gold jewerly and anemia

[Keith Robison]

Michael "P." Kolotila (mkolotila at necc.mass.edu) wrote:
: Hi;
: One of my nutrition students asked me if the following is true.  The basi=
: c scenerio 
: is this:  Rub an individual's face or hand with gold and if they are anem=
: ia their 
: skin will become discolored.  I, personally, find this hard to believe; =
: but several 
: students said that they have heard the same thing.  Since it seems to be =
: a wide 
: spread belief, even to the point where one student says her physcian uses=
:  this 
: as a quick test.  Is there is truth to this story.


If there is any truth to it then the fact the item is gold is probably
irrelevant; one reason gold is so valuable is that it is relatively
unreactive.  

But it does have all the makings of a tall tale anyway...

Keith Robison
Harvard University
Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Department of Genetics 

robison at mito.harvard.edu