Skeptical Analysis of the Woolrest Biomag

Just over a year ago I had an article published in the New Zealand Skeptic magazine about the Woolrest Biomag underlays.  I found the original that I submitted on my harddrive today, which is longer and more detailed than the published version.  It is an opinion piece based on my analysis and follow up of the claims made about the Woolrest Biomag on their website as of January 2009.  I have not updated it in any way other than to recheck the links from the original (and added a couple of notes in orange relating to these).  A quick look at their website suggests little has changed since January 2009.  I emailed this article to the Woolrest Biomag people twice and got no response. 

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Skeptical Analysis of the Woolrest Biomag Underlay
Ian Luxmoore, February 2009

Introduction

I hear and see advertising for the Biomag Underlay on a regular basis in NZ media.  They advertise on TV (one ad is here) and radio extensively and have become a very well known brand in New Zealand.  They are a bed underlay with or without wool that includes magnets which are promoted as providing pain relief.  There are several other brands of magnetic underlay in the market in New Zealand but I would like to focus on the most popular one (and the one with the best website). 

Throughout this article I will use the generic term “Biomag” as a catch all for all of the Biomag products that use magnets. 

With that in mind I decided to do some research and see what I could find about the Biomag range and see where it led me.  I am personally skeptical of the efficacy of magnets in healing but I wanted to investigate what evidence the site provided and see if there was anything to their claims. 

There are two related goals for this research.  The first is to see if there is any reason to think that the Biomag products do what they claim they do, and the second question (within the first) is whether or not the magnets actually contribute to this effect.

An analysis of the claims

The first port of call is to see what the Biomag Company actually claims and in the age of the internet the best resource for this is usually the company’s website.  In this case the Biomag Company has a pretty good website which is easy to follow and has a lot of information on it. 

While their claims are restated in several different ways in different parts of the website, this premise really stood out:

For years, the mainstream medical establishment’s response to pain has been to throw a pill at it.
Source (bolding in original)

This statement fundamentally bothers me.  While there is some evidence that drug use by doctors is higher than necessary any doctor trivially throwing pills at a problem would soon lose his or her practicing license.  This is the exact kind of statement which in one sentence says “ignore the mainstream, buy our product”.  Mainstream pain relief does work.  It works effectively, time and time again, in clinical trials beyond count and in real life.    

The real motivation behind this statement is to imply they have a better way.  For example:

Fortunately, there is a very effective drug-free way to treat pain: the Woolrest Biomag magnetic underlay.  While a Biomag does not cure your pain, it has made a huge difference to literally tens on thousands of people, by reducing inflammation and relieving their pain. 
Source (bolding in original)

 

They also specifically mention the following ailments that the Biomag is good for reducing pain associated with:

• Arthritis *
• Back and other aches/pains*
• various auto-immune disorders
• high/low blood pressure
• circulation problems
• cramps (muscular)
• low energy
• fatigue
• fibromyalgia*
• gout
• headaches*
• osteoporosis
• asthma
• sciatica*
• shingles*
• skin conditions
• sleepless nights*
• stress

Those with stars next to them had further information on the site although it all boils down to pain relief so the source is probably irrelevant. 

This is an interesting list of ailments, many of which are more syndromes than diseases and many are potentially psychological problems (in that they are subject to placebo effects).  However if the pain relief is real then there is no doubt the product is a very good one so this isn’t a big deal.

It is important for me to note here that they say nowhere that the Biomag cures any of these ailments but it does claim to reduce the pain from them.  They could perhaps be more explicit about this but on the whole this is a good thing and means their claims are at least potentially realistic.  Some magnetic healing devices claim to cure cancer or other serious ailments and I think it is clear these are fraudulent.  The Biomag does not claim this as far as I can tell.

How Does It Work?

So having established what it claims it does, how do they claim it does it?  This part is a little muddled since there are several subtly different claims on the website.  There are two main aspects of the claim.  The first is that it interacts with the blood to increase circulation and the second is that it affects nerve impulses. 

The main claim on the site is that circulation is improved, and the connection between iron in the blood and magnets is pointed out:

It does this by drawing trace elements, for instance, iron, towards the magnets. The human body contains about 5 grams of iron, much of it in the form of haemoglobin which plays a vital role moving oxygen from your lungs around your body. 
Source

<2010 Note:   This statement seems to have been changed in their website>

And

It is believed that the static magnets in the underlay increase the flow of blood in your circulation, because blood contains iron. Your blood acts as a conductor and this assists the flow of your circulation.  
Source

Firstly if the magnets do attract the iron in your blood won’t that just draw the blood towards the bed and hold it there?  Logically one would expect it to do the exact opposite of increasing circulation.  However that proves to be irrelevant because the iron in the body is locked up in haemoglobin molecules and is so diffuse that it is incapable of forming any kind of magnetic attraction.  In fact it turns out that haemoglobin (and pretty much all other molecules) are actually slightly diamagnetic, which is to say they are slightly repelled by magnetic fields. 

Secondly it is very unclear just what is meant by “acts as a conductor” – a conductor of what?  And how does this increased conduction lead to increased circulation.  I could find no connection between any sort of magnetic conduction (a complex term it seems!) and blood flow. 

Finally, and because it is perhaps the best response I have seen to claims that magnets affect blood, check out this point:

The last time you got an MRI, did the enormous magnets tear all the blood out of your stupid body? 
Source

MRI’s are magnetic resonance imaging devices at hospitals that use very powerful magnets (0.5-3.0 Tesla, source) to create 3D images of the body.  To put the power of these magnets in context, the Biomag magnets are probably around the 0.01-0.05 Tesla mark.  Check out this cool MRI safety video for some cool demonstrations of how crazy these powerful magnets are!   

<2010 Note:  The MRI safety video has gone awol – but I found this amusing one one youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uzJPpC4Wuk>

The second point the site makes is that the magnets stimulate nerve endings:

The general consensus is that the magnetic force stimulates nerve-endings to improve blood flow to injured or swollen joints, causing the blood vessels to dilate. 
Source

Some investigation reveals there are numerous papers exploring the impact of magnetic fields on nerve actions, and the results are quite variable.  They do seem to almost exclusively point out that the mechanisms are largely unknown.  One paper I found that did find an effect (Mclean et al, 1995) made the point that the strength and nature of the magnet need to be quite specific in order to have an impact on isolated mouse nerve impulses. 

However this statement by Biomag has limited connection to this idea, as it suggests the stimulated nerve endings improve blood flow and I can find no reference that supports this.  There are plenty of studies about electrical stimulation of nerves influencing blood flow but these are localised and not general.  It seems very unlikely that a general magnetic field (such as that from a Biomag) would magically stimulate nerves only in places where there are injured or swollen joints since nerve activity there will already be enhanced – in fact one might expect it to dilute this effect given that, if it does stimulate nerve endings, it would stimulate them everywhere.  All told this explanation simply doesn’t add up without further information.

Some more claims from the Biomag site:

This increase in blood flow facilitates the delivery of trace elements, nutrients and oxygen throughout your body tissue.  This in turn helps to reduce the inflammation that causes pain, and aids the removal of toxins.  
Source

 The first part is only true if there is a deficiency to start with and this is as likely to be a dietary problem as a blood flow problem.  Secondly inflammation is caused by an immune system response to a problem in the body so increasing blood flow is unlikely to affect the problem.  Thirdly “toxins” is an incredibly vague term and not one that can really be used in this context.  With some toxins (such as snake venom) the last thing you want is increased blood flow.  It would be beneficial for Biomag to clarify what they mean by “toxins” in this sense so we can evaluate this claim meaningfully. 

In addition, an increased production of melatonin helps lead to a deeper, restorative sleep.

Firstly I can find no link between magnets and melatonin production.  Secondly, according to Wikipedia, melatonin production in the blood is regulated by the eye based on light signals as it is crucial to regulating our diurnal patterns.  It is not clear how a magnet could influence this or how it could improve sleep in this way.

Regarding excess acidity or alkalinity, you may well find that exposure to Biomag products will help to bring your body into a position of natural balance.

This one also seems rather strange as I can find no information that suggests magnetic fields can influence pH level unless somehow it regulates production (which isn’t mentioned anywhere either).  Secondly you are likely to be in a fair amount of trouble if you body’s “natural pH balance” varied by much!  This one makes no sense to me and reminds me of a lot of “natural balance” claims which are almost always pseudoscience, mostly because nothing finds natural balances better than complex adaptive systems like a living organism.  When complex adaptive systems get out of balance they tend to either collapse or return to equilibrium rather rapidly all by themselves.

Evidence

Firstly I can find absolutely nothing on the website or elsewhere that indicates the product itself has been tested for efficacy in pain relief and sleep improvement.  There are two lines of actual evidence that the Biomag site offers which are some Journal papers and anecdotal evidence.  I deal with the anecdotal information in the next section.

The main reference on the site (here) is to a paper entitled Response of pain to static magnetic fields in postpolio patients: A double-blinded pilot study (Valbona et al 1997). 

There are a few points to note about this paper.  Firstly it is a pilot study, so is far from conclusive.  Secondly they only applied the magnets for 45 minutes.  Thirdly there was no follow up on patients.  So while this paper is potentially interesting, it doesn’t tell us very much.  Also it is not a test of the Biomag magnets.

Good science is built up on as many studies as possible in order to give us the best possible picture, especially in such highly subjective areas like pain.  Twelve other papers are listed on the site but to save time I went hunting for any meta-analyses of static magnet therapy I could find.  A meta-analysis is where the author compiles the results from as many studies as he or she can find and determines if there is an overall statistically significant effect to be found over the breadth of studies conducted. 

I found one meta-analysis that looked pretty thorough entitled Static magnets for reducing pain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials (Pittler et al, 2007).  This paper pulled together 29 studies, including the Valbona study discussed above and all of the other references they listed that actually dealt with pain relief, and analysed their results.  Their conclusion is telling:

Overall, the meta-analysis suggested no significant effects of static magnets for pain relief relative to placebo.

They did note that for one ailment (peripheral joint osteoarthritis) that the “evidence is insufficient to exclude a clinically important benefit” (mostly due to a small sample) but for all other ailments their conclusion was that there was no significant effect over placebo.

At the very best one can say that the literature is uncertain about the impact of magnets.  What we can say is that there appears to be no peer-reviewed research about the Biomag products specifically and therefore its clinical efficacy rests on the somewhat inconclusive (although tending negative) evidence for magnets in general. 

The anecdotal evidence

While the clinical evidence of the Biomag’s efficacy is sparse at best, the anecdotal evidence is all over their website and advertising campaigns.  Anecdotal evidence is much harder to take seriously than clinical evidence because it is uncontrolled and wide open to placebo, misinterpretation and even manipulation.  However it is not entirely without value so let us evaluate it.

The Biomag site particularly emphasises the celebrities that endorse the product.  While not an uncommon tactic amongst both legitimate and illegitimate products, ask yourself this:  is a rugby star any more qualified than anyone else to comment on the efficacy of a bed product?  Celebrities they may be.  Sleep experts or medical doctors they are not.  Their opinion is no more or less valid than any other lay opinion (except they may well get paid for theirs!).

Looking through the testimonials page we find videos of several prominent celebrities doing obviously scripted promos on Murray Deaker’s radio show plus quite a few written promos by celebrities and non-celebrities people as well.  There are also random testimonials floating around the other pages on the site.  I read through all the ones I could find and noted that while every single testimonial mentions improved sleep only about half specifically mention pain relief.  In fact most of the video testimonials didn’t even mention pain, but they did spend a fair bit of time on how nice the wool is!  Curiously not one of the testimonials made any specific mention of the magnets.

A possible explanation for the anecdotal evidence

Now let us consider what the Biomag actually is.  It is a presumably high quality woollen underlay for a bed.  This is just speculation but it seems to me that relatively few people that already had a high quality woollen underlay on their bed would actually purchase a Biomag.  This means logically that the majority of people purchasing one are actually significantly improving their bed’s comfort and luxury by installing a Biomag and this in itself would be enough to account for better nights sleep.

Secondly the main place that a lot of people suffer problematic pain is in bed.  Once you are comfortable and asleep you don’t feel pain.  Therefore anything that makes your bed more comfortable and makes it easier for you to sleep will in a sense alleviate pain.  Also it is fairly well known that good sleep gives your body a chance to recuperate and that well rested people are more likely to be motivated and to feel good.  This builds a powerful explanatory scenario for the observed pain relief due to the Biomag.

Thirdly a lot of people who buy this product expect to receive pain relief and better sleep.  Given the cost, celebrity endorsements, and supposed science behind it, there cannot be a better environment for the placebo effect to manifest itself.  Given how subjective pain is, if you curl up in a warm comfortable bed that never used to be that soft etc, it is no surprise that you’d think it was working and potentially increase the effect that the good sleep already has.

Therefore it seems that the anecdotal evidence could be easily explained by factors other than the magnets.  This doesn’t prove anything but it does give one a good basis for questioning the need for the magnets at all.

Conclusion

There were two real questions I set out to address with regards to the Biomag products.  Firstly do they work?  I think it is safe to say improving sleeping conditions is beneficial to people with all sorts of problems so it is almost certain there is a benefit to doing so.  How much so we do not know given there does not seem to be any Biomag specific research. 

The second question is whether or not the magnets contribute to their efficacy.  Given everything I have read, the nature of the benefits of using the Biomag, and the general nature of the magnetic healing industry, I am strongly inclined to believe that the magnets do not significantly contribute to any of the benefits of using a Biomag.

References:

Dr James Livingstone’s 1998 article for the Skeptical Inquirer:  http://www.csicop.org/si/show/magnetic_therapy_plausible_attraction/

McLean, M.J. Holcomb, R.R. Wamil, A.W. Pickett, J.D. & Cavopol, A.V. (1995) Blockade of sensory neuron action potentials by a static magnetic field in the 10 mT range.  Bioelectromagnetics, vol. 16, pp. 20–32.

Pittler, M.H.  Brown, E.M.  Ernst, E.  (2007) Static magnets for reducing pain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.  Canadian Medical Association Journal Vol 177(7) pp 736-742

Vallbona C, Hazlewood CF, Jurida G. (1997) Response of pain to static magnetic fields in postpolio patients: a double-blind pilot study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil vol 78, pp 1200-3.

All information from the Biomag website was retrieved at the end of January 2009.

Disclaimer:  I am not a medical doctor and I strongly suggest you seek professional medical advice for any medical problems you have rather than taking my word for it.  This article merely seeks to investigate the claims of the Biomag device from a lay perspective.