Investigation of the Zwitterion Water Structure Hypothesis in Homeopathy

Principal Investigator: David J. Anick, PhD, MD, Psychiatrist and Homeopath, Marino Center for Progressive Health

Affiliations: McLean Hospital; Harvard Medical School

Background: Homeopathic remedies of high dilution may contain no molecules of the original substance. One postulated explanation for their clinical effectiveness is that information is imprinted in the liquid water during the processes of dilution and succession, and this occurs through the presence of specialized clusters of quasi-stable water molecules called zwitterions. The Zwitterion Hypothesis states that homeopathic remedies made in water are weak aqueous solutions of certain species of zwitterions with exceptionally stable properties.

Hypotheses: 1) To demonstrate the existence of stable water clusters known as zwitterions detectable at room temperature for over several hours; 2) to identify and test properties of zwitterions using computational chemistry; and 3) to investigate, using NMR spectroscopy, whether solutions of chemically identical water display different NMR spectra explainable by the presence of low concentrations of stable or quasi-stable zwitterions and if they are present in homeopathic models.

Materials and Methods: The use of commercially available computational chemistry programs that do quantum-based modeling to predict optimal geometries for zwitterions, and also the reaction pathways and energy barriers involved in destabilizing or neutralizing them. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance measurements will be used to detect the presence of homeopathic remedies, zwitterions or other stable clusters.