Homeopathy's Effectiveness: No Evidence To Support It
Science-Based Medicine's Jann Bellamy lays out the deal on homeopathy (it's a highly effective cure for the problem of excess dollars in the wallet), quoting from a suit filed in 2010 by Gina Delarosa against one of the big manufacturers, the French company Boiron:
Ms. Delarosa alleged that she purchased Boiron's Children's Coldcalm, relying on Boiron's representations that it was effective in relieving sneezing, runny note, congestion, and other cold symptoms, but that it didn't work for her family....In the Complaint, Delarosa first hits hard on homeopathy itself, alleging that:
A Swiss government study conducted 110 placebo-controlled trials and found that homeopathy is no more effective than placebo.The American Medical Association and Great Britain's National Health Service stated that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of homeopathic treatments.
"Even homeopathy's own supporters, such as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, admit that '[t]here is [] no condition for which homeopathy has been proven to be an effective treatment.'" [Empahsis added.]
(And here I've been thinking all this time that only hard-core SBM types and their fellow travelers noticed NCCAM's pro-CAM stance.)
Ms. Delarosa then hones in on Coldcalm itself, alleging:
The homeopathic ingredients in Children's Coldcam range from various flowers, vegetables, insects, metals, and poison. In order not to poison a user, the dilutions . . . are claimed to be up to 3C and 6C.. . . a 6C dilution gives one part ingredient to 1 trillion parts of the solution. Dilutions to this extent leave the solution with no trace of the original ingredient.
. . . The idea that a substance could be completely physically lacking and still be effective violates fundamental principles of science. . . . and runs contrary to dose-response relationship established by pharmacology."
Thus, Ms. Delarosa alleges Boiron's representations, made on both the package and in other advertising, that Children's Coldcalm relieves numerous cold symptoms are false, misleading, contrary to established medical authority, and constitute unfair and deceptive business practices.
Of course, homeopathy gullibles are sure to pop up in the comments to take a strike at "big pharma" to defend their beloved useless "medicine." Bellamy takes note of Boiron's sales: $520,000,000 in 2011.
Me? I prefer Big Pharma, which produces drugs that often work, over Big Useless!
via @gorskon
Homeopathic treatments are basically water, and while water isn't bad for you, it's certainly not going to cure your cold.
There is a principle that homeopaths will talk about, one of like curing like. If you say that means that if you have a problem with weak bones, then broths made with bones will help, then sure, yeah. You boil bones in a pot of water with a little vinegar, you're going to leech out the minerals, which will be in a nice, easy-to-absorb format.
Same for anemia being helped by the eating of blood, hear,t and liver, sure, that's going to work pretty well. But that's about as far as you can take it before it gets silly.
The Original Kit at March 21, 2012 11:59 PM
When it comes to human feeling, science is often irrelevant.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 1:51 AM
My friend’s mother is a homeopath. She is a lovely, sweet lady I like very much.... but she is completely bonkers.
She once mentioned that as the FDA had not ‘disapproved’ of some form of homeopathic remedy (I forget which – it doesn’t actually matter) it was therefore OK for the treatment of ‘X’.
I pointed out that for the FDA to ‘disapprove’ of a substance as a medicinal product it would have to have been submitted for approval – a procedure that requires the product maker/drug company to submit a vast quantity of data from clinical trials establishing safety, efficacy etc. The process is long, highly regulated and very expensive. FDA silence or ‘non-disapproval’ of random substances is not the same thing as FDA approval as a medicinal product.
Her response – “Well, that’s just legalese, isn’t it?”
Umm, no. It isn't just legalese. It’s pretty fundamental actually.
CCLIT at March 22, 2012 2:35 AM
There is a principle that homeopaths will talk about, one of like curing like. If you say that means that if you have a problem with weak bones, then broths made with bones will help, then sure, yeah.
Except that's not what that means.
To be perfectly Clintonian, it depends what the definition of "like" is.
"Like" in homeopathic terms is pretty damn loose - wait til Pelto shows up, and you'll see - and actually doesn't have a basis in "logical similarity". You're postulating more logic than gets actually used here.
Unix-Jedi at March 22, 2012 4:50 AM
The moment anyone mentions homeopathy, I stop arguing and give up. There is a big difference between 'natural' treatments that can have some effect, and those that just can not work. Good examples of the former are acupuncture, herbals such as St. John's Wort, and possibly even aromatherapy. None would make it through FDA trials due to dubious efficacy and lack or rigour in dosages, etc - but no one doubts that there is a real physical effect going on. It may not match up with whatever mysticism is associated with them
The latter group - homeopathy, crystals, reflexology and so on - there is simply no mechanism to account for them.
Personally, if a natural treatment works, I would like to see Big Pharma isolate the active ingredient, synthesise it, and produce it in a pill with known dosages and side effects. At which point of course, it is no longer 'alternative' so the natural medicine crowd disown it
Ltw at March 22, 2012 5:29 AM
My brother-in-law is a chiropractor who also does herbal/vitamin/homeopathic treatments. About the best I've ever heard him say about homeopathic treatments is that they're "safe", well, yeah, you're drinking WATER. Then again, water DOES have fewer side-effects than many commonly prescribed drugs (statins anyone?).
My suspicion is that when such things "work" it's psycho-somatic. Just like when a placebo "works", it works because the person who took it believes it'll work. Not that it's a BAD thing, if the headache goes away it goes away, and sugar pills are easier on the liver than tylenol.
I wonder, has a study ever been done on placebo vs no treatment at all?
Mark HD at March 22, 2012 6:07 AM
> it works because the person who took it
> believes it'll work.
Again, Markster, this is not so. Placebos work even when people know they're taking them:
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 6:36 AM
Homeopathy is nothing more than sympathetic magic dressed up to appeal to people with more money than brains.
BarSinister at March 22, 2012 7:00 AM
One thing that is taught in medical schools is that approximately 35% of a drug's effectiveness is entirely due to the placebo effect. I suspect that's how homeopathy "works."
Hubbard at March 22, 2012 7:14 AM
Well, meeeeee-yow!
> Homeopathy is nothing more than sympathetic
> magic dressed up to appeal to people with more
> money than brains.
And when it works?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 7:37 AM
>> Homeopathy is nothing more than sympathetic
>> magic dressed up to appeal to people with more
>> money than brains.
>And when it works?
Does it? Just because you took the snake oil and got better doesn't mean the snake oil had anything to do with it.
Correlation does not equal causation. This is the fallacy that homeopathy and all the other voo-doo based doo-doo is built upon.
Jim Armstrong at March 22, 2012 8:04 AM
Dude, read the cite. Yes; it "works". Nature is mysterious. Sorry.
Why are normal, non-scientific people so horny to imagine that rationality has closed escrow on insight with such Islamic finality?
Y'know, I bet if you knew how to make people feel better, you probably would.
But here we are.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 8:20 AM
This article is pure propaganda. Homeopathy is plausible and it's method of action is not difficult to grasp. In homeopathy, the remedies don't heal; they trigger a response from the body... and the body heals. Get it?
It's a paradigm altogether different than the conventional one that says, chemicals and drugs can heal the body (in most cases they do more harm).
This "conventional" mind set, is the problem - and it represents a limited/stagnant view of medicine and health.
How does homeopathy trigger an immune response? That's the question science won't answer, not because they can't, but because medical research is controlled by another mind set, those who are profit driven and motivated by an alternative agenda.
Edward at March 22, 2012 8:45 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3089498">comment from EdwardHomeopathy is plausible
Plausible like the possibility that I will be declared dowager empress of the United States.
they trigger a response from the body... and the body heals
So, this is one of these "because I say so" cases -- there's no evidence of this but we should believe you, huh?
Amy Alkon at March 22, 2012 8:57 AM
> medical research is controlled by another mind
> set, those who are profit driven and motivated
> by an alternative agenda.
You mean REM, the Cure, 4 Non Blondes, the Psychedelic Furs? That's my kind of alternative agenda!
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 9:14 AM
Homeopathy really got going not because it is effective, but back in the late 18th-early 19th centuries when it was "discovered", patients of doctors who used homeopathic remedies recovered more frequently than those patients who received the conventional medicine of the time which mostly consisted of taking tons of laxatives and being bled. The homeopathically-treated patients essentially drank lots of water, not unlike the advice doctors give when you have a cold or the flu.
Samuel Hahnemann the German doctor who "discovered" homeopathy aslo advocacted patients get lots of fresh air and sunshine, which probably also helped patients get better more quickly. He later went a little around the bend and decided that most illnesses were caused by coffee.
Today, though, homeopathy is just a way to make boatloads of money from health cranks.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to take my pirate to get and oil change.
alittlesense at March 22, 2012 9:48 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3089585">comment from alittlesenseNow if you will excuse me, I have to take my pirate to get and oil change.
Hee hee...perhaps because I have the sense of humor of a naughty 6-year-old, that comments challenge gives me endless amusement, and I'm happy to see I'm not alone.
Amy Alkon at March 22, 2012 10:00 AM
"Plausible like the possibility that I will be declared dowager empress of the United States."
Now there's an interesting bit of imagery, for anyone with some imagination and some Photoshop skillz (not I, I'm afraid).
But that's a subject for another thread.
Old RPM Daddy at March 22, 2012 10:13 AM
Edward:
This article is pure propaganda.
Amy's? No, it's not "propaganda". Your comment is, but hers is more dismissive.
Homeopathy is plausible and it's method of action is not difficult to grasp.
Oh, goodie. Please explain.
In homeopathy, the remedies don't heal; they trigger a response from the body... and the body heals. Get it?
Oh. I'm going to need some more detail on that. Specifically, how do they "trigger" a response, how do you map out that response, how is it measured, and what accidentally "triggerings" could you cause?
How does homeopathy trigger an immune response?
That's what we were asking you, and you said you knew. Now you're asking it back to us?
That's the question science won't answer, not because they can't, but because medical research is controlled
You don't understand science. Or profit margin. If the guys who are making a pill for $1, selling it for $11, and making $10, could make $11, they would. In a heartbeat. (Which is why many of the "homeopathic" companies are owned by big companies.)
by another mind set, those who are profit driven and motivated by an alternative agenda.
No, science isn't motivated or explained by "profit". Production is.
So homeopathic cures are free? Since there's no profit margin/desire, according to you?
Unix-Jedi at March 22, 2012 10:18 AM
I would like to see Big Pharma isolate the active ingredient, synthesise it, and produce it in a pill with known dosages and side effects. At which point of course, it is no longer 'alternative' so the natural medicine crowd disown it.
I don't know that I like this idea, if only because we don't necessarily know what ALL is required for something to be its most effective. We know that in order for Calcium to be absorbed by the body, for example, you have to have Vitamins, A, C, and D, as well as magnesium and zinc. If we can isolate those healing compounds in various herbs, will we isolate all of them, in the correct proportions, with the correct cofactors? If the herb in its pure form works, why not just use it?
The Original Kit at March 22, 2012 11:13 AM
HA! I know an herb that used to make me feel better when I was in college! Does that count?
Renee at March 22, 2012 11:27 AM
Thanks.
Now I can't get the image of Chris Elliot riding a bicycle out of my head.
Conan the Grammarian at March 22, 2012 11:41 AM
"I don't know that I like this idea, if only because we don't necessarily know what ALL is required for something to be its most effective."
If an herbal remedy is effective, the effectiveness should be demonstrable in a controlled setting. That's why scientists perform research. For example, the use of willow bark and other plants to control pain and fever was known to mankind for many centuries, but it wasn't until the 19th century that science understood enough to synthesize the effective ingredients in a lab (Wikipedia, "History of Aspirin"). Of course it takes time, and probably some blundering before the scientific world gets the ingredients right. It can't be anything but beneficial to try, though.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with homeopathy. As Ltw points out above, "There is a big difference between 'natural' treatments that can have some effect, and those that just can not work."
Old RPM Daddy at March 22, 2012 12:46 PM
> I can't get the image of Chris Elliot riding
> a bicycle out of my head.
Why?
> If an herbal remedy is effective, the
> effectiveness should be demonstrable
> in a controlled setting.
Homeopathy is not of interest. When I get sick, I'm going to a hospital.
Meanwhile, with respect to banking ethereal, difficult-to-quantify denominations of Karma, I'm donating a few gallons of platelets every year. When I'm admitted for treatment of my stroke or my colorectal cancer or my Mack-Truck-Up-the-Freeway-Ass or whatever it is that ails me, the doctor will not know about it. He or she would not care even if they did know. Duzzen madder: As an investor in Trans-Cosmic Justice, my account is black ink.
In the real world, this will count for dick.
Nonetheless, it remains the case that homeopathy has removed more genuine suffering from the world than have all you motherfuckers put together…
…And your resistance to this truth, your raging eagerness* to depict it as a balm for lesser minds, begins to sound like Salem's fear of witchcraft.
There's a lot of very real pain that normal people have that gets no relief from science. If other things make it go away, what the fuck do you care? Seekers, you have not been excused from the animal form. There's a terrible price to be paid for this, one often collected long before you die.
Are you all so exquisitely certain that modernity is going to make your suffering go away? I can't imagine why you would be: I've seen a few people grow old and/or check out, people with access to the best health care on the planet. It ain't pretty.
I've never heard a patient complain about the cost of homeopathy.
My premiums are going up 29% next month.
* "it gets silly" / "completely bonkers" / "appeal to people with more money than brains" / "voo-doo based doo-doo" / "health cranks"
CridComment@gmail.com at March 22, 2012 1:32 PM
All I can add is I have a homeopathic Kit at home for the last 15 years, and it has overwhelmingly curred small ills.
Placebo effect or not, does not matter if pain subsides.
Ron s at March 22, 2012 1:40 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3089911">comment from Ron sFor years, I cured all sorts of ills by eating grilled cheese sandwiches. After all, I both ate grilled cheese sandwiches and eventually got better, so the grilled cheese sandwiches must be the reason, right?
Amy Alkon at March 22, 2012 1:45 PM
"Homeopathy is not of interest. When I get sick, I'm going to a hospital."
Didn't say it was. RTFC.
Grilled cheese! Mmmmmm!
Old RPM Daddy at March 22, 2012 1:59 PM
> so the grilled cheese sandwiches must be the
> reason, right?
If your distress was not otherwise to be relieved, do I care?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 2:09 PM
> Didn't say it was.
Well, actually, you did: You gave it two paragraphs; 127 words, 777 characters.
And they were wrong, but I'd still call them a demonstration of interest on your part.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 2:14 PM
Didn't know the History of Aspirin had that much to do with homeopathy. The point was, that scienctists should be able to analyze the efficacy of herbal remedies (which may intersect with homeopathy or may not) in a lab environment.
On the other hand, you did make it through all 127 words of my comment, which at least shows you care.
Old RPM Daddy at March 22, 2012 2:22 PM
You think we'll always know why things are effective.
No.
But good luck with that! Again, there's a death out there for each of us… And most of them will languorous, sauntering departures, with extended periods for pitiable reflection on discomforts that would have meant nothing to us when we were spry and healthy.
It's nothing personal… I'm not casting some sort of witch-doctor hex on you or anything, OK? But you are probably going to suffer, and suffer like Hell, for at least some period, if only near the end. It's statistical. So you'll probably have a chance to test your insights about this stuff in a very good personal research environment.
And if it's near the end, you might find yourself then housed with others approaching the terminal stretch of our sweet Earthly pageant. And they'll be hurting, too.
And if some of them find something that makes them feel better, you should do your best not to mock them for it, even if you don't understand it.
Because they might have strength to respond with laughter, energy you will not have.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 2:39 PM
After a vigorous workout at the gym, next morning had back pain.
Put four pellets of Bryonia under the tongue, minutes later pain gone.
It's a beautiful thing.
Try that with a grilled cheese sandwich smart ass.;-)
Ron s at March 22, 2012 4:00 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3090136">comment from Ron sThere's a saying in epidemiology, "the plural of anecdote is not data."
People also insist astrology works. Their gullibility usually just costs them less money than the dupes who buy into the idea that homeopathy works as anything more than a placebo.
Amy Alkon at March 22, 2012 4:04 PM
I always liked P.J. O'Rourke's take on homeopathic headache tablets.
"It says take one, or two if the pain is severe. Shouldn't it be the other way round?"
Ltw at March 22, 2012 4:38 PM
> dupes who buy into the idea that homeopathy
> works as anything more than a placebo.
Amy, see the link already twice-posted in this thread: Placebos work even when people know they're taking placebos.
You guys are going to tumble into your deathbeds, quite literally, squealing that you're just more rational than the little people... That you see reality better than they do.
But by the time the mason's dropped a stone atop your grave, your protest won't be worth etching as an epitaph.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 4:44 PM
Maybe someone could scratch some of those hideous, unreadable Consumer Reports ratings graphics on there. "She would have wanted it that way," they'll say. Or...
"He suffered like a turtle in a fryer, but no one ever took him for a dollar!"
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 4:48 PM
And some folks run to a doctor every time they get sick or are in pain.
Me , more often than not, I reach into my homeopathy Kit and I'm fine and no medical bills to boot.
BTW, I'm an agnostic atheist, and a paleo low carber.
Gullibility is not my strong suit.
Ron s at March 22, 2012 4:55 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3090259">comment from Ron sAs Crid pointed out, we're all gullible -- perhaps especially those of us who believe we're not. I know it's human nature to be biased and gullible and so I try to look for my bias and gullibility, but that doesn't mean I always catch it.
Amy Alkon at March 22, 2012 5:03 PM
> but that doesn't mean I always catch it.
Ok! Ok! So when you don't catch it, and something makes you feel better, we can be grateful! Sweet relief on a planet that doesn't care! Ta-da!
> and a paleo low carber
That's a great line! (I'm only a pseudo/paleo LC-wannabe... I'm defenseless against a loaf of rye bread.)
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 5:38 PM
I didn't get ltw's joke, so I looked up "homeopathic" on Wiki. This is about the cutest lil' entry I ever did see:
Five-count'em-Five cites. A titch defensive, right? But the only reason to take offense is if you don't understand the howling nuance of the word "placebo".
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 5:53 PM
The point of the joke Crid is that homeopathy claims that dilution increases the efficacy, so taking more should have less effect. I get that it's ore complicated than that, but as a throwaway line it's not bad.
So if something is shown to be better than a placebo - like every drug approved by the FDA - then they're all better than homeopathy, yes?
Ltw at March 22, 2012 10:05 PM
Well, sure... But Dude/Sister/Bro, I didn't know what the central idea of homeopathy was. I figured the quintessential core of homeopathy was themeless Windham Hill music from thirty years ago, weakly-observed vegetarianism, as a humorless presumption that one's own impulses were the secret to a life well-lived.
I grew up on a size-hyooge college campus in the 1960's & 70's. I know how this hippie shit goes… It's how I spent 6th grade (for which I should be forgiven... That's 10 years old!). It's like the music of the Ozarks; once you've heard one bass line, you know ALL of them. The stupidity of lefty fashion is unvaryingly juvenile such that I don't even bother to look up the specifics for any particular trend, and haven't bothered to for a very long time.
To wit, in this case, I can well imagine the thinking of the badly-bearded fuckball who put it all in motion:
So, LTW, Dude/Sis, I didn't actually know what homeopathy is. I haven't known even as I've lived the better part of a lifetime eating the foods I wanted to eat, taking the drugs I wanted to take, listening to the medical counsel I wanted to hear, and reading the blog posts I wanted to read. Or not.
Did I miss anything by not knowing?
No… No, I did not. I didn't miss a fucking thing.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at March 22, 2012 10:45 PM
Homeopathy was great at a time when conventional treatment was literally more likely to kill you.
Conventional treatment has come a long way since the days of bleedings and leeches.
If homeopathy had to actually prove any of its claims, it's peddlers would be in jail for fraud.
See there is the big problem.
Every drug that the FDA approves passes through RIGOROUS expensive tests, this process of developing drugs can cost millions of dollars, one company spent 100 million developing a drug that, unfortunately, just didn't get approved because it didn't work.
Does anything "homeopathic" face anything close to that kind of rigor?
Do they pass through repeated tests? Can any scientific process demonstrate a treatment working as promised?
Even the most fundamental premises of homeopathy should make no sense to even a child's reasoning.
If things actually worked the way homeopathy's advocates said they did...you wouldn't drink a big frothing beer...you'd have a pint of water and a drop of beer.
My god how can a homeopath argue about the power of water's "memory" etc. and then go mix Kool-Aid with a big full spoon of the powder with a straight face? By their argument they should use a spoon full in a bath tub, then dilute each serving from there. And the few sprinkles left in a cup should be just as good.
Anybody so blissfully stupid to follow homeopathy as if it were a proven and effective treatment, deserves whatever happens to them. The only problem is, they're stupid enough to treat their children the same way.
Go have a Homeopathic Lager sometime, and tell me how drunk you get. Oh wait, it doesn't work for beer? Well explain why it shouldn't work for anything except "medicine".
Science requires repeated tests, homeopathy just requires that you be dumb enough to hand over money for empty promises. I guess the second one is easier.
Robert at March 23, 2012 2:36 AM
For every ying there is yang
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/swiss-homeopathy_b_1340506.html
Ron S at March 23, 2012 6:35 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/22/homeopathys_eff.html#comment-3091822">comment from Ron SUm, not about yin and yang but about bullshit from a guy who earns his money from homeopathy. Orac decimates Ullman here at his blog "Respectful Insolence":
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/04/the_return_of_dana_ullman_2010.php
More on Ullman's quackspeak here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/09/even_more_quackery_at--where_else--the_h.php
And here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/12/the_return_of_dana_ullman_clueless.php
Amy Alkon at March 23, 2012 7:14 AM
"I've never heard a patient complain about the cost of homeopathy."
The ony bigger liar than the charlatan is his patient.
Meanwhile, here's why you should care, maybe a little.
Radwaste at March 24, 2012 3:41 AM
My wife is deathly allergic to cats...like trouble breathing. Forgot her inhaler on way to visit relatives w/ 3 cats, so we rolled into local apothecary w/o realizing it was homeo. She was all set to buy the remedy the pharm guy recommended, when I read the ingredients... Cat hair, camel hair... The pharm guy explained you build a resistance through exposure. Fail - I explained that we were headed into esposure, and trying to maintain brewthing. Rolled to a real drugstore & grabbed Benadryl. Sheesh.
Mr Teflon at March 24, 2012 10:10 PM
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