Sh*t naturopaths say, part 3: Nobody expects the Spanish Naturopathic Inquisition!
When last I visited this topic, I was highly tempted to start out out by making a simple observation, namely by quoting John Wooden’s famous adage, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” Since I didn’t use it for the two posts I did on this… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - February 25, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking antivaccine Colleen Huber Eric Yarnell FABNO Michael Uzick Mona Morstein NatChat Naturopathic Chat naturopathic oncology vaccin Source Type: blogs
How to boost your child’s immune system the right way
If you’re like most parents, you want your kids to be healthy. And if your kids are like most kids, that isn’t always the case. The most frequent illness of childhood is the common cold, and children — especially those in daycare — can get several of these infections per year. While cold viruses rarely result in significant complications, they certainly cause their share of discomfort, lost sleep, and time away from work and school. Because illnesses like the common cold are so common, there’s no shortage of people looking for ways to prevent them — or of Internet sites offering “natural”...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 18, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Chad Hayes, MD Tags: Conditions Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
An alternative cancer cure testimonial, mistletoe, and Johns Hopkins University
Ever since the beginning of this blog, there’s one topic I’ve explored many, many times, mainly because of its direct relationship to my profession as a cancer surgeon. That topic is, of course, the question of why people fall for alternative medicine cancer “cures.” It started with one of my very earliest posts and continued… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - February 12, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking colon cancer johns hopkins university Jvelisse Page Luis Diaz mistletoe Paul Hinderberger Source Type: blogs
Naturopathy advances in Hawaii
Naturopathy is quackery. That can’t be said often enough. After all, any “discipline” that not only incorporates homeopathy as a major part of its training but also requires that its graduates pass a test with a section on homeopathy certainly can’t be considered science-based. Actually, to be more accurate, naturopathy is probably at least 80%… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - February 10, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Hawaii Hawaii Medical Service Association Source Type: blogs
My Children are Vaccine-Damaged; are Yours?
Conclusion
A growing number of today’s children suffer from vaccine damage. Most individuals do not make the connection between health problems and vaccines. When asked about the cause of autoimmune disorders, asthma, allergies, diabetes, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, autism, and other common childhood diseases and illness, the majority of health care providers advise patients that the causes are unknown. Doctors, including most integrative physicians, fail to make the connection to vaccines.
It takes one moment to permanently damage the health of an adult or child, but takes a lifetime to t...
Source: vactruth.com - February 5, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Stories autoimmune disorders gardasil HPV Vaccine Medical Authority vaccine injury Source Type: blogs
Will 2016 be the year when the FDA and FTC finally crack down on homeopathy?
I like to say that homeopathy is The One Quackery To Rule Them All (although of late I’ve debated whether homeopathy or reiki is the most properly referred to as that). It’s a strange beast, homeopathy. Its two main “Laws” are so clearly pseudoscience that you’d think that no one could ever fall for something… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - January 21, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking fda FTC New England Journal of Medicine Source Type: blogs
Dr. Lipson versus Dr. Brownstein: Science versus antivaccine misinformation and fear mongering in my own back yard
It always irritates me when I discover a new antivaccine crank in my state; so you can imagine how irritated I become when I discover one right in my very city (OK, metropolitan area). When that happens, it becomes a bit more personal than my usual mission to refute antivaccine misinformation. So I was most… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - January 4, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking antivaccine Center for Holistic Medicine David Brownstein detoxification Forbes formaldehyde heavy metal toxicity influenza Peter Lips Source Type: blogs
FDA Pushes Back Release of Generic Drug Safety Label Rules
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has once again pushed back the release of a final rule allowing generic drug makers to update safety labels detailing new risks without agency approval to July 2016. This final rule has been surrounded by controversy as it has many implications for safety obligations and liability of generic drug companies.
Background
Under current FDA regulations, generic drug companies with abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) cannot independently update their product labeling with newly acquired safety information. This stands in stark contrast to companies with new drug applic...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 14, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Placebo effects are weak: regression to the mean is the main reason ineffective treatments appear to work
“Statistical regression to the mean predicts that patients selected for abnormalcy will, on the average, tend to improve. We argue that most improvements attributed to the placebo effect are actually instances of statistical regression.”
“Thus, we urge caution in interpreting patient improvements as causal effects of our actions and should avoid the conceit of assuming that our personal presence has strong healing powers.”
McDonald et al., (1983)
In 1955, Henry Beecher published "The Powerful Placebo". I was in my second undergraduate year when it appeared. And for many decades afte...
Source: DC's goodscience - December 11, 2015 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: acupuncture CAM placebo publishing quackademia random randomisation randomization RCT regression to the mean reproducibility statistics alternative medicine chiropractic osteopathy physiotherapy placebo effect Source Type: blogs
Placebo effects are weak: regression to the mean is the main reason ineffective treatments appear to work
Jump to follow-up
“Statistical regression to the mean predicts that patients selected for abnormalcy will, on the average, tend to improve. We argue that most improvements attributed to the placebo effect are actually instances of statistical regression.”
“Thus, we urge caution in interpreting patient improvements as causal effects of our actions and should avoid the conceit of assuming that our personal presence has strong healing powers.”
McDonald et al., (1983)
In 1955, Henry Beecher published "The Powerful Placebo". I was in my second undergraduate year when it appeared. An...
Source: DC's goodscience - December 11, 2015 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: acupuncture CAM placebo publishing quackademia random randomisation randomization RCT regression to the mean reproducibility statistics alternative medicine chiropractic osteopathy physiotherapy placebo effect Source Type: blogs
Starbutts, or: How is it still a thing that people are shooting coffee up their nether regions?
Many are the “alternative” medicine therapies that I’ve examined with a skeptical eye over the years. The vast majority of them rest on concepts that range from pre-scientific to religious to outright pseudoscientific to—let’s face it—the utterly ridiculous. Examples abound: Reflexology, reiki, tongue diagnosis, homeopathy, ear candling, cupping, crystal healing, urine drinking, detoxifying foot pads,… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - December 10, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking adverse events autointoxication coffee coffee enema detoxification Source Type: blogs
A device to put homeopaths out of business
I’ve been blogging for nearly eleven years now—and continuously at that, with only brief breaks for vacations or when the vagaries of life and career (particularly grant deadlines) interfered with the writing impulse. It’s true that I’ve slowed down a bit. I rarely post on weekends any more and not infrequently miss a weekday, but… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 30, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Lesley Knight quackery Radionic Remedy Maker Radionics Source Type: blogs
The flying carpet retort to “integrative medicine”
I didn’t think I’d be discussing Dr. David Katz again so soon after the last time. In fact, when blog bud Mark Crislip (who clearly hates me and wants me to pop an aneurysm or have a heart attack, given how often he sends me links to articles as infuriating as this) sent me a… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 19, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking airplane Ben Goldacre collaborative quality initiatives David Katz flying carpet integrative medicine quackademic med Source Type: blogs
A naturopath’s got to know his limitations, but naturopaths never do
It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of naturopathy. It is, as my good bud Kimball Atwood has said, a prescientific system of medicine rooted in vitalism, the idea that there is a “life energy” and a “healing power of nature.” Naturopaths invoke very simplistic concepts to explain the cause of disease, such… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 16, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Skepticism/critical thinking Dugald Seely Neil McKinney quackery Source Type: blogs
Beware of predatory journals when it comes to homeopathy studies
An August, 2015 study in Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine is being touted as evidence that homeopathy is as effective as antibiotics for respiratory infections in children. It doesn’t show that at all — in fact, it doesn’t show anything, except that crappy studies in crappy journals can nonetheless be used to manipulate opinion. Beware.
First, the study itself. Researchers in Italy looked at about 90 children with ordinary colds. All of them were given a homeopathic product that the authors claimed had already been shown to be effective for cough (that’s not actually true, but let’s let it slide for now...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 9, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Roy Benaroch, MD Tags: Meds Infectious disease Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
