Miracle drugs that work? Magnets that may prevent heart attacks

The blood corpuscles, which are known to contain iron, may with the help of a magnet connect together and move in the center of the artery. Don't rush to use magnets just like that 

Hundreds of years ago, peddlers would try to sell magic cures for every problem: green effervescent potions for headaches and lizard tails for erectile problems. Since then we have wised up and learned, and today similar peddlers market similar drugs in a more scientific fashion: magnets that must be worn on the body to help it overcome a wide variety of medical and mental problems.

A representative example of such old-fashioned medicines can be found in a preparation that the company marketing it claims to treat period pains, and according to some claims it is also able to prevent extreme moods during the period, reduce the pimples on the face and even help in the healing process after childbirth. In short, a real miracle drug.

The marketers claim that there is evidence that the product works, and provide medical explanations about the magnet's powers - "to balance the electrical charge in the suffering tissue and thus cause that tissue to return to normal function".

Unfortunately, such an explanation is worth no more than the bits that carry it, and is devoid of any medical significance. We do not know of 'unbalanced electrical charges' that attack the entire tissue, and there is no reason to think that there are any - or that they cause period pain. This fact does not prevent the marketers of medical magnets from making claims to their heart's content about their products, relying at best on a small and unconvincing number of bad studies, and at worst on... nothing at all.

But what if we find out that magnets can actually cause a medical effect?

Well, that wouldn't be a big surprise. There are devices capable of creating a magnetic field around certain areas of the brain, thereby suppressing or increasing their activity. This is because the nerves transmit information using electrical voltage, and a magnetic field is able to suppress or increase the nerve's rate of transmission of information. In the past, the ability of the technique was demonstrated in the treatment of certain brain conditions, such as depression. What else? For such an effect, powerful magnets powered by large electric generators are needed. The usual magnets on the freezer, or even the one in Take Care, cannot bring about a similar effect.

Nevertheless, magnet supporters look for every opportunity to prove their case. This may be the reason for the excitement surrounding a new and unusual study in the United States, in which researchers have shown that magnets are able to change blood viscosity. The study was accepted for publication in the scientific journal Physical Review E.

Before we continue, it is worth noting that the researchers did not use simple and cheap magnets, but created a powerful magnetic field of 1.3 tesla around a small tube containing human blood. A magnetic field of such strength, if it is contained on the whole person, can cause small metallic objects to be torn from the pockets and fly at high speed towards the magnet.

Normally we don't expect a magnetic field to affect blood. The red blood cells do carry iron, but it is almost insensitive to magnetic forces. Even so, the magnetic field reduced blood viscosity by 20 to 30 percent. The reason, according to the researchers, is that the red blood cells connected to each other like cars on a train. In this position they could move more easily in the center of the tube than each one separately.

What is the significance of the discovery? News sites around the world were quick to describe the magnet as the new solution to heart problems. Where the arteries leading blood to the heart become narrower, we can use magnets to make the red blood cells line up in an orderly line and pass the 'bottleneck' without unnecessary disturbances.

Is it possible? Probably so, although it is clear that there is a need to improve the technology before such a use is made of it. The main problem is that the magnetic field affected the blood viscosity in the experiment only when it was applied in the direction parallel to the straight tube. Blood vessels in the body, on the other hand, twist in many different directions, so it will not be possible to direct the magnet accordingly. The technology may be suitable for use on particularly large blood vessels, but before we see it come into use, if at all, it will be several more good years.

So maybe we use 'medical' magnets, sold in pharmacies? You can do it, of course, but it is unlikely that a magnet from the pharmacy will have a similar effect on the blood in the arteries. The magnetic field of these preparations is almost ten times smaller than the magnetic field applied in the experiment (depending on the particular preparation used). and better this way.

why good Because a large part of the arteries in the body - the tiny arteries that bring the blood to the tissue - are very narrow. They are so narrow that the red blood cells can only pass through them one at a time. If the magnet really causes the red blood cells to stick together in a clump, then they will get stuck and won't be able to pass through the arterioles. Such a blockage is unhealthy and not recommended, to say the least, and may cause necrosis of the tissue. Luckily the pseudo-medical magnets don't really work.

As if 200 years haven't passed - about the nail and magnet healing craze