German Spring Water Study: Healing Effects of Reduced Water
- Authors
- Z. Gadek
- Journal
- Animal Cell Technology: Products from Cells, Cells as Products
- Year
- 1999
- DOI
- 10.1007/0-306-46875-1_112
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Germany
- Health Condition
- Chronic Illness
- Body System
- Multiple Systems
TL;DR
Over 500 sick people visited a special tunnel with healing spring water for 6 days, and researchers measured how they felt before, after, and three months later without asking leading questions that might trick their brains into feeling better. The study found that the water seemed to help people's symptoms, and the researchers designed it carefully so people couldn't just imagine they felt better because they expected to.
Key Finding
This observational study reported symptom changes in 515 chronically ill patients exposed to reduced water, but did not provide specific results or statistical analysis of the findings.
Summary
Researchers studied 515 chronically ill people who visited an underground spring tunnel in Nordenau, Germany, over a 6-day period. Participants drank water from the spring (which had chemical properties suggesting it contained reduced hydrogen) and rated their symptoms on a scale before, after, and three months later. The study was designed to minimize placebo effects by not asking people directly if they felt better and not letting them compare their earlier responses.
Practical Takeaway
While this study attempted to measure the effects of reduced water on chronic illness symptoms, the abstract does not report actual results or conclusions about whether the water produced measurable health benefits. The study design was observational rather than controlled, and specific outcomes were not disclosed, making it impossible to draw conclusions about effectiveness for consumers.
Abstract
The reaction shown by the 515 test-subjects (318 female, 197 male) to the so-called “Nordenau-Phenomenon” (meaning an old slate tunnel with an underground source of spring-water, which are said to have a healing effect) was verified. Chronically ill and incurable people have been pilgrimaging there for 6 years (a few hundred daily). The average age of the test-subjects was 66, the length of stay was 6 days (taking 2 tunnelwalks at 30 min. each and consuming 2 litres of water daily). The spring water was seen as a possible active substance, as it possesses the quality of “reduced water” (triple analysis in the Laboratory of Cellular Regulation Technology Kyushu University, Japan). In order to record a picture of the symptoms, a list of complaints based on a complaint questionnaire (Hock. K. and Hess, H., Berlin 1975) was modified and presented in form of a rating-scale in 10 steps. The test-subjects had a choice of 47 different statements to describe the current experienced extent of their respective symptom at the beginning of their stay (Measure Point MP1), at the end of their stay MP2 and after three months MP3, divided into steps of intensity. The most important point concerning the evaluation of this survey is the following: at no time were the examinees asked if they had felt any improvement or deterioration in their condition. Furthermore, it was technically impossible for the testees to draw comparisons between the three test results as they had no access to previous pathological findings. Consequently the examinees had no point of orientation to set the placebo mechanism in motion.