Prevention and so-called alternative medicine (SCAM)

Advocates of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) almost uniformly stress the importance of prevention and pride themselves to make much use of SCAM for the purpose of prevention. SCAM, they often claim, is effective for prevention, while conventional medicine tends to neglect it. Therefore, it seems timely to ponder a bit about the subject.

It makes sense to differentiate three types of prevention:

1. Primary prevention aims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs.
2. Secondary prevention aims to reduce the impact of a disease or injury that has already occurred.
3. Tertiary prevention aims to soften the impact of an ongoing illness or injury that has lasting effects.

Here I will includes all three and I will ask what SCAM has to offer in any form of prevention. I will do this by looking at what we have previously discussed on this blog in relation to several specific SCAM and add in each case a very brief evaluation of the evidence.

Acupuncture

• Acupuncture for the prevention of headache? How to fool (almost) everyone with an RCT – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Acupuncture for chronic migraine prevention? Two new systematic reviews yield encouraging evidence – ENCOURAGING EVIDENCE

Chiropractic

• Chiropractic manipulation and primary prevention. It’s time that chiropractors stop misleading the public in order to fill their pockets – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• ‘Maintenance care’ is very good for chiropractic economics … but not for anything else! – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• No evidence that spinal manipulation improves immune function – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Chiropractic maintenance care: boosting chiropractic cash flow in perpetuity – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Birth-trauma: a diagnosis that richly fills the pockets of many chiropractors – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• If you don’t want to get the flu…consult your chiropractor urgently! – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE

Herbal medicine

• Prevention of acute radiation-induced proctitis with Aloe vera – ENCOURAGING EVIDENCE
• Can Chinese Medicine Be Used for Prevention of Corona Virus Disease? – NO CONVINVING EVIDENCE

Homeopathy

• Effectiveness of Homeopathic Arsenicum album 30C in the Prevention of COVID-19 – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Disturbing news on the recent trial of homeopathy for COVID prevention – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• A new study of homeopathy for the prevention of COVID-19 infections – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Is this the crown of the Corona-idiocy? Nosodes In Prevention And Management Of COVID -19 – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Homeopathic Prevention and Management of Epidemic Diseases – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Influenzinum: the homeopathic flu prevention that does not prevent flu – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Homeopathy for preventing and treating acute respiratory tract infections in children – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• A new trial of homeopathy for preventing COVID-19 infections – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Oscillococcinum, the homeopathic solution to the coronavirus threat? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• An RCT suggests that homeopathy can prevent epidemics!!! But how reliable is this evidence? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• HOMEOPATHS LOVE IT: the epidemiological evidence suggesting that homeopathy works – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Understanding homeoprophylaxis: it is dangerous nonsense!!! – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• “Homeoprophylaxis, the homeopathic vaccine alternative, prevents disease through nosodes.” NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Boiron’s new study of homeopathy NO GOOD EVIDENCE

Mind-body therapies

• Meditation for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Transcendental meditation (TM) for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE

Osteopathy

Does Osteopathy Prevent Motion Sickness? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE

Supplements

• Multivitamins in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Zinc for the prevention or treatment of acute viral respiratory tract infections in adults? A new systematic review – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Vitamin D for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19? NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Do Vitamin, Mineral, and Multivitamin Supplements Prevent Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Does vitamin D supplementation lower the risk of cancer and precancers? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Glucosamine is associated with decreased risk of lung cancer – ENCOURAGING EVIDENCE

Yoga

• Yoga for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: more than wishful thinking? – NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE
• Who says it’s all negative? The addition of yoga to aerobic exercise programs reduces global cardiovascular risk – ENCOURAGING EVIDENCE

I hope you agree: this list is impressive!

• Impressive in the way of showing how often we have discussed SCAM for prevention in one form or another.
• Impressive also to see how little positive evidence there is for effective prevention with SCAM

Of course, this is merely based on posts that were published on my blog. Some will argue that I missed out on some effective SCAMs for prevention. Others might claim that I judged some of the the above cited articles too harshly. If you share such sentiments, I invite you to show me the evidence – and I promise to look at it and evaluate it critically.

Meanwhile, I will draw the following conclusion:

Despite the prominent place prevention assumes in discussions about SCAM, the actual evidence fails to show that it has an important role to play in primary, secondary or tertiary prevention.