DOES A FAD NOT BLEED?
Could looking at our blood cells provide clues to our good (or bad) health? Shanthini Naidoo asks some questions
Shanthini Naidoo sticks a needle into the Live Blood Analysis trend
IT is a curious thing to watch your blood cells bouncing around on a screen. Is it normal for there to be that many? Should they be squiggly like that? What is that little wriggling thing?
Perhaps this fascinating look inside is why Live Blood Analysis has become a trend among alternative medicine practitioners.
Homeopathic doctor Annelise Bunce, right, says LBA has become popular recently because it acts as a visual pointer to imbalances in the body.
Medical doctors think it is an imprecise science, to put it mildly. But Bunce, who has a masters degree in homeopathy from Wits university, says it is a useful tool — stressing that it is not one that should be used to diagnose disease.
“Natural healers grabbed onto this because it is visual. It is not a diagnostic tool but it does help us to look at what is going on in the body, to plan and change habits according to the clues it points out. There are people who claim to be able to diagnose, but it is impossible for many reasons. A virus, for instance, is tiny. You cannot see it at this magnification,” she says.
The concept uses a chart of examples of what the blood should look like at 1 000 magnification, based on quantitative (many, many) samples studied. It says that blood cells should be uniform, round, separate, with closed walls, in healthy blood.
LBA relies on the fact that the blood is “alive” for 20 minutes after it is drawn. “Pathologists use ‘dead’ samples that have been stained and treated with an anticoagulant so it is not the same type of sample,” says Bunce.
But this is what concerns Cape Town haematologist Dr Danie Kotze, who specialises in diagnosing blood disorders.
“The dyes and anticoagulant we use preserve cells and allow us to visualise the structural elements such as proteins and nuclear material in cells. They highlight what we are looking at. These are specially important when we analyse white blood cells which need to be stained to differentiate the type of cells.”
Yet there is some consensus between the medical and non-medical practitioners on what can be seen in a live blood sample.
In my blood sample, Bunce noted the cells were stacking up which, she says, shows a difficulty in digesting protein.
“Fine lines show us that the liver is not doing its job properly, possible inflammation. So we must look at that and see how we can adjust the lifestyle and diet to fix it. If I saw something more worrying, I would refer to pathologists for deeper, invasive testing. This is just an indicator.”
Kotze agreed, saying: “High protein levels are indicated by cells that are stacked on top of each other, like coins. It may be an indication of inflammation and high protein.”
He warns, though, that “without anticoagulants many artefacts [fragments] can be introduced into the cellular morphology especially due to the effect of blood storage. Debris and crystals on slides may be falsely interpreted as blood elements.”
Bunce says that while she may not work in a sterilised room and that dust can get trapped between the coverslip and slide, “dust particles can be distinguished from other elements”. “If they appear on slides I explain to patients it is an artefact and they need not worry. Packaging, quick technique and the use of dust cloths and gloves are all used to minimise ‘contamination’. Some coverslips do have imperfections on them and then appear as a ‘crystal’. Again, they are easily distinguishable from other elements like uric acid crystals.” Kotze also believes LBA practitioners’ training is insufficient.
“Haematopathologists are trained to look at blood morphology. They can also analyse it by spinning, separating plasma and treating it, apart from other scientific methods. It is a science that is studied and regulated in a four-year, post-graduate course.”
Bunce concedes that LBA is not a regulated science, and the training courses are a few days to a week long.
Kotze says: “Typically, unscientific practice is impossible to disprove. The problem is that blood starts to behave differently if it stands for too long. Red cells absorb nutrients from their environment and change shape when energy is depleted, such as when stored outside of the body. Abnormally shaped red cells can then appear that look similar to changes seen in impaired renal function. There is usually a differential diagnosis for many red cell shape changes. I am also not convinced that the way red cells move on a slide can be used as a disease indicator.”
He adds that LBA often indicates yeast or candida in the sample. “This may be artefacts from the slides contaminated with debris and fungal elements. Spores in the blood would be indicative of septicemia, which is near-fatal.”
Bunce agrees, likening the spores to algae growing in a swimming pool.
“What we note in the live blood is how quickly the yeast grows — as that would indicate high glucose (food) in the blood for it to consume. If there is high sugar, yeast will grow quicker. Then I would follow up with questions about diet and sugar dips,” says Bunce.
“There is no trickery in here. The microscope decides what we see and interpret to give people the best chance to cleanse, nourish and heal.”
Both warn about practitioners who prescribe expensive food supplements as treatment.
Bunce suggests a trio of coral calcium, antioxidant and digestive enzyme booster with a detox as a first step to health, but suggests clients be wary of being prescribed a range of treatments, advice that is not followed up on and unaccredited practitioners who do not have other qualifications — and, it might seem obvious, groupbuying offers.
“A legitimate practitioner will be aligned with associations and have formal training. The critique is that people try to put too much value just on LBA alone.” LS
‘If I saw something more worrying, I would refer to pathologists for testing’ ‘There is no trickery. The microscope decides what
we see and interpret’