COMMENTARY — The healing power of gold

Although the unique qualities of gold are helping people live longer and more productive lives, the medicinal qualities of the yellow metal have been acknowledged for centuries.

In medieval Europe, alchemists mixed powdered gold into drinks to comfort sore limbs. Today, gold is used, in combination with other compounds, in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In ancient Rome, gold salves were used for the treatment of skin ulcers. Today, gold leaf is playing an important role in the treatment of chronic ulcers.

As long as 4,500 years ago, the Egyptians used gold in dentistry, and remarkable examples of the artistry of these early orthodontists have been found, perfectly preserved. Today, American dentists use 13 tons of gold each year for crowns, bridges, inlays and dentures. Gold is used in dental work because it is non-toxic, can be shaped easily and is tough. Moreover, it never wears, corrodes or tarnishes.

The use of gold in modern medicine began around 1890 when German bacteriologist Robert Koch (while conducting research for which he won the Nobel Prize in medicine) discovered that compounds made with gold inhibited growth of the bacillus that caused tuberculosis.

In the 20th century, gold is used in surgery to patch damaged blood vessels, nerves and bones.

Injection of microscopic gold pellets helps retard prostate cancer in men, and women with ovarian cancer are treated with colloidal gold. Gold vapor lasers help seek out and destroy cancerous cells without harming healthy ones.

Gold has become an important biomedical tool for scientists studying the way the body behaves as it does. By attaching a molecular marker to a microscopic piece of gold, scientists can follow its movement through the body. And because gold is readily visible under an electron microscope, scientists can study its reaction with an individual cell.

Some researchers are placing gold on strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to study the hybrid genetic material in cells. Others are using it to determine how cells respond to toxins, heat and physical stress.

Because gold is biologically benign, biochemists can combine the yellow metal with proteins to create new drugs. One experimental such compound blocks virus replication in infected cells, and is being tested for the treatment of AIDS (aquired immune deficiency syndrome).

— From an article by The Gold Institute, as it appeared in The Nevada Miner.