (low frequency radio waves) at 5C and 6C potencies [8]. These specific nanostructures last for 48 hours and are responsible for the EM measured. The EM signature changed with dilution levels but was unaffected by the initial concentration and remained even after the remaining DNA fragments were destroyed by chemical agents. It was also noted that the samples needed be ‘vortexed’ (a process akin to succussion) for the EM effects to be present.

Conclusions

Hahnemann can be attributed as The Father of NanoMedicine. He not only recommended nanograms of medicine to be administered but also give the method to prepare the same. Homeopathy is “nanopharmacology” [9], medicines prepared through a specific pharmacological process of potentisation.

 References

1. The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, Collected and Translated by: R.E. Dudgeon (1852), p. 380-381.
2. Extreme homeopathic dilutions retain starting materials: A nanoparticulate perspective (2010), http://bit.ly/edUwqd
3. Prof. Jayesh Bellare, Chemical engineering Department, (http://www.che.iitb.ac.in/online/faculty/jayesh-bellare)
4. IIT-B team shows how homeopathy works , timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/IIT-B-team-shows-how-homeopathy-works/articleshow/7108579.cms dated 16 Dec 2010
5. World Homoeopathic Congress 2011, http://hahnemannkiaawaz.com/?p=1533
6. The defining role of structure including epitaxy in the plausability of homeopathy, http://is.gd/iQYLA
7. Effect of 1:2 aqueous dilution on O2 nanobbubles in a 0.1 M Na2CO3 solution, Ichiro Otsuka , Proc The 59th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, September 7 to 12, 2008, Seville, Spain; s10-P-062, p139.
8. Electromagnetic Signals Are Produced by Aqueous Nanostructures Derived from Bacterial DNA Sequences,http://www.homeopathyeurope.org/media/news/MontagnierElectromadneticSignals.pdf
9. The Emerging Science of Homeopathy.Complexity, Biodynamics and Nanopharmacology. Paolo Bellavite, Andread  Signorini. North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, California. 1995. ISBN 1-55643-384- 0. http://bit.ly/d30Tll

Dr. Nancy Malik received her Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) from prestigious ‘Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital’, Chandigarh in Jan 2003. She has worked there in the capacity of Medical Officer. She has a rich clinical experience as a House Physician at Dr. J.B.D. Castro’s Homeopathy Research Centre, Chandigarh. She lives and practices in Sector-23, Gurgaon. More information at http://drnancymalik.wordpress.com