commercial interests
Brace yourself: the wonders of homeopathy seem to be without limits. You can even increase the height of your children with homeopathy!
This website explains in some detail:
SBL Rite-Hite Tablets growth promoter homeopathic medicine is indicated for children who do not grow or develop satisfactorily, suffer feeble digestion & imperfect assimilation, anemia, lack of concentration, poor memory. A clinically proven homeopathy research product from SBL that aids proper physical development of growing children to gain proper body size in terms of height and girth
SBL’s Rite-Hite is a homeopathic medicine for height increase in children. It is a clinically established proven formulation which contains well balanced homeopathic medicines. Rite-Hite helps to achieve the optimal balance of factors like genetics, hormonal balance, nutritional status and general health and thereby promotes optimal growth…
Other Height (Growth) promoter Homeopathy medicines similar to WL14 drops
Buy Bhargava Tallo-Vit Tablets, Homeopathic Grow tall medicine
Lords Hite Up Tablets for Height Growth. Homeopathy medicine
Haslab Physi Hite Tablets– homeopathy medicine for height increase
SBL Rite Hite Tablets. Homeopathy Medicine for Height increase
Blooume16 GRO T Drops. Homeopathy grow tall medicine-Buy online
Wheezal WL14 Grow Tall drops – Homeopathy height increase medicine
Action of individual Ingredients in Rite-Hite:
Baryta carbonica: For children who are mentally and physically backward, do not grow and develop swollen abdomen, loss of memory.
Silicea: For imperfect assimilation and consequent defective nutrition. Children who are slow walking.
Natrum Muriaticum: Great emaciation; losing flesh while eating well. Anaemia
Calcarea Phosphorica: For anemic children who are peevish with feeble digestion, it is excellent for tardy dentition troubles and promote growth of healthy bones. It also covers abdominal flatulence in children, mild inflammation of tonsils, colic or soreness around navel, diarrhea with undigested food in stools.
END OF QUOTES
In my view this is plain and obvious child abuse (I don’t need to go into showing that none of the claims are plausible/evidence-based because it is painfully obvious). Some of the clinical scenarios are indicative of a severely sick child, for instance:
- mentally and physically backward, do not grow and develop swollen abdomen, loss of memory;
- anaemic children who are peevish with feeble digestion;
- losing flesh while eating well, anaemia.
To not take such children to a doctor or hospital and instead lose valuable time with homeopathy is criminal neglect and unethical abuse. No question about that!
I can only hope that no parent will ever fall for it.
UK farmers are being taught how to treat their livestock with homeopathy “by kind permission of His Royal Highness, The Prince Of Wales”. This website explains:
The Homeopathy at Wellie Level (HAWL) Course has been developed specifically for those who tend livestock by the School of Agricultural Homeopathy, and is taught by homeopathic vets and qualified homeopaths – all with farm experience. This is the ONLY course in the UK to provide qualified teaching aimed at empowering farmers and smallholders to use homeopathy for their animals with both confidence and understanding. We have been operational since 2001 and over the years have gathered literally hundreds of positive feedback comments and course testimonials…
HAWL is funded largely by donations, relies heavily on the generosity of supporters and volunteers, and makes no profit. We subsidise our courses, and our post-course support groups, in order to make them affordable to all; many of our farmers and smallholders run their farms single-handedly or with family members. Our aim is to educate, inform and support those who seek to reduce the burden of antibiotics, chemical wormers, and other drugs in the food chain and on the environment…
END OF QUOTE
Today, Oliver Kamm, a Times business columnist and leader writer, sates in THE TIMES that part of the blame for the persistence of fake medicine lies with, of all people, the heir to the throne. In a new book titled More Harm than Good?, Professor Edzard Ernst says that, as the most prominent advocate of homeopathy, the Prince of Wales is engaged in “foolish and immoral” support for unproven remedies for serious illness. You can say that again.
Yes, let’s say that again: foolish and immoral!
In our book, Kevin Smith and I develop the argument that the practice of and education in alternative medicine systematically violates medical ethics. We are sure that our argument holds water. It is not possible, we think, to practice or teach fake medicine within the rules and standards of medical ethics. This means that most of alternative medicine is unethical.
We have not drawn such conclusions lightly and feel that our ethical perspective on alternative medicine deserves serious consideration. It would be good, if the Prince of Wales gave it some thought.
On their website, the British Homeopathic Association (BHA) have launched their annual winter appeal. Its theme this year is ‘building a better future for homeopathy’. The appeal is aimed at the following specific goals:
- Continuously fighting to retain NHS services in the UK by supporting local patients & groups and providing swift media responses employing experts in areas such as media, politics, law and reputation management for ultimate effectiveness. Currently undertaking a legal challenge to NHS England
- Establishing charitable homeopathic clinics throughout the UK, with clinics currently in Norwich, York, Bath, Edinburgh and looking at developing other clinics in Liverpool, Wales, Oxford and London in 2018.
- Making further investment to enhance our digital presence and promotion of key messages.
- Continuoustly improving our website to make it the place for information on homeopathy from finding practitioners to finding the latest Health & Homeopathy online.
- Investing in research and education to keep homeopathy strong in the long term, increasing the number of healthcare professionals using homeopathy in their everyday practice.
- Taking homeopathy to the people and growing our community of supporters with public events, local events and national promotion.
I have to say, I find this almost touching in its naivety. I imagine another lobby group, say the cigarette industry, launching a winter appeal: BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE FOR CIGARETTES.
Do I hear you object?
Cigarettes are unhealthy and not a medical treatment!!!
Quite so! Homeopathy is also unhealthy and not a medical treatment, I would argue. Sure, highly dilute homeopathics do not kill you, but homeopathy easily can. We have seen this on this blog many times. Homeopathy kills when it is advocated and consequently used as an alternative therapy for a life-threatening disease; there is no question about it. And there also is no question about the fact that this happens with depressing regularity. If you doubt it, just read some of my previous posts on the subject.
In any case, an appeal by a medical association should not be for its own benefit (homeopathy); it should be for patients (patients tempted to try homeopathy), I would suggest. So, lets design the goals of an appeal for patients along the lines of the above appeal – except our appeal has to actually be in the best interest of vulnerable patients.
Here we go:
- Continually fighting to stop homeopathy on the NHS. As homeopathy does not generate more good than harm (no ineffective therapy can ever do that), we have a moral, legal and ethical duty to use our scarce resources such that they create the maximum benefit; and this means we cannot use them for homeopathy.
- Establishing charitable organisations that educate the public about science and evidence. Too many consumers are still falling victim to the pseudo-science of charlatans who mislead people for their own profit.
- Making further investments to combating the plethora of unethical misinformation by self-interested quacks and organisations many of which even have charitable status.
- Continually improving websites that truthfully inform the public, politicians, journalists and others about medicine, science and healthcare.
- Investing in research and education to keep science and evidence-based medicine strong, for the benefit of vulnerable patients and in the interest of progress.
- Taking the science agenda to the people and growing the community of science-literate supporters on a local, national and international level.
As I had to follow the lines of the BHA, these goals are regrettably not perfect – but I am sure they are a whole lot better than the BHA original!
‘Doctor’ Colleen Huber (DCH) is the US naturopath who is currently suing Britt Hermes. For me, this is enough reason to do a bit of reading and find out who DCH is and what motivates her. Here is what I found out (I added some * to the quotes [all in italics] and comments below).
DCH has an impressive presence on the Internet. One website, for instance, tells us that DCH is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor* in Tempe, Arizona. Her clinic, Nature Works Best Cancer Clinic, has had the most successful results of any clinic in the world reporting its results over the last 9 years **.
Dr. Huber authored the largest and longest study*** in medical history on sugar intake in cancer patients, which was reported in media around the world in 2014. Her other writing includes her book, Choose Your Foods Like Your Life Depends On Them ****, and she has been featured in the books America’s Best Cancer Doctors and Defeat Cancer. Dr. Huber’s academic writing has appeared in The Lancet *****, the International Journal of Cancer Research ***** and Molecular Mechanisms *****, and other medical journals ******. Her research interests are in the use of therapeutic approaches targeting metabolic aspects of cancer…
*I am puzzled by this title. Is it an official one? I only found this, and it omits the ‘medical’: Currently, 20 states, five Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have passed laws regulating naturopathic doctors. Learn more about licensure from the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges. It seems that Arizona is the only state where the ‘medical’ is allowed. However, don’t take this to mean that DCH went to medical school.
** ‘most successful results of any clinic in the world’? Really? Where are the comparative statistics?
*** the study had all of 317 patients and was published in an obscure, non-Medline listed journal.
**** currently ranked #1,297,877 in Books on Amazon.
***** no such entries found on Medline.
****** sorry, but my Medline search for ‘huber colleen’ located only 2 citations, both on arthritis research conducted in an US Pfizer lab and therefore probably not from ‘our’ DCH.
Another website on or by DCH informs us that her outfit Nature Works Best is a natural cancer clinic located in Tempe, Arizona, that focuses on natural, holistic, and alternative cancer treatments. Our treatments have proved to be an effective alternative to traditional chemotherapy and radiation, which we do not use in our treatments. Rather, we have developed a natural method of treating cancers based on intravenous vitamin therapy which may include Vitamin-C, Baking Soda, and other tumor fighting agents as well as a simple food plan. *
Our team of naturopathic medical doctors have administered an estimated 31,000 IV nutrient treatments, used for all stages and types of tumors. As of July 2014, 80% of patients who completed our treatments alone went into remission, 85% of patients who completed our treatments and followed our food plan went into remission. **
* Give me a break! Vitamin-C and Baking Soda are claimed to have proved to be an effective alternative to traditional chemotherapy and radiation ? I would like to see the data before I believe this!
** Again, I would like to see the data before I believe this!
Finally, a further website proudly repeats that her academic writing has appeared in The Lancet and Cancer Strategies Journal, and other medical journals. It even presents an abstract of her published work; here it is:
Recent recommendations for the more widespread prescription of statin drugs in the U.S. have generated controversy. Cholesterol is commonly thought to be the enemy of good health. On the other hand, previous research has established the necessity of cholesterol in production of Vitamin D and steroid hormones, among other purposes, some of which have been shown to have anti-cancer effect. We compare total serum cholesterol (TC) in cancer survivors vs cancer fatalities, and we assess the value of deliberately lowering TC among cancer patients. We also examined diet in the survivors as well as those who then died of cancer.
In this original previously unpublished research, we conducted a double-blind retrospective case series, in which we looked back at data from all 255 cancer patients who came to and were treated by our clinic with either current dietary information, and/or a recent serum TC level, measured by an unaffiliated laboratory or an unaffiliated clinic over the previous seven years, comparing TC in the surviving cancer patients versus those cancer patients who died during that time.
Surviving cancer patients had 24.0 points higher mean total cholesterol than the mean for deceased cancer patients. A number of dietary differences between cancer survivors and those who then died of cancer were also found to be notable.
Caution is advised before attempting to lower cholesterol in cancer patients with close to normal TC levels. Those cancer patients with higher TC were more likely to survive their cancer.
I don’t know about you, but I am not impressed. Surviving cancer patients had 24.0 points higher mean total cholesterol than the mean for deceased cancer patients. Has DCH thought of the possibility that moribund patients quite simply eat less? In which case, the observed difference would be a meaningless epiphenomenon.
At this point, I stopped my reading; I now knew more than I needed to know about DCH (if you want to read more, I recommend this or this post).
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, DCH is currently suing Britt Hermes for libel. Apart from being exceedingly stressful, such an action can also be hugely expensive.
Britt is therefore hoping to do some crowd-funding to assist her financially.
I wish my post has motivated you to donate generously.
A cognitive bias known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect has, I think, considerable relevance in alternative medicine. The effect means that, the less you know, the less able you are to recognize how little you know, and the less likely you are to recognize your limitations. Consequently, your confidence in yourself is inflated and you believe you are more competent than your opponent. Expressed differently:
- Incompetence prevents the recognition of incompetence.
- Too stupid to doubt.
Even though the phenomenon of illusory superiority is today attributed to David Dunning and Justin Kruger, many others before them have alluded to the phenomenon:
The relevance of the Dunning Kruger Effect to alternative medicine seems obvious, I think. Here we are confronted with all sorts of practitioners who believe they know it all, can treat any condition, alleviate the ‘root cause’ of all ills, etc., etc. Many of my previous posts on this blog have dealt with aspects of this problem. And with unfailing regularity, the discussions brought some individuals badly affected by the Dunning-Kruger Effect to the fore. Typically, they go on and on and on… consumed by their inflated confidence and trapped by their incompetence to realise their incompetence. And typically, they find an audience who is gullible enough to applaud them.
They often remind me of a cartoon I once saw:
The little graph below explains it all quite neatly:
The novice lacks knowledge but, as he acquires a modicum of (pseudo-)knowledge, he gets a boost of confidence. An experienced person has enough knowledge to know that he knows very little; therefore his confidence is relatively low. When experience and knowledge combine to become wisdom, confidence grows and we might be talking to a real expert. Oddly, in terms of confidence, the novice can score higher than even the wisest expert.
To some extent, this simple graph even explains the popularity of many forms of quackery: they are being promoted by people who know very little but are bursting with confidence. And it is this high level of confidence that tends to impress the gullible public who then eagerly adopt the quackery.
Where the graph is somewhat misleading, I think, is where it might give the impression that there is an automatic and necessary transition from novice to expert (from left to right on the X-axis). In many individuals, this development does occur but, sadly, in many others it does not. The evangelical believers in alternative medicine, I fear, usually belong to the latter, sad category.
If I am correct, the Dunning Kruger Effect can therefore partly explain 1) the inflated confidence of proponents of alternative medicine, as well as 2) the current popularity of quackery.
Recently, I was asked about the ‘Dorn Method’. In alternative medicine, it sometimes seems that everyone who manages to write his family name correctly has inaugurated his very own therapy. It is therefore a tall order to aim at blogging about them all. But that’s been my goal all along, and after more than 1 000 posts, I am still far from achieving it.
So, what is the Dorn Method?
A website dedicated to it provides some first-hand information. Here are a few extracts (numbers in brackets were inserted by me and refer to my comments below):
START OF QUOTE
Developed by Dieter Dorn in the 1970’s in the South of Germany, it is now fast becoming the widest used therapy for Back Pain and many Spinal Disorders in Germany (1).
The Dorn Method ist presented under different names like Dornmethod, Dorntherapy, Dorn Spinal Therapy, Dorn-Breuss Method, Dorn-XXname-method and (should) have as ‘core’ the same basic principles.
There are many supporters of the Dorn Method (2) but also Critics (see: Dorn controversy) and because it is a free (3) Method and therefore not bound to clear defined rules and regulations, this issue will not change so quickly.
The Method is featured in numerous books and medical expositions (4), taught to medical students in some universities (5), covered by most private medical insurances (6) and more and more recognized in general (7).
However because it is fairly new and not developed by a Medical Professional it is often still considered an alternative Healing Method and it is meant to stay FREE of becoming a registered trademark, following the wish of the Founder Dieter Dorn (†2011) who did NOT execute his sole right to register this Method as the founder, this Method must become socalled Folk Medicine.
As of now only licensed Therapists, Non Medical Practitioners (in Germany called Heilpraktiker (Healing Practitioners with Government recognition) (8), Physical Therapists or Medical Doctors are authorized to practice with government license, but luckily the Dorn Method is mainly a True Self Help Method therefore all other Dorn Method Practitioners can legally help others by sharing it in this way (9).
What conditions can be treated with the Dorn Method? Every disease, even up to the psychological domain can be treated (positively influenced) unless an illness had already led to irreversible damages at organs (10). The main areas of application are: Muscle-Skeletal Disorders (incl. Back Pain, Sciatica, Scoliosis, Joint-Pain, Muscular Tensions, Migraines etc.)
END OF QUOTE
My brief comments:
- This is a gross exaggeration.
- Clearly another exaggeration.
- Not ‘free’ in the sense of costing nothing, surely!
- Yet another exaggeration.
- I very much doubt that.
- I also have difficulties believing this statement.
- I see no evidence for this.
- We have repeatedly discussed the Heilpraktiker on this blog, see for instance here, here and here.
- Sorry, but I fail to understand the meaning of this statement.
- I am always sceptical of claims of this nature.
By now, we all are keen to know what evidence there might be to suggest that the Dorn Method works. The website of the Dorn Method claims that there are 4 different strands of evidence:
START OF QUOTE
1. A new form of manual therapy and self help method which is basically unknown in conventional medicine until now, with absolutely revolutionary new knowledge. It concerns for example the manual adjustment of a difference in length of legs as a consequence of a combination of subluxation of the hip-joint (subluxation=partly luxated=misaligned) and a subluxation of the joints of sacrum (Ilio-sacral joint) and possible knee and ankle joints. The longer leg is considered the ‘problem’-leg and Not the shorter leg as believed in classical medicine and chiropractic.
2. The osteopathic knowledge that there is a connection of each vertebra and its appropriate spinal segment to certain inner organs. That means that when there are damages at these structures, disturbances of organic functions are the consequence, which again are the base for the arising of diseases.
3. The knowledge of the Chinese medicine, especially of acupuncture and meridian science that the organic functions are stirred and leveled, also among each other, via the vegetative nervous system
4. The natural-scientific knowledge of anatomy, physiology, physics, chemistry and other domains.
END OF QUOTE
One does not need to be a master in critical thinking to realise that these 4 strands amount to precisely NOTHING in terms of evidence for the Dorn Method. I therefore conducted several searches and have to report that, to the best of my knowledge, there is not a jot of evidence to suggest that the Dorm Method is more than hocus-pocus.
In case you wonder what actually happens when a patient – unaware of this lack of evidence – consults a clinician using the Dorn Method, the above website provides us with some interesting details:
START OF QUOTE
First the patients leg length is controlled and if necessary corrected in a laying position. The hip joint is brought to a (more or less) 90 degree position and the leg is then brought back to its straight position while guiding the bones back into its original place with gentle pressure.
This can be done by the patient and it is absolutely safe, easy and painless!
The treatment of Knees and Ankles should then follow with the same principals: Gentle pressure towards the Joint while moving it from a bended to a more straight position.
After the legs the pelvis is checked for misalignment and also corrected if necessary in standing position.
Followed by the lumbar vertebrae and lower thoracic columns, also while standing upright.
Then the upper thoracic vertebrae are checked, corrected if necessary, and finally the cervical vertebrae, usually in a sitting position.
The treatment often is continued by the controlling and correction of other joints like the shoulders, elbow, hands and others like the jaw or collarbone.
END OF QUOTE
Even if we disregard the poor English used throughout the text, we cannot possibly escape the conclusion that the Dorn Method is pure nonsense. So, why do some practitioners practice it?
The answer to this question is, of course, simple: There is money in it!
“Average fees for Dorn Therapy sessions range from about 40€ to 100€ or more… Average fees for Dorn Method Seminars range from about 180€ to 400€ in most developed countries for a two day basic or review or advanced training.”
SAY NO MORE!
This announcement caught my eye:
START OF 1st QUOTE
Dr Patrick Vickers of the Northern Baja Gerson Centre, Mexico will deliver a two hour riveting lecture of ‘The American Experience of Dr Max Gerson, M.D.’
The lecture will present the indisputable science supporting the Gerson Therapy and its ability to reverse advanced disease.
Dr Vickers will explain the history and the politics of both medical and governmental authorities and their relentless attempts to surpress this information, keeping it from the world.
‘Dr Max Gerson, Censored for Curing Cancer’
“I see in Dr Max Gerson, one of the most eminent geniuses in medical history” Nobel Prize Laureate, Dr Albert Schweitzer.
END OF 1st QUOTE
Who is this man, Dr Patrik Vickers, I asked myself. And soon I found a CV in his own words:
START OF 2nd QUOTE
Dr. Patrick Vickers is the Director and Founder of the Northern Baja Gerson Clinic. His mission is to provide patients with the highest quality and standard of care available in the world today for the treatment of advanced (and non-advanced) degenerative disease. His dedication and commitment to the development of advanced protocols has led to the realization of exponentially greater results in healing disease. Dr. Vickers, along with his highly trained staff, provides patients with the education, support, and resources to achieve optimal health.
Dr. Patrick was born and raised outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the age of 11 years old, after witnessing a miraculous recovery from a chiropractic adjustment, Dr. Patrick’s passion for natural medicine was born.
Giving up careers in professional golf and entertainment, Dr. Patrick obtained his undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Life University before going on to receive his doctorate in Chiropractic from New York Chiropractic College in 1997.
While a student at New York Chiropractic College(NYCC), Dr. Patrick befriended Charlotte Gerson, the last living daughter of Dr. Max Gerson, M.D. who Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. Albert Schweitzer called, ” One of the most eminent geniuses in medical history. “
Dr. Gerson, murdered in 1959, remains the most censured doctor in the history of medicine as he was reversing virtually every degenerative disease known to man, including TERMINAL cancer…
END OF 2nd QUOTE
I have to admit, I find all this quite upsetting!
Not because the ticket for the lecture costs just over £27.
Not because exploitation of vulnerable patients by quacks always annoys me.
Not even because the announcement is probably unlawful, according to the UK ‘cancer act’.
I find it upsetting because there is simply no good evidence that the Gerson therapy does anything to cancer patients other than making them die earlier, poorer and more miserable (the fact that Prince Charles is a fan makes it only worse). And I do not believe that the lecture will present indisputable evidence to the contrary – lectures almost never do. Evidence has to be presented in peer-reviewed publications, independently confirmed and scrutinised. And, as far as I can see, Vickers has not authored a single peer-reviewed article [however, he thrives on anecdotal stories via youtube (worth watching, if you want to hear pure BS)].
But mostly I find it upsetting because it is almost inevitable that some desperate cancer patients will believe ‘Dr’ Vickers. And if they do, they will have to pay a very high price.
This survey assessed chiropractic (DC) and naturopathic “doctors”‘ (ND) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour with respect to the pediatric patients in their practice. Cross-sectional surveys were developed in collaboration with DC and ND educators. Surveys were sent to randomly selected DCs and NDs in Ontario, Canada in 2004, and a national online survey was conducted in 2014. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, non-parametric tests, and linear regression.
Response rates for DCs were n = 172 (34%) in 2004, n = 553 (15.5%) in 2014, and for NDs, n = 171 (36%) in 2004, n = 162 (7%) in 2014. In 2014, 366 (78.4%) of DCs and 83 (61%) of NDs saw one or more paediatric patients per week. Paediatric training was rated as inadequate by most respondents in both 2004 and 2014, with most respondents (n = 643, 89.9%) seeking post-graduate training by 2014. About half of DCs (51.7% in 2004, 49.2% in 2014) and one fifth of NDs (21% in 2004 and 23% in 2014) reported they received no hands-on clinical paediatric training. Only a minority of practitioners felt their hands-on paediatric training was adequate (somewhat or very) for their needs: DCs: 10.6% in 2004, 15.6% in 2014; NDs: 10% in 2004 and 19% in 2014. Respondents’ comfort in treating children and youth is based on experience and post-graduate training. Both DCs and NDs that see children and youth in their practices address a broad array of paediatric health concerns, from well child care and preventative health, to mild and serious illness.
The authors included two ‘case studies’ of conditions frequently treated by DCs and NDs:
Case study 1: colic
DC practitioners’ primary treatment focus (314 respondents) would be to use spinal manipulation (78.3%) if physical assessment suggests utility, diet changes (14.6% for child, 6.1% for mom if breast feeding), and massage (16.9%). ND practitioners (95 respondents) would assess and treat primarily with diet changes (62% for child including prescribing probiotics; 48% for mom if breast feeding), homeopathy (46%), weak herbal or tea preparations (19%), and use topical castor oil (packs or massage) (18%). In 2014, 65.9% of DCs and 59% of NDs believe (somewhat or very much) that concurrent treatment by a medical practitioner would be of benefit; 64.0% of DCs and 60% of NDs would refer the patient to another health care practitioner (practitioner type not specified).
Case study 2: acute otitis media
In 2014, almost all practitioners identified this as otitis media (in 2004, the DCs had a profession-specific question); DCs were more cautious about the value of their care for it relative to the NDs (DCs, 46.2% care will help patient very much, NDs, 95%). For treatment, DCs would primarily use spinal manipulation (98.5%) if indicated after assessment, massage (19.5%), dietary modifications (17.6%), and 3.8% would specifically refer to an MD for an antibiotic prescription. ND-preferred treatments were NHP products (79%), dietary modifications (66%), ear drops (60%), homeopathic remedies (18%), and 10% would prescribe antibiotics right away or after a few days. In 2014, 86.3% of DCs and 75% of NDs believe the patient would benefit (somewhat or very much) from concurrent treatment by a conventional medical practitioner; 81.7% of DCs and 58% of NDs would refer the patient to another health care provider.
The authors concluded that although the response rate in 2014 is low, the concerns identified a decade earlier remain. The majority of responding DCs and NDs see infants, children, and youth for a variety of health conditions and issues, but self-assess their undergraduate paediatric training as inadequate. We encourage augmented paediatric educational content be included as core curriculum for DCs and NDs and suggest collaboration with institutions/organizations with expertise in paediatric education to facilitate curriculum development, especially in areas that affect patient safety.
I find these data positively scary:
- Despite calling themselves ‘doctors’, they are nothing of the sort.
- DCs and NCs are not adequately educated or trained to treat children.
- They nevertheless often do so, presumably because this constitutes a significant part of their income.
- Even if they felt confident to be adequately trained, we need to remember that their therapeutic repertoire is wholly useless for treating sick children effectively and responsibly.
- Therefore, harm to children is almost inevitable.
- To this, we must add the risk of incompetent advice from CDs and NDs – just think of immunisations.
The only conclusion I can draw is this: chiropractors and naturopaths should keep their hands off our kids!
Can conventional therapy (CT) be combined with herbal therapy (CT + H) in the management of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to the benefit of patients? This was the question investigated by Chinese researchers in a recent retrospective cohort study funded by grants from China Ministry of Education, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.
In total, 344 outpatients diagnosed as probable dementia due to AD were collected, who had received either CT + H or CT alone. The GRAPE formula was prescribed for AD patients after every visit according to TCM theory. It consisted mainly (what does ‘mainly’ mean as a description of a trial intervention?) of Ren shen (Panax ginseng, 10 g/d), Di huang (Rehmannia glutinosa, 30 g/d), Cang pu (Acorus tatarinowii, 10 g/d), Yuan zhi (Polygala tenuifolia, 10 g/d), Yin yanghuo (Epimedium brevicornu, 10 g/d), Shan zhuyu (Cornus officinalis, 10 g/d), Rou congrong (Cistanche deserticola, 10 g/d), Yu jin (Curcuma aromatica, 10 g/d), Dan shen (Salvia miltiorrhiza, 10 g/d), Dang gui (Angelica sinensis, 10 g/d), Tian ma (Gastrodia elata, 10 g/d), and Huang lian (Coptis chinensis, 10 g/d), supplied by Beijing Tcmages Pharmaceutical Co., LTD. Daily dose was taken twice and dissolved in 150 ml hot water each time. Cognitive function was quantified by the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) every 3 months for 24 months.
The results show that most of the patients were initially diagnosed with mild (MMSE = 21-26, n = 177) and moderate (MMSE = 10-20, n = 137) dementia. At 18 months, CT+ H patients scored on average 1.76 (P = 0.002) better than CT patients, and at 24 months, patients scored on average 2.52 (P < 0.001) better. At 24 months, the patients with improved cognitive function (△MMSE ≥ 0) in CT + H was more than CT alone (33.33% vs 7.69%, P = 0.020). Interestingly, patients with mild AD received the most robust benefit from CT + H therapy. The deterioration of the cognitive function was largely prevented at 24 months (ΔMMSE = -0.06), a significant improvement from CT alone (ΔMMSE = -2.66, P = 0.005).
The authors concluded that, compared to CT alone, CT + H significantly benefited AD patients. A symptomatic effect of CT + H was more pronounced with time. Cognitive decline was substantially decelerated in patients with moderate severity, while the cognitive function was largely stabilized in patients with mild severity over two years. These results imply that Chinese herbal medicines may provide an alternative and additive treatment for AD.
Conclusions like these render me speechless – well, almost speechless. This was nothing more than a retrospective chart analysis. It is not possible to draw causal conclusions from such data.
Why?
Because of a whole host of reasons. Most crucially, the CT+H patients were almost certainly a different and therefore non-comparable population to the CT patients. This flaw is so elementary that I need to ask, who are the reviewers letting such utter nonsense pass, and which journal would publish such rubbish? In fact, I can be used for teaching students why randomisation is essential, if we aim to find out about cause and effect.
Ahhh, it’s the BMC Complement Altern Med! I think the funders, editors, reviewers, and authors of this paper should all go and hide in shame.
This is the title of an editorial by Alan Schmukler. You probably remember him; I have featured him before, for instance here, here, and here. This is what was recently on Schmukler’s mind (I have added a few references referring to comments of mine added below):
England’s National Health Service (NHS) is proposing that NHS doctors no longer be permitted to prescribe homeopathic remedies [1]… They claim lack of evidence for effectiveness. Anyone who’s been remotely conscious the last 10 years will see this as a pretext. Homeopathy is practiced by board certified physicians in clinics and hospitals around the world [2]. The massive Swiss review of homeopathy, found it effective, safe and economical, and the Swiss incorporated homeopathy into their national health care system [3]…
The reason given for banning homeopathy and these nutrients is a lie. Why would the NHS ban safe, effective and affordable healing methods? [4] Without these methods, all that is left are prescription drugs. Apparently, someone at the NHS has an interest in pushing expensive prescription drugs [5], rather than safer and cheaper alternatives. That someone, also wishes to deny people freedom of choice in medicine [6]. I say “someone”, because organizations don’t make decisions, people do. Who is that someone? In looking for a suspect, we might ask, who is the chief executive of the organization? Who introduced this plan and is promoting it? Who at the NHS has the political clout? Who was it that recently declared: “Homeopathy is a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds which could better be devoted to treatments that work”.
The quote is from Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive. He got the job in 2014, after ten years as a top executive at UnitedHealth, the largest health insurance company in America. His past work experiences and current activities show that he favors privatization [7]. That would make him an odd choice to run a healthcare system based on socialized medicine. In fact, he has been moving the NHS towards privatization and the corporate, profit based American model. [8] The last thing a privatizer in healthcare would want, are non-proprietary medicines, for which you can’t charge exorbitant fees [9]. Banning homeopathy on the NHS is just one small part of a larger plan to maximize corporate profits by letting corporations own and control the health care system [10]. Before they can do this, they have to eliminate alternative methods of treatment.
Personally, I think Schmukler is wrong – here is why:
1 The current argument is not about what doctors are permitted to do, but about what the NHS should do with our tax money.
2 Argumentum ad populum
3 Oh dear! Anyone who uses this report as evidence must be desperate – see for instance here.
4 Why indeed? Except highly dilute homeopathic remedies are pure placebos.
5 Maybe ‘someone’ merely wants to use effective medications rather than placebos.
6 Freedom of choice is a nonsense, if it is not guided by sound evidence – see here.
7 No, that’s Jeremy Hunt! But in any case privatisation might be more profitable with homeopathy – much higher profit margins without any investment into R&D.
8 No, this is Hunt again!
9 Homeopathic remedies are ideal for making vast profits: no research, no development, no cost for raw material, etc., etc.
10 I am sure Boiron et al would not mind stepping into the gap.
I very much look forward to the next outburst of Alan Schmukler and hope he will manage to think a bit clearer by then.
