BioMag gets rude awakening

Michael Edmonds reports on his successful complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over the dubious science used to promote BioMag underlays. For more on BioMag see NZ Skeptic 91.

The BioMag website makes the following claim for their magnetic underlays:

_"BioMag's scientifically engineered magnet system stimulates nerve endings which increases your body's blood flow and helps produce a chemical called melatonin.

_

"Melatonin plays a key role in providing you with a deeper, more restorative sleep and alleviating insomnia related problems."

I could find no scientific support for this, so I laid a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). My complaint was upheld and the full report was released on the ASA website on 27 June.

BioMag first claimed the page I was complaining against was "non-searchable" and "unlinked" within the site. This surprised me, as I had found it by a google search, and had taken a screenshot of it. Nevertheless, by the time my complaint was being dealt with, the page no longer existed. So I was asked if I wanted to continue with my complaint.

Pleased that the claim about melatonin might have been removed, I checked the revised website. I found the following statement on a new page:

"Your BioMag will not only ease your pain, but an increased production of melatonin will help you get a deeper, restorative sleep."

So I decided to pursue the complaint based on the fact they were still claiming their magnets increased melatonin production.

BioMag then provided a series of links to journals that they believed supported their claims. The Complaints Board disagreed, and upheld my complaint.

Of the references they provided, a few looked at whether electrically generated (not static) magnetic fields lowered melatonin levels in animals and humans. The results show no discernible effect of the various electromagnetic fields on humans. I could find no mention of increased levels of melatonin, as suggested in the BioMag claims.

They also included a few papers which discussed the benefit of melatonin in treating sleep related disorders, but which contained no evidence related to magnetic fields. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have understood the literature as, according to the ASA report BioMag still believe that "it is widely noted that Magnetic Fields effect the production of melatonin."

They then go on to say:

"While I can concede that the phrase 'helps produce' doesn't specify whether Magnetic Therapy increases or decreases melatonin production, it is true to say that it can have a positive effect on regulation"

This I find a little strange. Surely if you claim to "help produce" something it means you are increasing it?

Another reference provided by BioMag specifically describes how magnetic fields in these experiments were generated using high-voltage, high-current discharge systems to produce pulsing magnetic fields. Such fields are very different from the static magnetic fields used by BioMag.

Of course BioMag could look at this paucity of good research as an opportunity. Being a highly profitable company they could easily fund research to test the effectiveness of their products. Surely, there are scientists in New Zealand who would happily test BioMag products using double-bind, randomised, placebo-controlled experiment? Imagine the commercial benefits, if they could back their claims with solid, New Zealand-based research.

After all, BioMag have already shown they are a responsive company - they have quickly removed all claims about melatonin from their website.