Way to Exploit the News!

Oxytocin was all over the news last week, thanks to the latest study from Zurich showing that inhaling oxytocin increased people's willingness to trust while playing economic games. Those who snorted oxytocin were willing to trust again even after the other player shorted them.

This is one of a series of studies in which people in the lab exchange money in a controlled situation; I think it got so much attention because of the juicy word "betrayal" used to describe a player's refusal to play fair. But it should be pointed out that sitting in a lab engaging in a simple interaction is far from true betrayal -- and it's unlikely that inhaling oxytocin would make you trust someone out in the real world who did something truly mean.

At any rate, a new company has gotten onto the oxytocin bandwagon. HBC Protocols, a ten-year-old Los Angeles company that specializes in wellness and nutritional supplements, has released a new product, Oxytocin Formula Homeopathic Product, that does contain oxytocin. They've backed up the product with a very well-produced website.

The product is designed to be put under the tongue, a good place to absorb chemicals and not as unpleasant or potentially damaging to the mucous membranes as inhalation. I'm going to try to find out more information about the product. The fact that it's "homeopathic" makes me wonder how much oxytocin it contains. The label says "oxytocin 2C," as opposed to other ingredients, which are "6X" or so. I assume this is the homeopathic style of describing formulae.

I have no idea whether there's enough of a dose to do anything, or how well the oxytocin solution would hold up. But it shows the keen interest in oxytocin that's out there.

Comments

[none]

2C means that it's been diluted at a ratio of 1 to 100 and then that dilution is further diluted at a 1 to 100 ratio. The effect is that the final solution has a dilution ration of 1 to 10000. For a 1 litre container there would be 0.1 mL of active ingredient. The amount of oxytocin that would be in a tablet that you could put under your tongue is negligible. Don't believe the shit that the homeopaths offer.

[Susan Kuchinskas]

thanks much for explaining the dilution!

[Valerie Stone]

Hi Susan,
An oxytocin tablet dissolved under the tongue will not get into the brain, and so will not affect anyone's mental state. Oxytocin doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier. When oxytocin is taken in a nasal spray, it can diffuse across membranes directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, and thus gets into the brain without traveling through the bloodstream. This is all explained in some of Marcus Heinrich's papers, one of the co-authors on some of these trust studies. Oxytocin taken orally goes into the blood stream, and cannot pass into the brain. So this LA company is basically selling people a placebo, and it seems fraudulent to me.
Looking forward to watching you on TV!!
Valerie (Jessie's friend)

[Phil]

I went to the site, and it says 12c, though not sure if this makes it more effective in that regard?

[Susan Kuchinskas]

I am not up to speed on homeopathy, but if it's 12c instead of 2c, doesn't that mean it's been diluted an additional 10 times?

I believe that according to homeopathic theory, it's not the amount of substance that actually remains that gives products efficacy, so the question may be moot.