There are very expensive therapies due to the origin and scarcity of their components. Among them is one of the most effective treatments against rheumatoid arthritis, one of the most painful and disfiguring bone conditions.
This disease responds positively to sodium gold thiomalate, an injectable drug that could be on the luxury list of some hospitals, but that clinically is effective in improving the quality of life of patients suffering from this disease.
The explanation is that the valuable metal obstructs the formation of peroxynitrate, the major villain of rheumatoid arthritis that deteriorates cells and bones, so it acts as an antioxidant preventing the accumulation of free radicals.
Gold is a drug and dye
But gold, in addition to drug, also classifies as a fashionable dye and its use has been approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), an entity of the European Union that has also authorized the use of silver, titanium and aluminum as healthy additives to color some products.
Although these metals do not alter the taste of dishes and the benefits of their intake are still under study, experts do agree that they are not toxic, remain unchanged against biological liquids such as blood, and are not affected by water, heat, or air.
The main reason for acceptance, especially of gold and silver, is in the touch of spectacularity that it adds to the dishes, in the aesthetic pleasure produced by consuming a chocolate, or a glass of champagne, sprinkled with small particles of the golden metal.
Of course, their use as ingredients of haute cuisine enhances the creativity of chefs who use them in thin sheets, powder or flakes. The spectacularity of the dish also multiplies its price because about 100 grams of 18-carat gold, for example, can cost about 40 euros and more and this affects, of course, the final price of the product.
But the use of these metals is not new, it is said that Egyptians and Romans used them to prepare “large cakes covered with gold leaf” and that in sixteenth-century Venice they served coffee with small sweets “bathed in gold” in order to relieve rheumatism and strengthen the heart.