Researchers from Wroclaw Medical University set out to examine what happens when this substance is tested under controlled scientific conditions. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. The team studied acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), which generates ClO₂, using two different formulations. One version, ASC1, was acidified with hydrochloric acid, while ASC2 used gluconic acid. Both were tested on multiple types of bacteria, including harmful strains like Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli, as well as beneficial probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus.

Antibacterial Effects Come at a Cost

The researchers confirmed that chlorine dioxide can kill bacteria. However, they found that it only works at concentrations that are also harmful to human cells. At a concentration of 30 ppm (0.003%), bacteria were destroyed, but the tests also showed clear damage to skin cells and high death rates in an in vivo model. The team also examined bacterial biofilms, which are protective layers that make infections harder to treat. While ASC was able to break down these biofilms, it did so while causing damage to surrounding tissue.

“The results of the study indicate that effective concentrations of ASC against biofilms are also toxic to eukaryotic cells, but it cannot be ruled out that a formulation for external use will be developed that ensures the safety of use with high anti-biofilm efficacy,” explains Dr. Ruth Dudek-Wicher from the Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Wroclaw Medical University.

Risks to Beneficial Bacteria and the Gut

Dr. Dudek-Wicher also highlighted an important distinction between professionally produced, purified ClO₂ solutions, which are sometimes used in dentistry, and the mixtures prepared at home by MMS supporters. The study examined how ASC affects probiotic bacteria as well. The biofilm formed by Lactobacillus bacteria proved to be extremely sensitive to the substance, raising concerns about potential harm to the intestinal microflora.

“At the moment, we are not planning such studies, but we do not rule them out in the future. If a safe oral form of ASC is developed, an analysis of its impact on the microbiome will be necessary,” says Dr. Ruth Dudek-Wicher.

Misinformation and Dangerous Beliefs

The researchers made it clear that their work was not limited to laboratory science. They also aimed to address the spread of misinformation surrounding MMS.

“The most harmful mistake is to believe in the effectiveness of MMS without hard scientific evidence,” emphasizes Dr. Dudek-Wicher. “In pharmacy and medicine, the benefit-risk ratio is considered. In the case of MMS, the benefit is zero, and the risk is high, especially since the dosage is often administered using non-standardized droppers, which can achieve 1 ml by applying 15 or 30 drops. Such fluctuations in the oral dosage of a corrosive substance are extremely irresponsible,” she adds.

MMS is sometimes even promoted for use in children and pregnant women. Dr. Dudek-Wicher expressed particular concern about recommendations linking MMS to weight loss. “I was particularly shocked by the recommendations for combating obesity, which did not mention the effect of MMS on adipose tissue but only affirmed self-acceptance combined with stigmatization of obesity,” she says. She argues that the danger lies not only in the substance itself, but also in how it is marketed, using emotional appeals instead of evidence.

Combating Health Myths With Science and Empathy

Can misinformation about MMS be addressed effectively? According to Dr. Dudek-Wicher, the answer is yes, but it requires cooperation across disciplines and a more empathetic approach. “Yes, but it requires an integrated, interdisciplinary approach and empathy. Currently, the fight against myths is too often marked by a lack of respect and compassion. People turn to MMS because they are concerned about their health — and education must take this into account, with communication based on respect.”

She also stresses the importance of funding research that challenges false health claims. Science, she says, has a responsibility to protect the public from misinformation. That is why she welcomed the recognition of her university grant on MMS and the publication of the results in Scientific Reports.

Public Attention and Future Research

The research conducted at the Faculty of Pharmacy has attracted media coverage, including an article and video published on the homepage of the Polish Press Agency. According to the researchers, this interest reflects a broader demand for clear, evidence-based information.

“At the Faculty of Pharmacy, we are not afraid of difficult topics. The safety of patients who have lost their way in search of treatment is of utmost importance to us. And the interest in the results encourages us to continue our work. We are planning a series of analyses and publications on other miracle preparations — DMSO, adaptogens, ‘detoxification’ protocols — all in the spirit of scientific myth-busting,” conclude the authors, Dr. Dudek-Wicher and Prof Adam Junka from the Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Parasitology at Wroclaw Medical University.

Dr. Ilko, a medieval historian at Queens’ College, Cambridge, argues that the countryside played a much larger role in shaping Christian life than is commonly acknowledged. Her research highlights a tradition of practical, land-focused miracles that helped rural communities survive during difficult times.

Forgotten Medieval Miracles of the Land

Among the miracles Dr. Ilko has uncovered are stories of a burned cherry twig bursting back into life, a diseased swamp restored to “peak fertility,” a broken ox leg healed, and cabbages multiplied to feed communities. These accounts come from medieval sources that have largely been overlooked or dismissed.

“Bleeding hosts and stigmatizations are the best-known medieval miracles,” says Dr. Ilko, author of The Sons of St Augustine, a major new study published by OUP today.

“The Augustinians get very little credit for miraculously making land fertile, healing livestock and bringing fruit trees back to life,” says Ilko.

“With Leo XIV becoming the first Augustinian Pope, it’s the perfect time to make the order’s astonishing history better known. There has been so much focus on Italian cities, we’ve lost sight of how important the countryside was to the Church and to the Renaissance.”

Dragons, Disease, and Fertility

Saint George is widely known as Christianity’s most famous dragon slayer and is commonly depicted as a warrior holding a lance. Much less familiar is Guglielmo of Malavalle, a twelfth century hermit venerated by the Augustinians for defeating a dragon using a simple wooden staff shaped like a pitchfork.

In medieval Europe, illness affecting people, animals, and crops was often blamed on dragons. Their breath was believed to poison the air and suffocate the land, especially in swampy regions where disease was common.

After hearing a voice from the sky, Guglielmo settled in Malavalle, meaning “the bad valley,” in the marshy Maremma region of Tuscany. The area was thought to be so polluted by toxic air and violent storms that it had become barren and frightening, described as “dark, and terrible,” and avoided even by hunters.

Dr. Ilko argues that Guglielmo’s reputation as a dragon slayer came from his role in cleansing the environment and restoring the valley’s productivity.

“These achievements weren’t symbolic, Guglielmo provided a crucial public service, he helped country people survive in a really harsh natural environment,” Dr. Ilko says.

“Guglielmo was a pitchfork-wielding dragon slayer and divine gardener all at once. Commanding the weather, securing a good harvest, and restoring the health of livestock must have seemed the most desirable divine interventions in the late medieval countryside. They were matters of life and death.”

Unearthing Lost Augustinian Texts

Dr. Ilko’s conclusions are based on ten years of research that took her to more than twenty archives and over sixty Augustinian sites, including remote and difficult to access ruins. She examined frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, hagiographies, and letters, uncovering materials that had been misdated or wrongly attributed. These errors, she argues, contributed to the Augustinians being overlooked in studies of medieval miracles.

One of the earliest collections of Augustinian biographies she studied was written by a Florentine friar in the 1320s. The manuscript has received little scholarly attention, which Dr. Ilko believes is because its miracles were considered too rural in focus. The text is held at Florence’s Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

The manuscript opens with the life of Giovanni of Florence, who built the Augustinian hermitage of Santa Lucia in Larniano with help from local farmers. One of Giovanni’s most notable miracles involved healing an ox with a broken leg. Another account describes Jacopo of Rosia ordering an unreliable apple tree to bear fruit every year and multiplying cabbages.

“When people think about religious orders and their massive role in the Renaissance, they usually turn their attention to cities like Rome, Florence and Siena,” Dr. Ilko says.

“The Franciscans and Dominicans, in particular, are credited for Italy’s rapid urban renewal from the 1200s onwards. Not many people realize that the Augustinians drew most of their power from the countryside. Their miracles were very green-fingered, agricultural.”

“St Francis of Assisi remains the most famous ‘nature saint’, best known for preaching to birds. In a more eco-conscious world, the Augustinians deserve much more attention.”

How the Augustinians Secured Their Survival

According to Dr. Ilko, the Augustinians’ close relationship with forests, mountains, and coastal areas was key to their survival as a religious order.

The Order of the Hermits of St Augustine was established in 1256 when the papacy объединed several hermit groups from central Italy into a single mendicant order. In 1274, the Roman Catholic Church questioned the order’s legitimacy because it had been founded after 1215 and lacked a continuous presence dating back to late antiquity. The papacy did not formally confirm the order’s existence until 1298. During this twenty five year period of uncertainty, Augustinian friars worked intensely to justify their place within the Church.

Without a single charismatic founder, the friars developed an origin story that claimed direct ties to St Augustine himself. Dr. Ilko argues that they also relied on their strong presence in natural landscapes to reinforce their authority and ancient roots.

“Direct contact with nature gave the friars legitimacy, special spiritual powers and access to valuable natural resources including timber, crops and wild animals,” Dr. Ilko says.

As the order expanded into cities, the Augustinians carefully chose locations near the edge of urban life. In Rome, they founded the convent of Santa Maria del Popolo at one of the city’s main entrances, with trees and gardens nearby. The Franciscans had previously rejected the site because it was considered too remote and difficult “to sustain the body.” The area was once viewed as ominous, dominated by an ancient walnut tree believed to be infested with demons and marking the supposed burial place of Emperor Nero. Pope Paschall II ordered the tree removed in 1099.

Beyond reshaping how the Augustinians are understood, Dr. Ilko argues that the ruins of their hermitages deserve better preservation and improved public access so more people can experience this overlooked chapter of religious and environmental history.

Reference

Krisztina Ilko, The Sons of St Augustine: Art and Memory in the Augustinian Churches of Central Italy, 1256-1370 (OUP, 2025). ISBN: 9780198948827