Question from London, United Kingdom:

Recently, my father-in-law purchased a bed overlay with magnets in it for restless leg syndrome. The saleswoman also told him that it “cured” her grandson’s diabetes, so dad thought that it would help with our son’s hypoglycemia. The only mention you make of magnets was in 2000, and you said that there were some claimed benefits, but not substantiated. At present, the only “substantiation” comes from the people selling these products.

I saw a documentary on the effect of magnets and autism, but it pointed out that the magnets which were effective in that instance required the wearing of a helmet (about the size of a motorcycle crash helmet) along with a power pack the size of a small chest of drawers. It was only effective while the magnetic field was powered up.

Consequently I am concerned about the use of small static magnets (similar to fridge magnets I suppose), to “cure” blood sugar disorders. Is there any independent research being conducted on magnet therapy for blood sugar levels?