Homeopathy is a branch of medicine which has often been found to be very effective according to research studies. Homeopathy uses the “law of similars” which means that a homeopathic remedy made of a substance that caused a disease may cure the disease.

The “law of similars” is in tune with the scientific principle of hormesis, whereby a very low dose of a substance has the opposite effect as a higher and even toxic dose of the same substance. Hormesis has been repeatedly demonstrated to be true in toxicology. An example of hormesis is that a high dose of lead can cause toxicity, while an extremely low dose of lead can trigger the body to remove the lead.

The homeopathic remedies are highly diluted. When a solution of a remedy is diluted, 1 part to 100 parts of liquid, we call this 1C (sometimes 1CH). When this is done 6 times to a solution in succession, we call the result 6C. The solution is called by the Latin name for the remedy, and it is frequently made into pills. Thus, the homeopathic name for arsenic is Arsenicum album. Dilutions of 30C and above are unlikely to have any of the original molecules still present in the pills. After each dilution, the solution is succussed, or tapped, in the traditional way to increase the potency of the remedy.

In this study, white blood cells were treated beforehand with a toxic dose of arsenic. The cells were then treated with Arsenicum album 6C, 30C, or 200C. Some examples of each concentration were succussed and some were not. The successes of the treatments were evaluated by testing the percent of the cells which survived the toxic arsenic. The result was that cells which were treated with Arsenicum album 200C survived better than the cells treated with Arsenicum 6C. Whether the remedies were succussed or not did not seem to make a difference. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies, but raises the question of whether succussion is necessary.

NOTE: Arsenicum album homeopathic is commonly used as a remedy in places which have a large amount of arsenic poisoning from the drinking water, such as eastern India and Bangladesh. A 1 to 10 dilution in Homeopathy is called 1X, and the rules are the same for naming the further dilutions, such as 6X and 30X.

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PMID: 22489193.

Summary 912. nutrientmedicine.