Sciencemadness Discussion Board

The Effects of a Chemically Illiterate Population; I give you C60's Magical Healing Powers

VSEPR_VOID - 12-5-2018 at 19:09

It recently came to my attention that many people, most seeming to be the new-age hippy types, are consuming fullerenes (or what they think are fullerenes) for its "special healing properties. This often involves 'dissolving it' in olive oil.

Links to examples:
http://www.thehelix12project.org/health-benefits-of-c60-for-...
A website making claims about C60,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SHUNGITE-POWDER-KARELIAN-STONE-FULL...
09T4-eqS1zaUbeQ
Some person selling "C60", most likely charcoal.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=C60+fullerenes+...
And a number of videos talking about C60 and health


This reminds me of the discovery of radium and x-rays. These discoveries were put forward as cure-alls and advertised as healthy. Well I do not think C60 will do any damage to the human body it is just another example of how quickly poor ideas travel.

How many would agree that beliefs such as this are indicators of how educated a population is on the subject of science, or at least detecting baloney? My darker side sells to start selling "C60" as well.

Capture.PNG - 63kB

Mesa - 12-5-2018 at 20:06

It's hardly surprising, try searching for "zeolite" on ebay and the majority of hits are being marketed as health supplements

Vosoryx - 12-5-2018 at 21:57

I wanted to read the entire C60 article but I couldn't because my god is that font ever bothersome.

Seems to be just the standard pseudo-science crap. The layout of the page reminds me of "Thrive Movement." (Those nutjobs with the torus obsession)

ninhydric1 - 12-5-2018 at 22:04

Reminds of the pseudoscience about how germanium had "magical healing powers". Just like this C60 claim, this is all absolute nonsense.

crystal grower - 12-5-2018 at 22:58

Damn, my bullshit detector just exploded:(.

Fulmen - 13-5-2018 at 00:17

I don't put too much into stuff like this, there will always be some loons out there. This is the first I've heard about it, so it can't be too common. And it's nowhere near the worst example, just look at "Miracle Mineral Solution". Those bastards fooled people into drinking BLEACH!

unionised - 13-5-2018 at 00:58

I guess it's an age thing.
The C60 I first thought of was along these lines


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9sfRyn5EeM

wg48 - 13-5-2018 at 03:57

The general population are not just chemically illiterate they are scientifically illiterate along with some governments. Remember the guy that sold 7,000 fake bomb detectors to Iraq, Georgia, Romania, Niger, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. He made fifty million pounds from the scam. How could a rich nation like Saudi Arabia get fooled?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22380368
He got ten years in prison hopefully the people that got scammed at least lost their jobs

TheNerdyFarmer - 13-5-2018 at 04:24

I have actually thought about attempting to extract fullerenes from shungite. Not for healing properties, but to experiment with. They are all generally slightly soluble in toluene which is relatively easy to get. Since it is slightly soluble, I believe a sonicator is needed. It gives some pretty colored solutions ranging from purple to red. This does seem like something that would be cool to have a sample of.

unionised - 13-5-2018 at 05:05

From Wiki "Shungite has been reported to contain trace amounts of fullerenes (0.0001 < 0.001%)".
On that basis, I think I could make a better source with an arc welder and balloon gas.
However, I agree; it would be an interesting project.

XeonTheMGPony - 13-5-2018 at 05:30

think that's bad, lets see: Diet water, Energized water, Oxygenated water.

Crystal therapy, Reikie, Breath Airians, the list is endless.

BromicAcid - 13-5-2018 at 06:06

Did anyone actually read the primary literature though? It's very interesting although as with anything there are contradictory findings. Obviously just a spark of truth is going to motivate people to action on something like this.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51679106_Pristine_C...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4269825/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014296121...


VSEPR_VOID - 13-5-2018 at 07:35

"Here we show that oral administration of C60 dissolved in olive oil (0.8 mg/ml) at reiterated doses (1.7 mg/kg of body weight) to rats not only does not entail chronic toxicity but it almost doubles their lifespan."

Just remember it was claims like these that started the anti-vax movement. There is no way I am going to believe this claim until I see at least a dozen more studies confirming their results and a mechanism for why it works put forward.

sodium_stearate - 13-5-2018 at 10:03

Nothing has changed since the days of the "medicine
shows". Back then, in a typical small town, some guy
would pull an enclosed wagon into town. He'd go
to the town square and set up. There, from the back of his
wagon, dressed in a black suit with black top hat, he would
start barking to the gathering crowd all about his
"miracle tonic that cures all ills".
People were plenty gullible and ignorant then, and they
still are that way now. Nothing really ever changes in
that regard.

unionised - 13-5-2018 at 11:31

Quote: Originally posted by VSEPR_VOID  
"Here we show that oral administration of C60 dissolved in olive oil (0.8 mg/ml) at reiterated doses (1.7 mg/kg of body weight) to rats not only does not entail chronic toxicity but it almost doubles their lifespan."

Just remember it was claims like these that started the anti-vax movement. There is no way I am going to believe this claim until I see at least a dozen more studies confirming their results and a mechanism for why it works put forward.

I suspect that the major outcome of that experiment was very expensive rat droppings.
Apart from anything else, the solubility of C60 in olive oil would be a little less than 0.8 mg/ml.
http://c60.net/c60-olive-oil-solubility/

phlogiston - 13-5-2018 at 15:08

It is mind boggling how well-educated and relatively smart people fall for quackery.
The number of people that still good money for homeopathic "remedies" is unbelievable.

I think it is sad, but perhaps it is just evolution in action. People that believe they can beat cancer with quinoa and wheatgrass juice versus those that prefer chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Let the fittest survive.

PirateDocBrown - 14-5-2018 at 03:07

Last I saw fullerene in person, (and admittedly. it was at least 25 years ago) it was a white powder, not black. And we were strongly warned that it was a powerful irritant, if not outright toxic. But much may have been learned since then.

LearnedAmateur - 14-5-2018 at 03:37

Would that have been another form or even different atoms like boron? Buckminsterfullerene is described as being ‘dark needle-like crystals’, as would be expected of any compound made purely of carbon atoms I presume, including CNTs and other nanostructures.

woelen - 14-5-2018 at 03:53

I purchased some C60-powder (200 mg), the real stuff, not the fake "magical" stuff.
It is a nearly black fine powder, which dissolves in many apolar solvents with a lovely deep red color. I added this to my element collection. The color of the solution is very intense. You only need a small amount to get a beautiful red solution.

XeonTheMGPony - 14-5-2018 at 04:10

I just know I'm getting sick of being broke and if gullible idiots want to toss their money away then why not me! I'm going to make a magic water plant, I will learn all of their claimed methods and use them.

Let stupidity pay for people doing real science!

PirateDocBrown - 15-5-2018 at 03:20

This was early 90's, so such early samples may have been impure. And we usually dissolved it in toluene, IIRC, yielding a pale violet color.