Zinc – “Clinically proven”

Whether stated in an ad for conventional or alternative medicine, I typically take claims of “clinically proven” with a grain of salt. That’s because the statistical methodology used to “prove” these claims basically says “if we assume these claims aren’t true, then the results we have seen in studies would have been too bizarre.” This [...]

More on Ayurveda

So, not long after I read Orac’s hit piece on alternative medicine about a very old JAMA article about mercury in Ayurvedic herbs manufactured in India and sold in the US, I read this entry on how the government of India is testing Ayurveda and trying to see how it fits with the world of [...]

Final thoughts on homeopathy before I leave it for a while

Rare medical advice from this site: don’t try a homeopathic remedy without first consulting a qualified practitioner of homeopathy. Since most homeopathic remedies are available OTC, it’s possible to self-diagnose and self-medicate. However, I’m finding through personal experience and through study that this isn’t effective, and any prevailing opinion I read on homeopathy advocacy sites [...]

FDA regulation of homeopathic remedies

The FDA “regulates”:http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy/#q6 homeopathic remedies the same as OTC drugs. (See also the rest of the “NCCAM page”:http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy/ on homeopathy.)
(Note: please see my “new post”:http://www.randomjohn.info/wordpress/2006/01/04/final-thoughts-on-homeopathy-before-i-leave-it-for-a-while/ to clarify this. Homeopathic remedies are not subject to the same clinical development regulations as pharmaceuticals.)

As I drink a glass of water

So I’ve recently been bothered by the out-of-hand dismissal of homeopathy as a fancy and placebo effect, much like “drinking a glass of water”:http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/12/more-evidence-that-alternative.html, and I’ve decided to do a little more digging on my own.
First, let’s start with a “definition”:http://skepdic.com/placebo.html
bq. The placebo effect is the measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health not attributable [...]

Data please: holding quackbusters to their own standards, Part II (Orac, you know)

On to the goods. Let’s start with the title: “More evidence that alternative medicine boosters don’t really want scientific evaluation of their therapies”:http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/12/more-evidence-that-alternative.html. Pretty heady title. Looks like we have a hypothesis here: “Alternative medicine boosters don’t really want scientific evaluation of their therapies.” And, presumably, what Orac presents is “evidence” in favor of this [...]