Changes in the Relevant Test Parameters of 219 Diabetes Patients under the Influence of the So Called “Nordenau - Phenomenon” in the Prospective Observation Procedure

Abstract

The study examined changes in the tests parameters of 219 diabetes patients (115 female, 104 male) under the influence of what is known as the “Nordenau-Phenomenon”, which attributes a healing effect to an old slate tunnel with an underground spring. The average age of the test persons was 68.6 years; the average duration of their stay in Nordenau was 5.9 days (taking two tunnel walks of 30 minutes each and consuming two liters of water daily). The spring water was considered to be a possible active substance, as it possesses the quality of reduced water. The diagnostic parameters such as blood sugar, HbAlc, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglyceride and potassium were tested twice — at the beginning and at the end of the participants stay in Nordenau. Forty-two of the test persons repeated the same procedure two or more times in the following months. The survey pointed out for the first therapy period to a significant improvement with regard to HbAlc, cholesterol and LDL. The blood sugar average value showed only slight improvement below statistical significance. Whereas the 48 patients who repeated the procedure two or more times showed a significant downward trend also as far as average blood sugar counts concerned. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of Nordenau water on cytotoxicity of alloxan, a type-1 diabetes inducer, using hamster pancreatic ß cells. Alloxan produces reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage pancreatic ß cells. Nordenau water scavenged alloxan-induced intracellular ROS and enhanced the glucose-stimulated elevation of intracellular ATP level and the release of insulin, protecting ß cells from alloxan-induced cytotoxicity. These results suggest that Nordenau water may be effective to improve the deficient secretion of insulin from ß cells in type 1- and type 2-diabetes mellitus. In view of the fact that reduced water shows an effect in vitro on the glucose uptake by muscle and fat cells similar to that of insulin, which can be also reproduced in animal experiments — the results of this clinical study seem to have sufficient correlation with those basic researches to be worthy of serious consideration.