Biomagnetics: Why are we still attracted?

Magnetic Healing

 I have been fortunate to have only red about this, but never really seen it, until know. Moving to a smaller city I have noticed a lot more chiropractic/homeopathic practices than I really do care to see. Whilst out shopping today I saw a fairly big stall branded ‘Magnetic Healing’ with a tagline of ‘Walk away pain free today; diabetic foot care’. I was more astonished by the amount of people crowding the stall than the stall itself. I first read about this in around 2013 and was thankful I had never seen it in the U.K., having only seen aspects of it before, seeing a full blown shop dedicated to it made me a little uneasy. 

What is Magnetic Healing?

Essentially, magnetic healing is exactly what it says; using magnets to heal pain. These magnets are in the form of charms, insoles and braces sold with the claims that they can relieve pain, increase energy and have a positive impact on mental and physical agility. It seems that the general public in the U.K. are still under the notion that pain can be healed by the use of magnetic energy. 

Source

Practitioners claim that the magnetic fields can positively effect blood and underlying tissues. I think this has gained much credibility via the use of magnets in clinical medicine. We use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and we evaluate brain function with the measure of electrical impulses that travel through it. These practices are based on sound science and through years of research. As there is potential for a market by exploiting and bastardising magnetic properties, there are quacks to fill it. Essentially, what these people are selling are just regular magnets, such as the ones you put on your fridge. As you probably (hopefully) know, these have absolutely no effects. They will not penetrate beyond a few mm, let alone your skin to your tissues. Factually, haemoglobin isdiamagnetic (weakly, when oxygenated) the magnets, as stated, have fields way to low to have any effect (this website has some helpful diagrams and a much more in-depth explanation of this). If our body was affected by this weak of a magnet, then surely: 

 

a)    MRI would be made redundant

b)    We would be effected all the time

Any Evidence?

No. Only evidence (of value) is to the contrary. A study published quite a good while ago (1991) in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine studied the effects of magnets on the body and found that strengths of up to 1 Tesla had absolutely no effect. Many practitioners take away any basis of science and claim the effects are on the electromagnetic energy around the body, balancing and energising our auras. It has also been propagated as a treatment for cancer, diabetes and autism...

In 2008, a systematic review of all credible magnetic therapy studies published in The Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies journal, shockingly, found zero evidence to conclude the basis of any claims made by practitioners. In fact, you can test any claims for yourself with a small experiment, as I will do right now. As they claim that the magnet will affect your blood flow, placing a magnet on your skin will make the skin appear red as the blood will surely come to the surface, as they are attracting. I have placed a magnet on my arm, and on my lower leg. 10 Minutes later, I see no result. 30 Minutes later, I see no result. After an hour, every pain in my body from this cold has gone. THIS ACTUALLY WORKS. Oh wait, no. My mistake; absolutely nothing happened.

Law

The stall I saw had a website: www.magnetichealing.com which I was surprised to find has absolutely no information. It is essentially a place to find quick links to other websites, strange. If you were selling a product to people that you truly believed works, in the face of surmountable evidence, why would you not want to promote such products? Never thought I would be in support of homeopathy, but at least they stand on their own….merits? (I use that term for a lack of a better word, homeopathy has no merits).

In the early 2000’s there were numerous court rulings on practitioners making false claims about these products. As previously they were marketing magnets for cures, the companies marketing such products were sued and now use stupid phrases such as: ‘supports the healing process’ and the less glamorous ‘helps with’.

Not Medical Doctors…Then Who?

As I cannot find anyone to blame for the stall I saw today (other than the people working there, but I wasn’t going to ask questions in the middle of a Saturday afternoon in a busy shopping centre during the Christmas period. I’m not mental). I have found the website: biomagnetismusa.com which is a fascinating and riveting website aimed at people who haven’t an ounce of sense in their human body. Within this site, the author, Helana Guerrero, describes to the general public as to what magnetic healing actually is. Obviously using the classic pseudoscientific words as a marketing scam: Toxin, Detox, my favourite section is this:

“Virus and fungus live in acidic enviroment, bacteria and parasite alkaline. By placing magnets of the same polarity on each point, we push the charges towards each other and the area gets balanced, equilibrium is restore to a neutral pH, then pathogens instantly die since pathogens can not live in a neutral pH and we get rid ot them.”

That is copied and pasted as found, proof-reading is clearly not vital, then again, nor is fact-checking. One word completely defies this sentence: Homeostasis. This is the tendency of a system within a living organism (not always living) to maintain an equilibrium by reacting in regards to a stimulus. You should surely remember this from high school. This belief flies directly into the fact of our homeostatic biological nature. There is nothing really you can do, with the exception of what is essentially poison, to change your blood pH level. We have multiple feedback loops that have evolved through the ages to correct our pH level, magnets are not going to change that. You can’t easily affect blood pH, essentially, that is called poisoning. And that will obviously kill you. More on pH quackery can be found here.

Then we get to a better section, the disclaimer:

Helena Guerrero has been Certified to provide BioMagnetism Therapy by the El Centro de Investigacion de Biomagnetismo Medico, S.C.in Mexico, The University of Chapingo, Mexico and by Dr. Isaac Goiz Duran.
She is not a Medical Doctor, she is not making a medical diagnosis or providing medical advice or care.
You should see a Medical Doctor for medical care, and you should view BioMagnetism Therapy care as additional therapy to the medical care provided by a Medical Doctor.
Biomagnetism Therapy is not a substitute for Physician consultation, evaluation, or treatment.

Essentially reworded to: I’m not a medical doctor. This doesn’t work as a cure for anything. See a physician for actual care. At the end of homepage is a list of things that biotherapy apparently helps. It’s a long and amusing list, and its all thanks to Dr Isaac Duran, who has patented this biomagnetic treatment with absolutely zero evidence for it’s claims. Unfortunately the website doesn’t have a price list for how much it would cost for such a treatment to help with any ailments. Maybe if I get my head cut off one day I’ll visit for the cure, I’m sure magnets can fix that. 

Conclusion

Obviously it is frustrating to anyone with an ounce of scepticism, critical thinking and basic scientific knowledge, that people are falling for this and still forking money over to these shills. Of course, I would be wrong to have reviewed and questioned the science and practicality of this in the eyes of practitioners, they will claim that there is insurmountable evidence to prove the claims made. Who am I to argue with that? Oh wait, someone who actually knows what they are talking about and is not biased-ly trying to sell something. Either way, this remains a fringe science with only circumstantial testimonials as evidence. If you went for surgery and asked if a treatment worked and they said ‘well, Tom from Leeds says that I fixed him’ you’d be a little suspicious. Why not apply the same scepticism to people selling you magnets for cancer treatment? Read that last sentence again. Done.