How To Combat The “Illusion Of Causality” That Contributes To So Many Healthy People Taking Multivitamin Pills They Don’t Need
By Matthew Warren
Millions of people around the world spend time and money on healthcare remedies that mainstream science considers ineffective (in the sense of being no more effective than a placebo), like homeopathy and acupuncture. A study published recently in Psychology and Health investigated how to address this issue in the context of multivitamins, which evidence suggests provide no benefit for healthy people – and may even cause harm in some contexts.
Despite this research evidence, huge numbers of healthy people take multivitamins because they appear to be helpful. Scientists refer to this as the “illusion ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - March 20, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Health Source Type: blogs
Alternative therapies for cancer
This study was not designed to directly compare non-conventional therapies with conventional ones, and the results do not mean that all unproven remedies are useless. In fact, an unproven treatment may become conventional if rigorous research proves its worth. There are many types of alternative treatments (including herbs, vitamins, homeopathy, yoga, and acupuncture) that might have different effects and have not yet been well studied. Importantly, this study did not examine the interaction of conventional and alternative treatments (which in some cases may cause problems).
In addition, this study did not actually find th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 1, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Health Source Type: blogs
When the sperm are a bottleneck for pregnancy
Men with a low sperm count can't get their wives pregnant in the bedroom. This is called male factor infertility, and the technical term for this is oligoastenospermia. This means that it ’s it's the low sperm count which is the bottleneck in the bedroom, and this is a common cause for infertility.Interestingly, the problem gets flipped when we move from the bedroom to the lab, because in-vivo is not the same as in-vitro.When we use IVF for treating these infertile couples, the bottleneck is no longer the sperm, because we do ICSI for them, where we inject a single sperm inside an egg. This means that no matter how ...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - December 21, 2018 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
You Drank What?
A 3-year-old boy presented to the ED after ingesting a liquid in an unmarked bottle. His parents said he vomited a few times before ED arrival. His initial vital signs were a blood pressure of 92/54 mm Hg, heart rate of 114 bpm, respiratory rate of 20 bpm, and pulse oximetry of 98% on room air. The parents reported that he may have ingested a cleaning solution known to contain aluminum hydroxide.The patient was breathing comfortably, and his airway was monitored closely in the ED. He had no oropharyngeal edema or erythema, and his lung sounds were clear. His mother said she did not think he drank too much of the fluid. ...
Source: The Tox Cave - December 3, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Evidence Crisis: Causal Inference – Don ’ t be a chicken (Part 3)
By ANISH KOKA
Part 1
Part 2
Physicians have been making up numbers longer than people have been guessing weights at carnivals. How much does this statin lower the chances of a heart attack? How long do I have to live if I don’t get the aortic valve surgery?
In clinics across the land confident answers emerge from doctors in white coats. Most of the answers are guesses based on whatever evidence about the matter exists applied to the patient sitting in the room. The trouble is that the evidence base used to be the provenance of experts and anecdotes that have in the past concluded leeches were good for pneumonia...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 29, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
“ Dr. ” Raphael Nyarkotey Obu: Another example showing quackery ’ s the same all over the world
Orac has Google Alerts set up for various subjects, such as alternative medicine. This time around, it was a Google Alert that introduced him to "Dr." Raphael Nyarkotey Obu, who shows how quackery is the same all over the world, including in Ghana.
The post “Dr.” Raphael Nyarkotey Obu: Another example showing quackery’s the same all over the world appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 4, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Homeopathy Naturopathy Quackery African traditional medicine featured Ghana Nyarkotey College of Holistic Medicine Nyarkotey Obu prostate cancer Raphael Nyarkotey Obu Source Type: blogs
An unholy combination of methodolatry and quackery apologia —with jade eggs
Meet Dr. Jason Fung. Dr. Fung is unhappy with skeptics and thinks they're hypocrites behaving like religious fanatics. Unfortunately for him, his arguments are a combination of the worst methodolatry of evidence-based medicine combined with rants against conventional medicine and a defense of quackery.
The post An unholy combination of methodolatry and quackery apologia—with jade eggs appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 30, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking featured Goop Gwyneth Paltrow Jade Eggs Jason Fung Jen Gunther methodolatry placebo Timothy Caulfield Source Type: blogs
The British Columbia College of Naturopathic Physicians investigates naturopaths using CEASE therapy on autistic children
Naturopathy is quackery. If you doubt this, consider that you can't have naturopathy without homeopathy. What's even worse is when naturopaths subject autistic children to quackery like CEASE therapy. Expecting any naturopathic regulatory board to investigate quackery in naturopathy is the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse.
The post The British Columbia College of Naturopathic Physicians investigates naturopaths using CEASE therapy on autistic children appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 25, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Autism Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Anke Zimmerman British Columbia College of College of Naturopathic Physicians CEASE Complete Elimination of Autism Spectrum Expression featured Naturopaths quackery Source Type: blogs
Here we go again. A naturopathic licensure bill stealthily passes the Michigan Senate
Naturopathic licensure is like The Terminator. It never, ever gives up. This time around, it's back in Michigan. Worse, a bill licensing naturopaths has just passed the Michigan Senate and is moving on to the House of Representatives. Can it be stopped?
The post Here we go again. A naturopathic licensure bill stealthily passes the Michigan Senate appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 23, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Homeopathy Naturopathy Politics Quackery American Association of Naturopathic Physicians featured Michigan Academy of Family Practice Michigan Association of Naturopathic Physicians Rick Jones The Terminator Source Type: blogs
Orac basks in the adoration of Gary Null (revised and greatly expanded)
Orac loves to bask in the adulation of his "fans." This time around, one of the old men of quackery, Gary Null, has decided that he really, really doesn't like science-based medicine. Orac was sufficiently amused to revise, update, and expand his previous post providing Null with some not-so-Respectful Insolence.
The post Orac basks in the adoration of Gary Null (revised and greatly expanded) appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 21, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Cancer Homeopathy Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking featured Gary Null pharmacognosy pharmacology Progressive Radio Network skeptics Tom Jefferson vaccines Source Type: blogs
Royal Heinie
I suppose it ' s just harmless fun, but the obsession of the American public with British royalty seems bizarre to me. That a B-list American celebrity is about to marry a parasite on British society (who by the way, is not in the line of succession to the throne unless his brother and his family are wiped out, not that it matters) is the biggest consumer of TV time and column inches even as, well, certain other stuff is happening, seems disconcerting..If I am correctly informed, the colonies who have since become the United States fought a war to get out from under the British throne. Since then, the rest of Europe has el...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 17, 2018 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Orac basks in the adoration of Gary Null
Orac loves to bask in the adulation of his "fans." This time around, one of the old men of quackery, Gary Null, has decided that he really, really doesn't like science-based medicine. That includes Steve Novella, Susan Gerbic, and...Orac.
The post Orac basks in the adoration of Gary Null appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 2, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Integrative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery energy medicine featured Gary Null Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia Mike Adams science-based medicine Steven Novella Susan Gerbic Source Type: blogs
Only a homeopath has a belief system bizarre enough to defend a remedy based on spit from a rabid dog
Last week, naturopath and homeopath Anke Zimmermann made the news for using lyssinum, a homeopathic remedy based on saliva from a rabid dog, to treat a four year old boy with behavioral problems. This week, Zimmermann strikes back against her critics. Hilarity ensues.
The post Only a homeopath has a belief system bizarre enough to defend a remedy based on spit from a rabid dog appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - April 24, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery American Association of Naturopathic Physicians Anke Zimmermann featured Source Type: blogs
Integrating homeopathy with medicine: Not the “ best of both worlds ”
Advocates of "integrative medicine" argue that integrating alternative medicine with real medicine represents the "best of both worlds." A recent study by Ben Goldacre suggests that, in reality, integrating quackery with medicine infects medicine with pseudoscience and poor practice.
The post Integrating homeopathy with medicine: Not the “best of both worlds” appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - April 20, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Ben Goldacre Edzard Ernst featured quackery Source Type: blogs
Naturopathy: Using homeopathic saliva from a rabid dog to cure growling, aggression, and a fear of werewolves
Whenever I think I've seen the most ridiculous quackery ever in homeopathy or naturopathy, homeopaths and naturopaths go above and beyond to prove me wrong. This time around, I learn of Lyssinum, a homeopathic remedy claimed to have been made from the saliva of a rabid dog, and how it "cured" a child of his fear of werewolves.
The post Naturopathy: Using homeopathic saliva from a rabid dog to cure growling, aggression, and a fear of werewolves appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - April 19, 2018 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Homeopathy Medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Anke Zimmermann featured hydrophobium Lyssin Lyssinum miasm rabies rabies miasm Samuel Hahnemann The Golden Bough werewolf Source Type: blogs
