Solid State Characterization of the Consciousness Energy Healing Treated Ferrous Sulphate

Ferrous sulphate is an inorganic iron salt used for the prevention and treatment of iron deficiency anaemia. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of the Trivedi Effect®- Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment on the solid state properties of ferrous sulphate using sophisticated analytical techniques. The test compound, ferrous sulphate was divided into two parts and named as the control and treated sample. The control ferrous sulphate did not receive Biofield Energy Treatment; however, the Treated sample received the Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment remotely by the well-known Biofield Energy Healer, Dahryn Trivedi (USA) for 3 minutes. The PXRD relative peak intensities and crystallite size of the treated sample were significantly changed from -66.93% to 331.88% and -24.92% to 139.87%, respectively compared with the control sample. The particle size in the treated sample values were significantly decreased by 17.56% (d10), 26.94% (d50), 31.66% (d90), and 28.98% {D(4,3)}, respectively; however, he specific surface area was significantly increased by 29.57% compared to the control sample. The melting point of the treated ferrous sulphate in the 1st and 3rd peaks was decreased by 4.06% and 2.55% respectively, while increased by 8.40% and 0.17% in the 2nd and 4th peaks, respectively compared to the control sample. The total latent heat of fusion was significantly decreased by 23.22% in the treated sample compared with the control sample. The total weight loss in the treated ferrous sulphate was increased by 2.00% compared with the control sample. The maximum thermal decomposition temperature of the treated ferrous sulphate was decreased by 2.14%, 16.53%, 3.89%, and 2.21% in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peak respectively, compared to the control sample. The Biofield Energy Treatment might lead to the production of a new polymorphic form of iron sulphate. The Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate would be useful to design more efficacious nutraceutical/pharmaceutical formulations, which might offer better therapeutic response against iron deficiency anaemia.

Keywords: Iron Sulphate; Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment; Trivedi Effect®; PXRD; PSA; DSC; TGA/DTG

Ferrous sulphate or iron (II) sulphate is an inorganic salt of iron, an industrial mineral [1]. It usually remained in various states of hydration with the formula FeSO4•xH2O. This salt is also known as “green vitriol” and “copperas” since from the ancient time. These salts exist mostly in heptahydrate (FeSO4•7H2O) form or also known as melanterite [2,3]. Ferrous sulphate is very useful as a medicine for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia [4]. Besides, it is also used as a dye and in preparation of inks. In horticulture ferrous sulphate is usually used for the treatment of iron chlorosis and wood panelling; in gold refining, water purification and also for identification of mushrooms; as lawn conditioner, moss killer, photographic developer, and a catalyst (Fenton’s reagent) in various chemical reactions [3,5-7]. Problems associated with the internal use of ferrous sulphate are stomach upset, constipation, black/dark-coloured stools, and staining of the teeth. It is in water (29.51 g/100 mL at 25 °C) and negligible in organic solvents [3,8]. The complex physiological system of the human body and other dietary factors, only 1-2 mg of iron undergoes absorption through the gut enterocyte to the systemic circulation [9,10]. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder affecting more than 20% of the global population according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Dietary iron bioavailability is low in our body due to the impaired iron absorption from the dietary iron supplement and iron fortified food [11]. The Trivedi Effect®- Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment has been found to be effective for the reduction of particle size and crystallite size with the improvement of the surface area that would be helpful for the enhancement of the solubility and bioavailability of pharmaceutical/nutraceutical compounds [12-14].

Biofield Energy (also defined as quantum energy matrix) is an electromagnetic field present in the surround of the human body resulting from the continuous movement of the electrically charged components (ions, cells, etc.). Biofield Energy is believed to correlate with the living force, which is the source of life and has been known as prana by the Hindus, qi or chi by the Chinese and ki by the Japanese from the ancient time. The Biofield Energy Healers have the capability to harness the energy from the “Universal Energy Field” and can transfer into any living or non-living object(s). The process by which the objects receive the Biofield Energy Treatment from the Biofield Energy Healer(s) and respond into a useful way is called as Biofield Energy Healing Treatment. The Biofield Energy Healing therapy has been acknowledged as a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) health care approach for the improvement the quality of life by the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health with other therapies, medicines and practices such as Qi Gong, yoga, chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation, cranial sacral therapy, Tai Chi, meditation, healing touch, homeopathy, acupuncture, acupressure, hypnotherapy, naturopathy, movement therapy, Ayurvedic medicine, aromatherapy, Reiki, etc. [15,16]. Biofield Energy Healing Treatment is drawing importance in different scientific fields include material science, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, organic compounds, microbiology, agricultural, biotechnology, genetics medical [17-33]. The solid state properties like physicochemical and thermal properties of a pharmaceutical compound play an important role in drug performance, i.e. bioavailability, therapeutic efficacy, and toxicity [34,35]. The Trivedi Effect® claimed to be modifying the physicochemical and thermal properties through the possible intervention of neutrinos [36]. Thus, it was designed to investigate the effects of the Trivedi Effect® - Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment on the solid properties such as physicochemical and thermal properties of ferrous sulphate using modern analytical techniques.

Ferrous sulphate Heptahydrate {iron (II) sulphate Heptahydrate} (>99%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and other chemicals used during the experiments also purchased in India.

The test compound, ferrous sulphate was divided into two parts and named as the control and Biofield Energy Treated sample. The control ferrous sulphate did not receive Biofield Energy Treatment. But, the sample was subjected to a “sham” healer, who did not have any knowledge about the Biofield Energy Treatment. The Biofield Energy Treated sample received the Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment remotely by the well-known Biofield Energy Healer, Dahryn Trivedi (USA) for 3 minutes. After that, both the sample was kept in similar sealed conditions and characterized using sophisticated analytical techniques.

The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis of ferrous sulphate powder sample was performed with the help of PANalytical X’PERT3 powder X-ray diffractometer (UK) [12-14]. The average size of crystallites ferrous sulphate powder was calculated from PXRD data using the Scherrer’s formula (1)

Where k is the equipment constant, λ is the radiation wavelength, G is the crystallite size in nm, β is the full-width at half maximum, and θ is the Bragg angle [37].

The particle size analysis (PSA) was performed using Malvern Mastersizer 3000 (UK) using the wet method [12-14]. Similarly, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of ferrous sulphate was performed with the help of DSC Q2000 differential scanning calorimeter (USA). The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) thermograms of ferrous sulphate were obtained with the help of TGA Q500 themoanalyzer (USA) apparatus [12-14].

The % change in the peak intensity, crystallite size, particle size, specific surface area, latent heat, melting point, weight loss and the maximum thermal degradation temperature of the treated sample was calculated compared with the control sample using the following equation 2:

PXRD diffractograms of both the ferrous sulphate sample displayed sharp and intense peaks (Figure 1) indicating that the samples were crystalline. The crystallite size was calculated with the help of Scherrer equation [37]. The PXRD data of both the samples are presented in Table 1. The highest intense peak in the control sample was observed at Bragg’s angle (2θ) equal to 23.7° (Table 1, entry 6). While the highest intense peak was found in the Biofield Energy Treated sample at 2θ equal to 18.2° (Table 1, entry 3). The Bragg’s angle (2θ) of the 11 diffraction peaks in both the samples remained almost same, but the relative intensities of the peaks of the Biofield Energy Treated sample were found to be altered compared to the control sample. The relative intensities at 2θ equal to 16.3°, 16.8°, 18.2°, 19.6°, 22.2°, 23.9°, and 32.9° (Table 1, entry 1-5, 7, and 11) in the Biofield Energy Treated sample were significantly increased from 5.40% to 331.88% compared to the control sample.

Subsequently, the relative intensities of the PXRD peaks at 2θ equal to 23.7°, 27.5°, 27.9°, and 32.6° in the Biofield Energy Treated sample were significantly decreased from 14.17% to 66.93% compared to the control sample (Table 1, entry 6 and 8-10). The crystallite size values of the treated sample at 2θ equal to 16.3°, 18.2°, and 27.9° was significantly reduced from 12.50% to 24.92% with respect to the control sample (Table 1, entry 1, 3, and 9). Consequently, the crystallite size values of the control and Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate at position 2θ equal to 16.8°, 23.7°, and 27.5° remained unchanged (Table 1, entry 2, 6, and 8). Subsequently, the crystallite size values of the Biofield Energy Treated samples at 2θ equal to 19.6°, 22.2°, 23.9°, 32.6°, and 32.9° (Table 1, entry 4, 5, 7, 10, and 11) were significantly increased from 12.53% to 139.87% in the treated sample in comparison to the control sample. The overall crystallite size of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate was significantly changed from -24.92% to 139.87% compared with the control sample. The sharp and intense peaks at 2θ = 46.21°, 48.23°, and 48.83° in the control sample were found to be moved and reduced at 2θ = 45.09° and 49.56° in the Biofield Energy Treated Sample.

It has been recently reported that Biofield Energy Treatment has the significant ability to produce a new crystalline polymorph by changing the crystal morphology of the pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals through altering the relative intensities and crystallite size of the diffraction peaks [38]. The variations in the crystallite size and relative intensities indicated the modification of the crystal morphology of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate compared with the control sample. The Trivedi Effect®- Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment perhaps produced a new polymorph through the energy transferred into ferrous sulphate. Polymorphic forms of pharmaceuticals have the significant effects on the drug performance, because their thermodynamic and physicochemical properties like melting point, energy, stability, and especially solubility, are different (probably improvement) from the original form [39,40]. Thus, it can be anticipated that Dahryn’s Biofield Energy Treatment could be a very useful method for the production of novel crystal polymorph that would offer an improved on its therapeutic performance.

The particle size and specific surface area of the control and treated ferrous sulphate were investigated and presented in Table 2. It was observed that the particle size in the Biofield Energy Treated sample at d10, d50, d90 and D (4,3) values were significantly decreased by 17.56%, 26.94%, 31.66%, and 28.98%, respectively compared to the control sample (Table 2). The specific surface area of the treated ferrous sulphate was meaningfully increased by 29.57% compared with the control sample. It is presumed that the Trivedi Effect® might act as an exterior force for tumbling the particle size of ferrous sulphate. Scientific literature mentioned that a pharmaceutical solid compound having reduced particle size with an improvement surface area possesses enhanced solubility, absorption, dissolution rate, and finally bioavailability [41,42]. Thus, it is anticipated that the treated sample might offer better bioavailability than the untreated sample.

Scientific literature reported the dehydration behavior of a hydrated iron salt, ferrous sulphate heptahydrate (FeSO4•7H2O) by using DSC and TGA techniques [43,44]. Wang et al. mentioned 3 peaks in the DSC curve at a heating rate of 10 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. 1st peak at temperature below 100 °C, 2nd peak at 85 to 149 °C, and 3rd peak at 247 to 342 °C were due to the dehydration of 7 water molecules from FeSO4•7H2O to FeSO4•4H2O, FeSO4•4H2O to FeSO4•H2O, and FeSO4•H2O to FeSO4, respectively. They also concluded that accurate thermal data from the TGA/DSC dehydration experiments depends on various factors like proper selection of the heating rate, particle size, open or closed pan, etc. [43].

The DSC thermogram of the control ferrous sulphate heptahydrate showed the presence of the four endothermic peaks at 71.46, 88.95, 118.44, 271.63 ºC (Figure 2). The 1st sharp endothermic peak at 71.46 °C was the melting point of ferrous sulphate heptahydrate. Consequently, the melting temperature of Biofield Energy Treated sample was significantly decreased by 4.06% with a significant enhancement of the latent heat of fusion (∆H) by 52.67% compared with the control sample (Table 3). The 2nd broad endothermic peak at 88.95 °C might be due to the dehydration of 2 molecules of water from FeSO4•6H2O to FeSO4•4H2O. This endotherm temperature in the Biofield energy Treated sample (88.95 °C) was significantly increased by 8.40% with a significant enhancement in ∆H by 291.62% compared with the control sample. The melting temperature of the 3rd sharp endothermic peak, which was due to the removal of 3 molecules of water from FeSO4•4H2O to FeSO4•H2O was decreased in the Biofield Energy Treated sample (115.42 °C) by 2.55% with a significant reduction in ∆H by 69.46% compared with the control sample (118.44 °C). Finally, a broad endothermic peak at 271.63 °C was found in the control sample due to the dehydration from ferrous sulphate monohydrate to anhydrous FeSO4. This melting temperature was increased by 0.17% in the Biofield Energy Treated sample (272.10 °C) with a significant enhancement in ∆H by 4.39% compared with the control sample (Table 3). The total latent heat of fusion to transition from FeSO4•7H2O to FeSO4 was significantly decreased by 23.22% in the Biofield Energy Treated sample (906.72 J/g) compared with the control sample (696.20 J/g). The reduction in the latent heat of fusion can be attributed to the disrupted molecule chains and reduced the crystallization structure [41,45]. Thus, it is assumed that Dahyrn’s Biofield Energy treatment may be responsible for the disruption the molecular chains and crystallization structure of ferrous sulphate. The DSC analysis suggested that the thermal stability of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate heptahydrate was decreased compared with the control sample.

The TGA thermogram pattern of the control sample was matching with the literature. The first weight loss occurs between 70 and 90 °C due to the loss of 3 water molecules from FeSO4•7H2O. The second dehydration step with the loss of 3 water molecules from FeSO4•4H2O is responsible for the mass loss between 140 and 200 °C. Consequently, the third weight loss is found between 270 and 350 °C due to the dehydration of FeSO4•H2O. Final major weight loss between 400 and 830 °C occurs due to the oxidation and dehydration of the other part of monohydrate, sulphate decomposition. The major weight loss occurred in the first (38.30%) and fourth (28.30%) reactions [43,44].

Here, the TGA thermograms of the control and Biofield Energy Treated samples exhibited four steps of thermal degradation, which was matched with the literature (Figure 3) [43,44]. The % weight loss in the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate was significantly increased by 69.50% in the 1st step of degradation compared with the control sample. On the other hand, the % weight loss in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th steps of degradation was significantly reduced by 2.58%, 21.09%, and 5.63%, respectively, compared with the control sample (Table 4). The total % weight loss of the control and Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate were 71.06% and 71.5%, respectively. The total weight loss in the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate was increased by 2.00% compared to the control sample.

The DTG thermograms of the control sample disclosed four peaks P1, P2, P3, and P4 with maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) of 68.76, 144.36, 256.03, and 585.59 °C, respectively (Figure 4 and Table 5). Similarly, the DTG thermograms of the Biofield Energy Treated sample disclosed four peaks P1, P2, P3, and P4 with Tmax of 67.29,120.50, 246.08, and 572.65 °C, respectively (Figure 4 and Table 5). The analysis indicated that the Tmax of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate was decreased by 2.14%, 16.53%, 3.89%, and 2.21% in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peak respectively, compared to the control sample. As per the literature, with alteration of the particle size changed the thermal stability of a sample [45]. Overall, TGA/DTG revealed that the thermal stability of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate was reduced as compared to the control ferrous sulphate. The reduced thermal stability favours the enhanced dissolution rate and bioavailability of the pharmaceutical solid compound [40]. The result was well supported by the results of particle size analysis.

The Trivedi Effect® - Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment has the astounding capability to modify the solid state charateristics of ferrous sulphate. The XRD relative peak intensities of the treated sample were significantly changed from -66.93% to 331.88% compared to the control sample. Subsequently, the crystallites size of the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate were significantly altered from -24.92% to 139.87% compared with the control sample. The particle size in the Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate at d10, d50, d90, and D (4,3) values were significantly reduced by 17.56%, 26.94%, 31.66%, and 28.98%, respectively compared with the control sample. The specific surface area of the Biofield Energy Treated sample was significantly increased by 29.57% compared with the control ferrous sulphate. The melting temperature of the treated sample in the 1st and 3rd peaks was lowered by 4.06% and 2.55% respectively, while enhanced by 8.40% and 0.17% in the 2nd and 4th peaks, respectively compared with the control sample. The latent heat of fusion was significantly reduced by 23.22% in the Biofield Energy Treated sample compared with the control sample. The total weight loss in the Biofield Energy Treated sample was increased by 2.00% compared with the control sample. The Tmax of the treated ferrous sulphate was decreased by 2.14%, 16.53%, 3.89%, and 2.21% in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peak respectively, compared to the control sample. The Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment might lead to the production of a polymorphic form of ferrous sulphate having decreased particle size and improved surface area, which might increase the dissolution rate and bioavailability of ferrous sulphate compared with the control sample. The Biofield Energy Treated ferrous sulphate would be suitable to design more efficacious nutraceutical/pharmaceutical formulations, which might offer better therapeutic response against iron deficiency anaemia.

The authors are grateful to GVK Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Trivedi Science, Trivedi Global, Inc., Trivedi Testimonials, and Trivedi Master Wellness for their assistance and support during this work.