wellness
More reason to worry about our royal family? Apparently, Camilla (I apologise for calling her thus, as I am never entirely sure whether she is Queen or Queen Consort: Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles, will be formally known as Queen Consort now that her husband is King12. When Camilla and Charles married in a civil ceremony in 2005, it was announced Camilla would become known as Princess Consort – rather than Queen Consort – due to public sensitivity3. However, Queen Elizabeth II granted her the title of Queen Consort in February last year during the Platinum Jubilee45.) has been urged to take more time to recover after a bout of pneumonia.
At the start of November it was announced that she had been diagnosed with a ‘chest infection’ and was under doctors’ supervision. The 77-year-old Camilla was forced to withdraw from her engagements so she could rest at home. She has now revealed that she was suffering from a form of pneumonia.
It is understood Camilla’s condition was viral. She seems to be suffering significantly diminished reserves of energy following her chest infection. This led to her having to pull out of a number of events over recent weeks. Even though the lung infection has now cleared, she says she is still feeling tired. She has been advised by her doctors to take more time to recover. It was confirmed yesterday on the eve of the state visit that the Queen was also reducing her role at the glam state banquet later on Dec. 3 in light of her health.
So, is there anything special that might have triggered this unfortunate turn of events? To answer this question, I refer you to my post of 31 October this year:
… King Charles arrived in Bengaluru directly from Samoa, where he attended the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from October 21-26. His visit to Bengaluru was strictly kept under wraps, and he was directly taken to Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC), where he was also joined by his wife, Camilla.
According to sources, the couple’s day begins with a morning yoga session, followed by breakfast and rejuvenation treatment before lunch. After a brief rest, a second round of therapies follows, ending with a meditation session before dinner and lights out by 9 pm. They have been enjoying long walks around the campus, visiting the organic farm and cattle shed. Considering the high-profile secret visit, a high-security ring was thrown around SIHHC.
The health centre, founded by Dr. Issac Mathai, is located in Samethanahalli, Whitefield, on Bengaluru’s outskirts. This integrative medical facility combines traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Yoga, and Naturopathy, along with over 30 complementary therapies like reflexology, acupuncture, and dietetics.
… The royal couple has earlier taken wellness treatments, including anti-ageing, detoxification and rejuvenation. On November 14, 2019, the couple celebrated the then Prince Charles’ 71st birthday at SIHHC, an event that attracted a lot of publicity, unlike this visit.
Yes, you may well ask: isn’t Ayurvedic medicine supposed:
- to strengthen the immune system,
- to fortify you against infections,
- to replenish your reserves of energy,
- to enable you to recover swiftly from infections?
Of course, I know, correlation is not causation! Perhaps the recent Ayurvedic pampering in India and Camilla’s inability to make a timely recovery from what started merely as a ‘chest infection’ are not at all linked in any way. Yet, it does seem tempting to speculate that the stay in the SIHHC with all the Ayurvedic medicine did her not a lot of good.
Whatever might be the case, I would like to take this opportunity to wish Camilla a full recovery for her condition.
The ‘Healy’ has featured on this blog before and is thus known to my regulars: The ‘Healy’: deep cellular healing with quantum bollocks. Now the ‘Healy’ has won an award … albeit a negative one: the Austrian Skeptiks necative prize ‘GOLDENES BRETT VORM KOPF’ (Golden Plank before the Head)
Other nomineed for the award were:
- The broadcaster AUF1 TV, which has been categorised as right-wing extremist.
- The Austrian Veterinary Association known to support homeopathy for animals.
At yesterday’s gala in the Vienna City Hall, it was announced that the ‘Healy’ is the proud winner.
A total of 160 nominations were received by the Vienna Sceptics (Gesellschaft für kritisches Denken, GkD), which awards the prize on behalf of the Gesellschaft zur Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP). On the basis of all these nominations, a ‘shortlist’ of three was subsequently agreed upon by the jury.
The organisers explained in their press release that the ‘Healy’ is advertised as a medical device for the treatment of pain, including chronic pain and migraines, as well as for the supportive treatment of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety with a lot of pseudo-scientific phraseology.
A ‘quantum sensor’ allegedly measures the ideal ‘frequency’ of the user and causes a ‘bioenergetic field harmonisation’. However, the ‘quantum sensor’ turns out to be nothing more than a simple infrared diode, available for 20 cents. By contrast, consumers are asked to pay up to 4,500 Euros for the ‘Healy’!
Several research platforms, medical information portals and consumer centres have come to damning conclusions about the device. There is talk of ‘bioresonance scams’, ‘dubious frequency therapy’ for which there is a lack of scientific evidence and an ‘esoteric scam’. In addition to the considerable commercial interest and widespread use, the jury said that the manufacturer’s way of dealing with critics was also decisive for the win.
Having recently favoured the Austrian Veterinary Association (AVA) to win the award, I am in two minds. On the one hand, I am disappointed that the AVA did not make it. On the other hand, having reported about the ‘Healy’s extraordinary quantum bollocks some time ago, I am delighted that a worthy winner has been found and crowned.
A journalist from the DAILY MAIL alerted me to the fact that yet another celebrity having decided to sell dietary supplements, interviewed me on the subject, and eventually published an article about it. One would not have thought that the Beckhams are short of money – so, why did David Beckham turn into a snake-oil salesman? I am far from being able to answer this question. What I now do know is that, via his firm ‘IM8’, he has started marketing two supplements (one of his slogans is ‘Built by Science, Trusted by Beckham’):
Daily Ultimate Essentials: All-in-One Supplement
This is a ‘multi-everything’ supplement. The only truly remarkable thing about it is its price tag. There are hundreds of similar products on the market. Almost all of them are much cheaper, and none is helpful for anyone who is healthy and consumes a balanced diet, as far as I can see.
Daily Ultimate Longevity: Healthy Aging
The implication here seems to be not a trivial one; the name clearly implies that we live longer, if we regularly bought this supplement. Not onlly that, we would also be healthier! I can see no evidence for either of these claims, yet a simple calculation tells me that we would be considerably poorer, if we fell for this advertising gimmick.
On the website, we learn a bit more:
At IM8, our commitment to science goes beyond innovation—it’s the foundation of everything we do. A world-class team of experts from space science, medicine, and academia has united with one goal: to revolutionize wellness. We’ve pioneered CRT8™ (Cell Rejuvenation Technology 8), designed to enhance cellular rejuvenation and push the limits of what’s possible in health.
Each of our products undergoes rigorous third-party testing and clinical trials, ensuring purity, efficacy, and results you can trust. With IM8, you’re getting scientifically driven core nutrition for optimal health and longevity.
___________________
I feel embarrassed for the ‘world-class team of experts from space science, medicine, and academia’ who give their good name to this hyped up nonsense. Moreover, I ask myself whether David Beckham’s new attempt to increase his wealth might be a case for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
While medical experts across the world have expressed dismay at Trump’s appointment of Robert Kennedy, the ‘International chiropractors Association’ has just published this remarkable note:
Donald J. Trump made it official that he was nominating Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary-designee Kennedy has spent his entire career championing the health of the nation through education, advocacy, research and when needed litigation.
Among his many accomplishments are protecting the environment with Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council His work at Riverkeeper succeeded in setting long-term environmental legal standards. Kennedy won legal battles against large corporate polluters. He became an adjunct professor of environmental law at Pace University School of Law in 1986 and founded the Pace’s Environmental Litigation Clinic which he co-directed for a decade.
It would be in the Pace Law Review that the landmark paper, “Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury” (https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1681&context=pelr) would be published in 2011.
Kennedy became laser focused on the autism epidemic while giving lectures on the dangers of mercury in fish, he was repeatedly approached by the mothers of children born healthy who regressed into autism after suffering adverse reactions from childhood vaccines, including their concern about the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, being used in vaccines including the Hepatitis B vaccine given at birth. Kennedy’s approach to the issue was the same as it always, looking at the science. He assembled a team who gathered all the science and reviewed the issues with him. This resulted in the publication of the book, Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak
The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury—a Known Neurotoxin—from Vaccines.
After establishing and leading the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, last year Kennedy stepped back from the organization to throw his hat in the ring to be President. Becoming the embodiment of his uncle John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”, Kennedy reached out to President Trump to form an alliance to focus on the crisis of chronic disease in the United States, and suspended his campaign to focus on the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) Initiative.
ICA President, Dr. Selina Sigafoose Jackson, who is currently in Brazil promoting the protection of chiropractic as a separate and distinct profession stated, “Many ICA members have been supporters of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s philanthropic activities and are all in on the MAHA Initiative. The Mission, Vision, and Values of the ICA align with the stated goals of the MAHA Initiative. We stand ready to provide policy proposals and experts to serve as advisors to the incoming Administration and to Secretary Kennedy upon his swearing in.”
____________________________
Perhaps I am permitted to contrast this with some health-related truths about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (my apologies, if the list is incomplete – please add to it by posting further important issues):
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has, since about 20 years, been a leading figure of the anti-vaccine movement.
- During the epidemic, he pushed the conspiracy theory that “the quarantine” was used as cover to install 5G cell phone networks.
- He claimed that “one out of every six American women has so much mercury in her womb that her children are at risk for a grim inventory of diseases, including autism, blindness, mental retardation and heart, liver and kidney disease.”
- He wrote that, “while people were dying at the rate of 10,000 patients a week, Dr. Fauci declared that hydroxychloroquine should only be used as part of a clinical trial. For the first time in American history, a government official was overruling the medical judgment of thousands of treating physicians, and ordering doctors to stop practicing medicine as they saw fit.”
- He pushed the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 had been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.”
- He claimed in a 2023 podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective”.
- In a 2021 podcast, he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines.
- He founded Children’s Health Defense’ that spreads fear and mistrust in science. One chiropractic group in California had donated $500,000 to this organisation.
- In 2019, he visited Samoa where he became partly responsible for an outbreak of measles, which made 5,700 people sick and killed 83 of them.
- He called mercury-containing vaccines aimed at children a holocaust. In 2015, he compared the horrors committed against Jews to the effects of vaccines on children. “They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone. This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
- He repeatedly alleged that exposure to chemicals — “endocrine disruptors” — is causing gender dysphoria in children and contributing to a rise in LGBTQ-youth. According to him, endocrine disruptors are “chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones and are commonly found in pesticides and plastic.”
- He stated “Telling people to “trust the experts” is either naive or manipulative—or both.”
- He plans to stop water fluoridation.
- He slammed the FDA’s “suppression” of raw milk.
- He said that a worm ate part of his brain which led to long-lasting “brain fog.”
- He has a 14-year-long history of abusing heroin from the age of 15. The police once arrested him for possession; he then faced up to two years in jail for the felony but was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty.
- He stated: “WiFi radiation … does all kinds of bad things, including causing cancer…cell phone tumors behind the ear.”
- He claimed that rates of autism have increased even though “there has been no change in diagnosis and no change in screening either.” Yet, both have changed significantly.
- He wrote: (Fauci’s) “obsequious subservience to the Big Ag, Big Food, and pharmaceutical companies has left our children drowning in a toxic soup of pesticide residues, corn syrup, and processed foods, while also serving as pincushions for 69 mandated vaccine doses by age 18—none of them properly safety tested.”
- He stated that cancer rates are skyrocketing in the young and the old – a statement that is evidently untrue.
- He authored a viral post on X: “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
- He has also aligned himself with special interests groups such as anti-vaccine chiropractors.
- He stated categorically: “You cannot trust medical advice from medical professionals.”
- He said he’s going to put a pause on infectious diseases research for 8 years.
- He promoted the unfounded theory that the CIA killed his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy.
- He linked school shootings to the increased prescription of antidepressants.
- An evaluation of verified Twitter accounts from 2021, found Kennedy’s personal Twitter account to be the top “superspreader” of vaccine misinformation on Twitter, responsible for 13% of all reshares of misinformation, more than three times the second most-retweeted account.
PS
Let me finish with a true statement: The World Health Organization has estimated that global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives in the past 50 years.
It has been reported that a chiropractor from Boulder City, US, has lost his license to practice for five years. The sentence could be extended if he does not adhere to requirements imposed by the Chiropractic Physicians’ Board of Nevada.
During a hearing, Tenney and his attorney, Hal Reiser, appeared before the board via Zoom to discuss the 25 charges against him. These charges stemmed from him reportedly hosting seminars to provide various services, treatments, nutritive supplementation devices related to diabetes, weight loss and neuropathy.
In a unanimous vote, the board approved Tenney’s voluntary surrender of his license effective immediately. Within 30 days, he must pay $44,514 in fees, costs and fines to the Chiropractic Physicians’ Board of Nevada. He must also provide refunds to three of the complainants in the case, in the amount of nearly $25,000. His attorney said that has been done and that in all, Tenney has refunded more than $150,000 to those who paid following one of his seminars and will continue to do so.
“Dr. Tenney’s failure to comply with any term or condition of this Settlement Agreement will result (in the) Board staff changing the public information related to Dr. Tenney from voluntary surrender to revoked,” a board report states. “Thereafter, Dr. Tenney’s license will be treated as having been revoked, and Dr. Tenney may not apply for reinstatement for at least 10 years after the change of such status.” Once the five-year period is up, Tenney would have to appear before the board for reinstatement.
“Some of the reviewed contracts contain references to an entity called Boulder Wellness,” the report states. “In the course of the investigation, it was determined that Boulder Wellness is a fictitious business name for Boulder Chiropractic, Inc. registered with the Clark County Clerk’s office on July 27, 2020.”
Though the contracts indicated a set price for the goods and services to be provided, they showed that Tenney would negotiate the price of contracts with the patients, ranging from a low of $1,500 to a high of $9,000, the document states. Most of the patients in the reviewed contracts paid in cash on the day of the signing of the contracts.
The board had received a consumer complaint from Patient FH about his and his wife’s attendance at a seminar and subsequent enrollment in a wellness program sold by Tenney in September 2021 in Pahrump.
From April 16, 2022 to Aug. 22, 2022, he hosted more than 50 seminars, sometimes two a day, with a total of 895 participants over that span. These seminars were held in Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
After learning all this, you might ask who is Tad Tenney?
Tad Tenney grew up and graduated in Prescott, Arizona in 1987. After spending two years on a missionary tour of Argentina on behalf of the LDS church, he returned home fluent in Spanish. He attended Snow College where he played basketball for a year. After a successful year, he transferred to Salt Lake Community College where he obtained an Associates of Arts. It was here that he fell in love with the idea of becoming a doctor of Chiropractic care.
Tad went onto attend college in Dallas Texas and obtained his Bachelor of Science and Chiropractic care. He moved to Boulder City in 1998 where he opened his practice. Over the last twenty years as his practice has evolved to include a whole health approach for every individual he encounters through his practice. Since his practice opened, he has had more than thirty thousand patient visits and over ten thousand individual patients. The Boulder City Chiropractic Health now specializes in the treatment of diabetes, neuropathy, back and joint pain, depression, and anxiety. It is truly a passion for him as his patients continue to recover without medications or surgery.
In 2018, Tenner was asked: “What are some things that help you continue through difficult moments?” He replied as follows: “Daily I keep a few sayings in mind. The first is: “Every day is a new life to a wise man.” The second is: “no matter what your past is you have a spotless future.” My mom often shared the second with me. These remind me that no matter the shortcomings or failures, I can change it all tomorrow or in the days ahead.”
It looks to me like Tenner needs to change quite a lot to achieve a spotless future.
It has been reported that King Charles is on a secret trip to Bengaluru, his first visit to India since being coronated as king of the United Kingdom on May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey, London. Charles arrived in Bengaluru on October 27 and will be at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC) in Whitefield for wellness treatment till Wednesday (30/10) night, when he is expected to fly to London.
Sources privy to his secret visit said that King Charles arrived in Bengaluru directly from Samoa, where he attended the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from October 21-26. His visit to Bengaluru was strictly kept under wraps, and he was directly taken to SIHHC, where he was also joined by his wife, Queen Camilla.
According to sources, the couple’s day begins with a morning yoga session, followed by breakfast and rejuvenation treatment before lunch. After a brief rest, a second round of therapies follows, ending with a meditation session before dinner and lights out by 9 pm. They have been enjoying long walks around the campus, visiting the organic farm and cattle shed. Considering the high-profile secret visit, a high-security ring was thrown around SIHHC.
The health centre, founded by Dr. Issac Mathai, is located in Samethanahalli, Whitefield, on Bengaluru’s outskirts. This integrative medical facility combines traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Yoga, and Naturopathy, along with over 30 complementary therapies like reflexology, acupuncture, and dietetics.
Although this is his first visit as a monarch, Charles has visited the centre on nine earlier occasions and celebrated Deepavali on three occasions there. The royal couple has earlier taken wellness treatments, including anti-ageing, detoxification and rejuvenation. On November 14, 2019, the couple celebrated the then Prince Charles’ 71st birthday at SIHHC, an event that attracted a lot of publicity, unlike this visit.
_______________________
The website of the SIHHC modestly claims to be “THE WORLD’S FIRST INTEGRATIVE HEALTH DESTINATION’
As I reported in 2022, at a press conference in Goa it was claimed, that Prince Charles had been cured of COVID-19 after seeking treatment from a Bengaluru-based alternative treatment resort, SOUKYA International Holistic Health Centre’ run by a doctor Isaac Mathai. The Palace later denied that this was true.
And what about Dr. Issac Mathai? This is what he writes about himself:
A journey that began from the hills of Wayanad (northern Kerala) in 1985, started to bloom in 1998, and today is an international destination for Holistic health and wellbeing. When Dr. Issac Mathai embarked on this journey influenced by his mother, a Homeopathy practitioner who “helped people get better”, little did he know that one day he would lead a team to redefine the essence of health and wellbeing.
As a confident youngster aspiring to be an ‘exceptional Homeopathic Doctor’, Dr. Mathai encountered two key turning points in life – one, an internationally well-received research paper on integrating Yoga with Homeopathy to cure respiratory disorders, and two, learning at the Hahnemann Postgraduate Institute of Homeopathy, London.
Later he was made a Consultant Physician at the Hale Clinic in London, where he treated a number of high-profile people. This helped him establish a reputation in the holistic healing community in quick time. SOUKYA, is today, a residential holistic centre comparable to any facility in the world.
In a world that is comfortable with the conventional practice of ‘popping pills’, the world at large practices a combination of self-medication based on preconceived notions about what is wrong with individuals. In such a scenario, Dr. Issac Mathai and his team of experienced practitioners from different streams have achieved an important goal – create awareness about the possibility of prevention of adverse health conditions, rather than just addressing the symptom.
Education:
M.D. (Homeopathy),
Hahnemann Post-Graduate Institute of Homeopathy, London M.R.C.H, London
Chinese Pulse Diagnosis and Acupuncture, WHO Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
Trained (Mind-Body Medicine Programme) at Harvard Medical School, USA
Of the 3 institutions mentioned above, I could only find the last one: Harvard CME | Mind Body Medicine.
And under MD (Homeopathy), I found this: MD in Homoeopathy is a 3-year long postgraduate course in medicine including a year of house job, and remaining 2 years of research and study.
So, should we be concerned about the health of our King?
What do you think?
I was alerted to an article that makes several interesting points about the current popularity of so-called alternative medicine. Here is a section of it:
The rise of alternative medicine invites the question, what is conventional medicine doing, or not doing, that leads to all this alternative medicine? Here are some hypotheses that I invite you to comment on.
1. Time. Over the short span of my career, visits to conventional medicine providers have gotten shorter. A physician with an established practice can make a 20 minute visit work for most patients but for a less experienced doctor, or one seeing new patients with whom they don’t have an established relationship, or even a seasoned practitioner with an established practice who is just having a bad day, 20 minutes is not enough. This leaves patients wanting the greater time and attention that alternative medicine providers usually spend with patients.
2. Better use of placebos. I use the term placebo with absolutely no negative connotations. As I wrote above, and as I have written in this space, the use of the placebo effect, usually in the form of a therapeutic relationship, is a critical part of conventional and alternative medicine. Because conventional medicine does not depend on the placebo effect – your electrophysiology cardiologist can be an uncaring jerk and still effectively ablate your atrial fibrillation – we have gotten lazy in its use.2 Therefore, for the problems for which we have no real solutions, alternative medicine practitioners often do a better job.
3. People value what they pay for. In the US, and in most developed counties, people do not pay directly for their conventional care. On the other hand, it is the rare insurance policy that pays for acupuncture, chiropractic manipulation, or a consultation with a naturopath. Cognitive dissonance occurs when people are faced with the possibility that what they spent their hard-earned dollars on didn’t work. We resolve the dissonance by convincing ourselves that the treatments we paid for did work.
4. The downside of evidence-based medicine. It hurts me to propose this. Practicing evidence-based medicine entails integrating clinical experience and expertise (science knowledge) with the best available evidence from systematic research. […] conventional doctors often use practices not supported by robust studies. Chapter 2 in Ending Medical Reversal tells us how bad we are at knowing something works just based on our practice experience.3 That leaves science. We are in an age where education and an understanding of science can be a liability. Anybody who knows how to use social media can convince millions that something, anything, is supported by “their science.” Many people regard a treatment based on “rebalancing your life force” or “natural immunomodulators” to be as likely to be effective as ones based on actual biochemistry, immunology, and pathophysiology.
Has the articulation of evidence-based medicine opened the door to alternative medicine practitioners? If we all practice (some occasionally, some always) without data, if we can all quote “clinical experience”, if we all claim that “science” supports our treatment, what does conventional medicine offer that alternative medicine cannot?
In my ideal world, conventional and alternative practitioners would work together. Conventional doctors would diagnose, treat, and prognosticate as best as they can. They would nurture helpful therapeutic alliances with patients. They would also recognize that there are many symptoms that we cannot adequately treat and syndromes that we do not yet understand. Patients with these symptoms and syndromes would be referred to alternative medicine providers. These providers would see if what they have to offer can help. They would also refer back to traditional doctors if the situation changed, progressed, or if findings concerned them.
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2 It is not uncommon that I have to encourage trainees to “sell” their recommendations. This is important not only to get the patient to try the meds but because, in the short term at least, belief that a treatment will work might be the most important aspect of its pharmacology.
3 I still haven’t gotten over the commenter who, after I wrote that one of the things that makes me think masks are effective for COVID is that I worked, unvaccinated but masked for 9 months without getting COVID, asked me if I also put tinfoil inside my white coat.
END OF QUOTE
I disagree with several points the author makes here. Nevertheless, his overall notion -namely that conventional medicine is partly the cause for the popularity of so-called alternative medicine – is correct, in my view. I have often stated that modern medicine often lacks time, compassion, empathy and understanding. Yet patients frequently crave these qualities. Many practitioners are particularly good at providing them, and it is little wonder that patients then seek their help.
The bottom line is that many conventional medics might need to re-learn the necessary skills; and for doing so, they could do worse than to look at the ‘bed-side manners’ (as we used to call this aspect of patient care) of practitioners of so-called alternative medicine.
- mind-body medicine (32.0%),
- massage (16.1%),
- chiropractic (14.4%),
- acupuncture (3.4%),
- naturopathy (2.2%),
- art and/or music therapy (2.1%).
Reporting post-COVID-19 was associated with an increased likelihood of using any SCAM in the last 12 months (AOR = 1.18, 95% CI [1.03, 1.34], p = 0.014) and specifically to visit an art and/or music therapist (AOR = 2.56, 95% CI [1.58, 4.41], p < 0.001). The overall use of any SCAM was more likely among post-COVID-19 respondents under 65 years old, females, those with an ethnical background other than Hispanic, African-American, Asian or Non-Hispanic Whites, having a higher educational level, living in large metropolitan areas and having a private health insurance.
Nearly every time that I talk to proponents of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) I hear a lot about diet. Diet is a central theme to almost all of them, it seems. In such conversations, several issues often emerge and frequently take the form of accusations, e.g.:
- Conventional medicine neglects the importance of diet for our health.
- Medical students learn next to nothing about the subject.
- In conventional medicine, hardly any research is focussed on diet.
- By contrast, practitioners of SCAM know a lot about diet.
- Many are experts in the subject.
- Patients are well-advised to consult SCAM practitioners if they want to learn how to eat healthily.
- SCAM practitioners have developed a wide range of diets that keep their patients fit and healthy.
I usually try to object to some of these points. The truth is that medical students do learn about diet, that doctors are aware of its importance, and that research into diets is highly active.
Particularly about the last point, I can get rather irritated. Sadly, this impresses the SCAM fans very little. They have their opinion and rarely budge.
After one such conversation, I decided to go on Medline and produce some figures. Here they are:
- As of 6 October, there are 1 453 clinical trials listed on Medline as published in 2024.*
- Between 1957 and today, around 57 000 such trials have been published.
- Their number shows an almost exponential growth during this period.
- The diets tested range widely and include, for instance, the Mediteranean diet, the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, vegetarian diet, energy restricted diet, gluten-free diet.
- There are as good as no trials on any of the SCAM diets.
- The researchers doing the diet trials are almost exclusively conventional medics or nutritionist.
- I did not find any SCAM practitioners in the list of authors.
So, the next time a SCAM proponent bullshits you about diet, you can tell him or her to get lost!
*Not all are, in fact, clinical trials
This study analyzed the effect of a protocol based on the Mat Pilates method in an intervention group compared to a usual care control group, on quality of life, fatigue and body image of head and neck cancer survivors.
The study was designed as a randomized clinical trial with 30 survivors, allocated into an intervention group and a control group.
- The intervention group underwent a 12-week Mat Pilates, twice a week, one hour long.
- The control group attended two lectures and received weekly follow-up throughout the study period.
Data collection took place through individual face-to-face interviews, focusing on assessing the outcomes: quality of life (FACT-H&N); fatigue (FACT-F) and body image (BIS).
The Mat Pilates group showed significant improvements compared to the control group in both intra-group and inter-group analyses across the variables:
- quality of life (in total score (p = 0.007)/(p = 0.003),
- family well-being (p = 0.001)/(p = 0.008),
- functional well-being (p = 0.001)/(p = 0.001)),
- body image in the total score (p = 0.001)/(p = 0.001),
- subscales: body image (p = 0.046)/(p = 0.010),
- body care (p = 0.026)/(p = 0.010),
- body touch (p = 0.013)/(p = 0.022),
- fatigue (p = 0.006)/(p = 0.003).
The authors concluded that, based on these findings, future research could delve deeper into understanding the long-term effects of Mat Pilates interventions on quality of life, body image, and fatigue levels among survivors of head and neck cancer.
These conclusions are prudently cautious. The reason for this caution probably is the fact that the findings tell us far less than the results might imply.
The naive reader would think they show the effectiveness of pilates excercises. This, however, would be erroneous. The positive results are to be expected, if only due to the extra attention given to the verum patients or the disappointment of the control group for not receiveing it.
If we truly want to evaluate the specific effects of a treatment like pilates, we need to design a different type of study. Nobody doubts that group excercise can improve plenty of subjective parameters. The question, I think, is whether pilates is better in achieving this aim than other forms of excercise. Thus we might need an equivalence study comparing two or more forms of excercise. Such studies are more difficult to plan and conduct. Yet, without them, I fear that we will not be able to determine the value of specific forms of excercise.
