Gold has a long history in medicine, but experts warn its legitimate uses bear no resemblance to dangerous online claims.
It comes after reports US fitness influencer and “looksmaxxer” Connor Murphy believed injecting the precious metal could give him “superhuman” abilities, before his drowning death in Thailand.
Murphy, 32, a bodybuilder and YouTuber with more than 2.3 million subscribers, allegedly told friends he had been injecting melted gold because he believed it enhanced his cognition, athletic performance and consciousness.
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His friend, Australian influencer Androgenic, claimed Murphy had become convinced the precious metal held extraordinary properties.
“He has this theory that gold is some gatekept mineral by the higher ups that allows you to tap into higher levels of consciousness and other dimensions if you ingest it,” Androgenic said in a video shared on social media after Murphy’s death.
“He starts melting gold jewellery and injecting it.
“Shortly after, he started to claim it was giving him superhuman abilities.”
While gold once had a recognised place in medicine, experts say there is no evidence it provides the benefits claimed by some online influencers.
And gold injections of the past looked nothing like today’s claims circulating online.
Professor Peter Nash, a rheumatologist and professor at Griffith University’s School of Medicine in Queensland, said doctors once used injectable gold salts such as sodium aurothiomalate and aurothioglucose, along with an oral form called auranofin.
The treatment emerged in the early 20th century, when doctors incorrectly believed rheumatoid arthritis may have been linked to tuberculosis after laboratory research suggested some gold compounds could slow the bacteria.
“We had very limited options compared with today,” Nash told 7NEWS.com.au.
Although researchers never fully understood how gold worked, it appeared to dampen the immune system by reducing inflammation and altering the activity of immune cells involved in the disease.
However, it gradually disappeared from mainstream medicine.
“It takes weeks to months to work, many patients never respond, and significant toxicity was very common,” Nash said.
The treatment could suppress bone marrow, leaving patients vulnerable to infection, trigger serious kidney damage, and cause severe allergic reactions including mouth ulcers, rashes and, in rare cases, anaphylaxis.
Patients required regular blood tests to monitor their kidneys and white blood cell counts, and many could not remain on the treatment long term.
As newer medicines targeting the immune system, including biologic drugs known as TNF inhibitors, proved safer and more effective, gold injections were largely abandoned.
Gold still has legitimate medical uses today, but in very different forms.
Because metallic gold is chemically stable and highly resistant to corrosion, it has long been used in dentistry, including crowns and fillings, while small amounts are also used in specialised laboratory tests and some medical devices.
Gold is also used as a decorative ingredient in some luxury foods and drinks, including desserts, sparkling wines and schnapps. In its edible form, it is chemically inert, passing through the digestive system largely unchanged without providing any known health benefit.
Nash said there was no scientifically plausible mechanism by which injecting gold could improve cognition, physical performance or provide so-called “special powers”.
“Not one patient reported any special powers of any kind,” he said.
Nash said even medically prescribed gold injections carried significant risks, including bone marrow suppression, kidney damage and severe allergic reactions, which is one reason they fell out of favour.
Nash urged caution about giving credibility to misinformation simply because gold once had a legitimate place in medicine.
“I used it for years, many years ago, and not one patient reported any special powers of any kind,” he said.
“Anyone who promotes it ‘for special powers, enhancing cognition or physical performance’ is deluded, non-evidence based to say the least and likely to have a financial ulterior motive of some kind.”
