The more research I do into so-called natural remedies, the more I run into one common denominator; placebo… placebo… placebo…
I wish it were not so. I wish I could report on scientific studies proving that the alternative treatments actually worked. But unfortunately, that is seldom the case.
Take for example, a recent blog post by Julianne Chickering entitled, Natural Remedies Are Not Inherently Sate, or Effective.
In her post she points to an article published in the July 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which reviewed no less then 70 studies of alternative therapies currently being used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms:
As more and more women and health care providers shy away from the traditional estrogen treatment because of its possible associated risks, complementary and alternative treatments are becoming increasingly popular.
She then points out that even though these treatments are becoming “popular” that doesn’t have anything to do with how they perform:
It turns out, however, that the efficacy of these treatments relies a great deal on whether or not you believe them to work.
Keep in mind as you read this that it is not nature that failed here. Nature didn’t make a mistake. Science didn’t make a mistake. It is the so-called “alternative treatments” being peddled as “natural” that always turn out to be hoaxes.
Anne Nedrow, M.D. and colleagues reviewed 70 previously completed studies of complementary and alternative therapies used to treat menopause-related symptoms. Their findings… showed that a strong placebo effect was about the only consistent result.
Chickering goes on to write:
Included in the techniques studied were herbal supplements, acupuncture, massage, visualization techniques, and listening to sonic waves. Some of the therapies resulted in an improvement over no treatment when women were asked to rate symptoms such as hot flash frequency, sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, and quality-of-life changes; however, often the improvement was almost equivalent to the improvement experienced by the placebo group.
I truly believe that nature holds the key to curing most, if not all, of the diseases that plague mankind.
Whether it’s something as simple as understanding the biomechanics of exercise or as complex as stem-cell research, the more we can learn from nature the better off we’re going to be.
At the same time, there is little question that we consumers need to be more cautious when it comes to choosing alternative therapies. We need to investigate these products thoroughly before putting them into our bodies.
There are far too many people who are just out to sell us something… whether it’s the drug companies, the health food industry or the various quacks that masquerade as healers. We can’t afford to trust something just because it happens to be popular.
Fortunately, the scientific community is doing research into these so-called natural remedies and providing us with a second opinion that we can consider before making a purchase.
Do your homework,
Dean