Is alternative medicine - is it all fiction?

If you want to sell an idea, you may find it useful to have an opponent, especially if what you sell does not represent anything. For example, the creator of homeopathy Samuel Hahnemann could hardly prove that his discoveries were given something other than the placebo effect. However, given that he was sharply opposed to traditional medicine, he called any drugs and drugs offered by him "allopathic."

Alternative medicine - what is it?

Unfortunately for Hahnemann, his philosophy, according to which the less active ingredient of the drug remains in the mixture, the stronger this mixture acts, is complete nonsense. And although modern homeopaths still use the term "allopathic" as a humiliating insult to traditional medicine, they are only fighting with windmills. Alternative medicine, which includes both homeopathy, and treatment with vitamins and nutritional supplements, as well as some other therapeutic methods, is an industry with an annual turnover of $ 34 billion. Companies involved in this industry use fuzzy, and in some cases completely absent, rules and laws, and their opposition to "allopaths" is not the cries of the oppressed, but the plea from companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Advantages for homeopathic companies

However, medicine is medicine. As the pediatrician Paul Ofit writes, there is no traditional, alternative, complementary, integrative or holistic medicine. There is only a medicine that works, and medicine that does not work. But this does not stop the flow of irrational therapies, the efficacy of which has either not been proven, or has already been disproved. And while the pharmaceutical industry and the companies that operate it have their own problems, the funds falling on the shelves with vitamins and dietary supplements do not pass many years of testing according to the strictest standards, they are not developed for decades, they are not subject to extensive research and Invested millions of dollars.

Homeopathy - yes, pharmaceutics - no?

At the same time many pharmaceutical preparations are based on similar or even exactly the same botanical substances. Adriana Fug-Berman, associate professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of Georgetown, said at a public hearing on the regulation of the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines in 2015 that homeopathic preparations may contain venom of snakes, heavy metal salts and other hazardous substances.

The greatest example of abuse of trust

She noted that the drug Guna Interleukin 12 is positioned as an analgesic, as well as an anti-inflammatory agent in autoimmune diseases. The drug contains ingredients that are placed under close observation when used in pharmaceutical preparations. And since the manufacturer of this drug, Guna Interleukin Remedies, bypasses this control, positioning its drug as a homeopathic remedy, consumers use a product that contains potentially unsafe ingredients.

Normative regulation and its problems

When a request was sent to the Food and Drug Administration for why such a situation exists at all, the spokeswoman Lindsay Mayer demonstrated the statute of the Office, which reports on the unique nature of such drugs. Thanks to the 1983 amendment, homeopathic remedies are exempt from laboratory tests and determine the nature and potency of their individual active ingredients before they go on sale.

Harm homeopathy

Hahnemann believed that the less active substance in the drug, the stronger it is. Thus, it turns out that a pure or slightly diluted preparation is not so strong, while a solution in which there is practically no active ingredient has the highest power. The problem is that in fact the active ingredients play an important role. In one study, it was found that the only homeopathic denture preparation in infants caused more than 370 different adverse reactions in children over a ten-year period. This supposedly weak mixture is designated as 6X, that is, it still contains the active ingredient. Another popular homeopathic ingredient, belladonna, even with a twelve-fold dilution remains active in the mixture and can cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, high blood pressure and fever.

Statistics on homeopathy

As Offit reports, fifty percent of US residents use alternative medicine, while ten percent use it to treat their children. And although the Federal Trade Commission last year began active work to close this workaround in matters of homeopathic preparations, the labels of vitamins and food additives still continue to embarrass customers who, after reading the text on the package, might think that their flu symptoms will disappear or that Even worse, vitamins can cure cancer.

The introduction of alternative medicine in the world of fitness

As medicine gradually combines with the fitness industry, it becomes even more difficult for scientists to act for the good. For example, a yoga center can offer you not only physical exercises, but also massage therapy, as well as vitamin droppers. This means that after a pilates session for just $ 175 you will be given a dose of vitamin C, zinc and lysine. But if you look at it scientifically, an increased amount of these three components in the blood can lead to a variety of problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Mistrust of one doctor should not lead to blind faith in another.

Vitamins and food additives

While nutritional supplements, vitamins and superfoods are positioned as miracle cures, allowing even to fight cancer, scientists do not support the general enthusiasm for this. According to Offit, studies show that people who use large amounts of specialized vitamins and food supplements with a high content of antioxidants are more likely to develop cancer and sooner death.

A new beginning of alternative medicine

Hahnemann became the inspiration for the movement of holism, promoting the philosophy of Hippocrates during an important transition period in the history of medicine. The development of biochemistry, neurology, the theory of microbes, the specification of diseases and molecular genetics made the world invisible before this visible. The widespread use of antibiotics and vaccines everywhere has provided an evolutionary leap forward for mankind. Suddenly the hostile planet ceased to be so frightening. However, the growing suspicion of corporate and political conspiracies in the field of medicine led to the second coming of holism in the sixties, and this movement continues to gain strength 50 years later. People have reason to distrust the pharmaceutical giants and the government, but this does not mean that homeopathic fiction should become the main way of treating diseases.