By Jim Rockoff
The middle plug of a wall socket (at least in North America) has a “ground” wire that connects electrically to the ground, often by a copper clad steel rod driven into the Earth. This provides some protection against fire and electrocution in case of electrical problems. Having a similar name, “Earthing or Grounding” is a fairly new alternative health therapy. There are many studies and claimed health benefits of grounding. This essay discusses only the antioxidant claim. A Google AI search found US sales of grounding products for health were $495 million in 2024 with projected growth of 12.2 % annually expected to 2035.
The Health Claim:
The Earthing Movie (length 1:15:32; released 2019 and free on YouTube) makes the antioxidant and free radical health claims. They are presented between minutes 29:30 and 31:40. The action of white blood cells called neutrophils in tissue inflamed by infection or injury is said to include the release of “free radicals” and “reactive oxygen species”. Wikipedia’s article on neutrophils confirms this saying hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is used to make hypochlorous acid (HClO) and other “Reactive Oxygen Species” that are released by neutrophils doing their work of killing bacteria or removing damaged cells after trauma. The Earthing Movie also claims that if there are no electrons from the ground to neutralize the free radicals and reactive oxygen species, damage occurs to adjacent healthy cells. The damaged healthy cells attract neutrophils that release more oxidizing chemicals causing more damage prolonging inflammation.
The vendor-funded Earthing Institute home page has a research page listing their studies, on which they assert (in paragraph 3) that “Earthing transfers electrons to the body and electrons neutralize free radicals”. The excellent podcast “Oh No Ross & Carrie” on 6/6/2021 interviewed Clint Ober, a major seller of Earthing products. Ober claims chronic inflammation cannot exist if you are grounded (minutes 33-36 in the podcast). Earthing literature and The Earthing movie assert that since about 1960 our modern plastic soled shoes and carpets have insulated us from Earth electrons resulting in harm. In the Earthing movie, Ober at (25:25-26:30) and Laura Koniver MD at (45:35-46:30) also express that concern. Stephen Sinatra MD (4:40-5:00) claims that grounding “…is like taking handfuls of antioxidants”.
Examining the Antioxidant Claim:
Indoor Current Test:
At the Center for Inquiry West Independent Investigations Group (IIG) meeting on September 20, 2025, one lead of Kobalt brand model DT-296 multimeter was connected to a battery that measured 1.669 volts. The other lead of the multimeter was connected to 400,000 Ohms resistance and the other side of the battery. The resulting circuit, battery to resistor to battery showed 4 µAmps* current. This was repeated with a 0-50 µAmp range KWORK brand analog galvanometer with the same result. The value was reasonable as Ohm’s Law (volts = current x resistance) predicts about the same value. (1.669 Volts ÷ 400,000 Ohms = 4.17 µAmps). These measurements confirmed that low currents could be measured with those meters.
Next a purchased ($23.99 US) conductive pillowcase with 15-foot cable was placed under a shirt against skin. The lead from it was put in the ground plug of a power strip. The meter was placed between the lead and the connector of the pillowcase. If current flowed from ground to the body, it would have to come through the meter. Measured current was zero µAmps on both meters.
Outdoor Current Test:
The Kobalt brand meter was placed between a copper wire connected to a copper grounding rod in wet earth and the grounded pillowcase cable connector with the pillowcase held against skin under a shirt. As done at the indoor test, the subject wore non-conductive shoes, and stood on 4 layers of rigid plastic totaling about ½ inch (1 cm). Again, the current measured zero.
Note the shoes and plastic platform prevent electrons from the Earth entering the feet to bypass the current meter. The pillowcase has fine conductive wires throughout intended to convey Earth electrons to the body. The resistance from the cable connection of the pillowcase to fine wires of the pillowcase was low, < 100 Ohms by the Kobalt digital meter.
Conclusions
Patient readers, the current from ground to a human body was measured two ways. The first test circuit was from a power strip ground plug to conductive pillowcase touching skin by vendor’s grounding cable. The second test was from a grounding rod in wet earth via copper wire to the pillowcase and body. Both tests measured zero µAmps. We can be charitable and say the ground current available to neutralize oxidizing chemistry in the body was 4 µAmps or less since this was the lowest value our meters confirmed they could measure.
In order to evaluate the claim that grounding is equivalent to ingesting anti-oxidants, we assume a 4 µA grounding current running for 24 hours.
We can calculate how many electrons that would be delivered per day, and compare it to taking an antioxidant supplement. Current measures the flow of electrons, and by definition an Ampere = 6.24x 1018 electrons per second. A current of 4µA delivers 0.000004 x 6.24x 1018 = 2.5 x 1013 electrons per second, so the number of electrons delivered in 24 hours of grounding at a current of 4µA is: 2.5 x 1013 electrons/second x 86400 seconds/day = 2.16 x 1018 electrons (note that this is the upper limit based on the measurements taken).
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique vs the use of anti-oxidant supplements, we will use vitamin C as an example. The definition of the mole and the molecular weight tell us 176 g of vitamin C contains 6.02×1023 molecules. But no one is taking that much. Dividing by 250,000 we find 7.07 mg of vitamin C has 2.41x 10 to 19th molecules. If 10 % of them are metabolized as antioxidants, each providing one electron, that trivial amount of vitamin C provides more antioxidant electrons than one would get from 24 hours grounding.
For additional information, check out this video by Vulture Watch.
* 1 µA (microAmp) is 1 millionth of an Ampere, the standard SI measure of electrical current. For reference, an electric kettle uses 10-15 Amps.
This reminds me of a similar scam that a lot of folks fell for back in the 1960’s in Ontario. You would buy this conductive plastic strap and attach it to the back of your car so that it drags on the ground. It supposedly drained static build-up on your car as you drove. As I recall, the claimed benefits were very vague. The fad quickly passed as everyone eventually got wise.
This also assumes that “extra antioxidants” are good for you, which is debatable.
I mean, if you somehow turned all the reactions in your body into reductions or whatever else, you’d die – the ancients who thought of breath as being like fire were in a way not far wrong.
(Breathing, burning of wood, rusting of iron … all of a piece.)
Many thanks to the Center For Inquiry West in Los Angeles for their assistance and Center for Inquiry Canada for their editing and publishing this article. Others have noticed that even if an electron from the earth could benefit human physiology the current is too low be significant.
On YouTube On the vulture watch channel ( icon like a security camera) There is a video addressing the same issue.