Indian Authorities Propose Use of Homeopathy to Prevent Coronavirus (Copy)

Critics of the practice say the guidance is irresponsible and could give users a false sense of security.

Alakananda Dasgupta

Feb 7, 2020

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The Indian government’s Ministry of AYUSH, which promotes alternative medicine systems in the country, released a health advisory on January 29 that advocates the use of homeopathy and traditional remedies, such as Indian systems of medicine, to ward off infections of the newly circulating 2019-nCoV coronavirus. This includes the use of a homeopathic preparation called Arsenicum album 30C and two drops of sesame oil in each nostril each morning for prevention, and Unani medicines (treatments based on the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen) to mitigate symptoms of coronavirus infection. While AYUSH cites centuries of practitioners’ experiences with these products as evidence behind its advice, the media and the scientific community criticized the guidance as being counterproductive in dealing with a serious health emergency. 

“It is profoundly irresponsible of the Ministry of AYUSH to endorse homeopathy as this entirely undermines public understanding of science and medicine, and elevates pseudoscience with potentially dangerous consequences,” says David Robert Grimes, an Irish science writer who has published research showing homeopathy to be ineffective, in an email to The Scientist. Grimes has argued that the proposed mechanisms of homeopathy are implausible when analyzed from a physical and chemical perspective, and says that it is not surprising, therefore, that the biological effects of homeopathy cannot be measured in large-scale clinical trials. 

To date, more than 31,000 people in more than two dozen countries have been infected with 2019-nCoV, including three confirmed cases in India. According to the World Health Organization, there is no intervention yet identified that can treat the virus, although a number of studies are underway to find therapeutics and develop a vaccine. 

Using homeopathy as an alternative therapy risks forfeiting effective causative or symptomatic treatments or—if such treatments are not available—creating a false sense of security.

—Edzard Ernst, University of Exeter

Until then, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the only way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with the virus and people who are sick, to wash your hands, and not touch your face. But the Central Council for Research In Homeopathy (CCRH) of the Ministry of AYUSH claims that there are other preventive options. 

Anil Khurana, who heads the CCRH, tells The Scientist that Arsenicum album 30C, a homeopathic solution prepared by diluting aqueous arsenic trioxide until little or no arsenic remains that is used in respiratory disorders and has been in widespread use for more than 220 years with a good safety record, was found to be an effective prophylactic during the swine flu epidemic in India in 2009. A study conducted by Robert Mathie of the British Homeopathic Association and his group, in collaboration with the CCRH, reported in Homeopathy that of the various homeopathic medicines given to patients with swine flu symptoms, Arsenicum album was most successful in reducing fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, and headache. There was no control arm. In another, placebo-controlled trial conducted by the CCRH, homeopathic medicines were also found to reduce flu-like symptoms. 

These results led the CCRH to look to possible homeopathic interventions against the new coronavirus. Before any 2019-nCoV infections had turned up in India, scientists at CCRH collated the clinical features of a recent cluster of cases in China that was published in The Lancet on January 24, which they fed into a tool called the homeopathic repertory. The repertory is a database of historic texts on homeopathy, and when practitioners enter symptoms, the tool fetches the texts’ recommendations on which medicine needs to be given. “Every time we repertorize a patient, we are pretty much consulting all these generations of homeopaths that have contributed to this database,” says Bernado Merizalde, a homeopathy practitioner at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and the prime general secretary of Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis, a homeopathic doctors’ association. By matching the clinical features, the repertory found Arsenicum album 30C to be a suitable fit for the current outbreak. 

See “Where Coronaviruses Come From”

The basic premise of homeopathy is that a medicine that produces a set of symptoms when given to a healthy person under controlled settings can be prescribed in a highly diluted form to a diseased person with those same symptoms, explains Kushal Banerjee, a homeopathic physician based in New Delhi. This is what is known as Similia similibus curentur in homeopathic parlance, a Latin phrase that means “like cures like.” Kalyan Banerjee, Kushal’s father and a renowned homeopathic practitioner, says that by boosting the immune system of the body, Arsenicum album can potentially reduce the virulence of the coronavirus, thereby tempering disease intensity.

“We don’t claim 100 percent protection with Arsenicum album. Just taking the medicine will not work,” says Khurana. “All general measures for airborne infections have to be taken.” He further adds that if people get infected, they should promptly seek medical care.

Such caveats do not assuage the concerns of homeopathy’s detractors, who say there is no rigorous scientific evidence to indicate homeopathic remedies can prevent coronavirus infection or mitigate symptoms. “The claim of some homeopaths that homeopathic remedies are effective in treating or preventing coronavirus infections is not based on any evidence at all,” Edzard Ernst, an emeritus professor at the University of Exeter in the UK and a critic of homeopathy, tells The Scientist in an email. Ernst points to a study that found no difference between Arsenicum album and a placebo in preventing fever after vaccination. Other studies in which homeopathy was found to be ineffective include one on acute respiratory tract infections, another on middle ear infections, and yet another on influenza-like illness.

“Using homeopathy as an alternative therapy risks forfeiting effective causative or symptomatic treatments or—if such treatments are not available—creating a false sense of security,” says Ernst. “In any case, it would be a waste of resources.”

See “Scientists Scrutinize New Coronavirus Genome for Answers”

Even among proponents of homeopathy, there is disagreement about the best way to prevent the coronavirus. Mitchell Fleisher, the second vice president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, says that the Lancet article that scientists at CCRH used to come up with their advice does not provide enough information on symptoms to make an accurate homeopathic prescription.

He says that perhaps the best way to validate the therapeutic value of homeopathy would be to perform a comparative clinical outcome study of acute coronaviral infection by giving individualized homeopathic medicines to one experimental group and allopathic medicines to another, with a minimum of 250 patients in each group. “A careful and honest, statistical analysis of the study results will speak the scientific truth,” he says.

Countering Fleisher’s proposal, Grimes says that this is completely unethical. “Homeopathy has no plausible mechanism of action, and it is downright irresponsible to suggest it in a trial for a serious potential pandemic. Large scale studies of homeopathy have clearly shown over decades the same result—that it simply does not work,” he says.

Alakananda Dasgupta is a freelance science journalist and physician based in New Delhi, India. Follow her on Twitter @AlakanandaDasg1 or email her at alakanandadasgupta@gmail.com.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/indian-authorities-propose-use-of-homeopathy-to-prevent-coronavirus-67075

The Pandemic Tests Germany's Love Affair With Homeopathy (Copy)

BERLIN — As coronavirus continues to spread and doctors across the world scramble for an effective treatment, here in Germany we have some wonderful (some would say unbelievable news): The cure has been found.

The key, according to Germany's Hahnemann Society, is homeopathic medicine. "It has been shown that even the first seven days of the illness can be effectively treated," the organization's website announces triumphantly.

And the Hahnemann Society is not alone in vaunting the healing powers of homeopathy for COVID-19. Prominent Swiss doctor Jens Wurster claims to have used homeopathy to achieve "impressive treatment outcomes" for 70 patients, "both those with mild symptoms and severe cases."

The Locarno-based doctor has split opinion in German medicine. Before moving into COVID-19 treatment, he persuaded cancer patients to switch to homeopathic globules, earning himself a reputation among many as "an absolute charlatan," as oncology professor Jutta Hübner from Jena University Hospital succinctly puts it.

But Michaela Geiger, a doctor of integrated medicine and chair of the German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians (GCAHP), sees things differently. "Just as mainstream medicine is still debating the best treatment, so is homeopathy," she says. Geiger sees Wurster's reports of healing through homeopathy "as a contribution to this ongoing exchange of experiences."

Homeopathy is the most popular alternative therapy in Germany. There are around 7,000 registered doctors in private practice who specialize in it, and half of Germans say that they have tried at least one homeopathic treatment, according to a survey by a homeopathic medicine manufacturer. Now the coronavirus pandemic has opened up a new, lucrative and almost boundless market.

Critics abound

In the early days of the virus, homeopaths in Germany held back. And at first, the GCHAP distanced itself from members who jumped on the opportunity to claim their globules had antiviral properties.

Since then, however, there has clearly been a change of heart. The Association is now calling for its members to document their homeopathic treatment of corona patients: "Against the current background of rising COVID-19 infections, with this project we can find out how homeopathy can contribute to treating COVID-19."

It wasn't long before scorn began pouring in from abroad. "German homeopaths launch a placebo offensive against corona," commented the Austrian newspaper Der Standard. "Scientists are tirelessly working to develop vaccines and treatments, and we hear again and again the sobering news that it will be a long wait before we have a vaccine. Meanwhile, German homeopaths are making reckless promises."

In Austria, homeopathy is generally regarded with suspicion, if not outright scorn. The Medical University of Vienna distanced itself from "charlatanism" and removed homeopathy from the syllabus.

In other countries too, the tide has turned against homeopaths. The French Ministry of Health has ruled out any health benefits from homeopathy, while the Spanish government classes it as "pseudoscience" that must be combated. And the European Academy of Sciences makes it clear that homeopathic treatments are no more effective than placebos. In the United States, homeopathic remedies on sale must display a clear label saying that they have no proven health benefits.

A piece of licorice has more medicinal content.

And in Germany? "In my view, it is completely irresponsible for doctors to treat COVID-19 patients using homeopathic methods," says Karl Lauterbach, a health expert with the Social Democratic Party. "The consequences for some patients could be deadly. Health insurance should not cover it and doctors should be forbidden from prescribing it."

Andrew Ullmann, a health expert with the Free Democratic Party, has a similar take. Patients should have to pay the cost of "these so-called therapies" themselves, he says. "For severe cases of COVID-19, my only recommendation is to see a qualified doctor."

In other countries too, the tide has turned against homeopaths. — Photo: Tampa Bay Times/ZUMAPRESS

Even Green Party members are distancing themselves from homeopathy. It should only be used as a complementary treatment, says Maria Klein-Schmeink, the party's health spokesperson.

A natural affinity

And yet, the fact remains that amid the confusion and fear of the pandemic, more and more people are turning to homeopathy. According to a survey by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, two thirds of Germans would support the use of homeopathic remedies in treating COVID-19. That is not representative of the rest of Europe, or the world.

"Most people confuse homeopathy with natural remedies or plant-based medicine. That's a misunderstanding, a result of false labeling, which is enabled in Germany because sugar pills can be labeled as medicine," says Christian Lübbers, an eye, nose and throat specialist and spokesperson for Information Network Homeopathy.

"Studies have shown that only 17% of people know what homeopathy really is. But it's so simple: homeopathy is not plant-based medicine. It is a placebo," he adds.

Christian Weymayr, spokesperson for the group Münsteraner Kreis, which takes a critical stance toward homeopathy, agrees. "A piece of licorice has more medicinal content than homeopathic globules," he says. "People don't realize that homeopathy is ineffective because most people with COVID-19 only have mild symptoms."

Kreis goes on to say that in a climate of fear, when there will be a long wait for a vaccine, there is a growing danger that people will believe in things that give them false comfort.

That may well be the case in Germany. Homeopathic remedies can only be bought in pharmacies and their packaging is labeled with information about risks and side effects. Many health insurance companies will pay for them. And doctors often present their additional qualifications in homeopathy as if they were of equal value to their training in emergency medicine or diabetes treatment.

Dubious claims

The practice of homeopathy is contentious, and its critics often voice their opposition with something akin to hatred. The same goes for backers of the practice. In his blog, German homeopathy lobbyist and PR advisor Christian J. Becker boasts about journalists who have been "hit by complaints to the German Press Council."

Becker relies on audacious claims about history to justify the use of homeopathic remedies in the treatment of coronavirus. He says that during the 19th-century cholera epidemic, 92% of sufferers could have been healed through homeopathy, and that during the Spanish Flu epidemic, only 1% of hospital patients treated with homeopathy died, while the figure for those who underwent conventional treatment was 30%.

Doctor and homeopath Wolfgang Springer follows a similar argument, claiming that the success of homeopathic treatments during the historical epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, scarlet fever and encephalitis has been well documented.

What they fail to mention — or perhaps don't realize — is that the apparent success of homeopathy during the cholera outbreak, when the father of homeopathy Samuel Hahnemann was active, was because it had one advantage: It protected weakened patients from the harmful treatments of the time.

Alternative medicine only seemed to be effective, in other words, because the standard treatment of bloodletting and laxatives finished off most patients. Hahnemann's treatment, in contrast, involved camphor and mineral water.

https://worldcrunch.com/coronavirus/the-pandemic-tests-germany39s-love-affair-with-homeopathy

Spanish Flu Pandemic

During the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic homeopathy shone brightly for its success. Those treated by conventional medicine had a 28% mortality rate. The mortality rate of those treated with homeopathy was a mere 0.8%.

A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study of Cat saliva 9cH and Histaminum 9cH in cat allergic adults.

Homeopathy. 2013 Apr;102(2):123-9. doi: 10.1016/j.homp.2013.02.007.

A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study of Cat saliva 9cH and Histaminum 9cH in cat allergic adults.

Naidoo P1, Pellow J.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Cat allergy is an abnormal immune response by the body to cat dander or saliva, leading to the development of a complex of symptoms which can negatively influence health. Cat saliva 9cH and Histaminum 9cH are indicated, according to isopathic principles, for the treatment of cat allergy, however no research has been done to date.

AIM:

To determine the effect of Cat saliva 9cH and Histaminum 9cH (combined) on cat allergic adults.

METHOD:

30 Participants with a positive test result for a cat allergy skin prick test (SPT) were recruited to a double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled clinical trial. Participants took two tablets twice daily for 4 weeks, and attended a follow-up consultation at the end of weeks 2 and 4. The measurement tool used was the SPT, conducted at the beginning and at the end of the study.

RESULTS:

Cat saliva 9cH and Histaminum 9cH produced a highly statistically significant reduction in the wheal diameter of the cat allergen SPT at the end of week 4. The placebo group showed no statistically significant change.

CONCLUSION:

The homeopathic medicine reduced the sensitivity reaction of cat allergic adults to cat allergen, according to the SPT. Future studies are warranted to further investigate the effect of Cat saliva and Histaminum and their role as a potential therapeutic option for this condition.

Copyright © 2013 The Faculty of Homeopathy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PMID: 23622262 DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2013.02.007

8.2 Million Italians

In Italy there are over 5000 homeopathic physicians, 7000 pharmacies dispensing homeopathic medicines and 20 different laboratories. In a study in the early part of the last decade, 8.2 million Italians reported using homeopathy and approximately 90% of them said they were helped by the treatment.

Homeopathy does more than Placebo

Format: Abstract

Send to

Lancet. 1994 Dec 10;344(8937):1601-6.

Is evidence for homoeopathy reproducible?

Reilly D1, Taylor MA, Beattie NG, Campbell JH, McSharry C, Aitchison TC, Carter R, Stevenson RD.

Author information

Abstract

We tested, under independent conditions, the reproducibility of evidence from two previous trials that homoeopathy differs from placebo. The test model was again homoeopathic immunotherapy. 28 patients with allergic asthma, most of them sensitive to house-dust mite, were randomly allocated to receive either oral homoeopathic immunotherapy to their principal allergen or identical placebo. The test treatments were given as a complement to their unaltered conventional care. A daily visual analogue scale of overall symptom intensity was the outcome measure. A difference in visual analogue score in favour of homoeopathic immunotherapy appeared within one week of starting treatment and persisted for up to 8 weeks (p = 0.003). There were similar trends in respiratory function and bronchial reactivity tests. A meta-analysis of all three trials strengthened the evidence that homoeopathy does more than placebo (p = 0.0004). Is the reproducibility of evidence in favour of homoeopathy proof of its activity or proof of the clinical trial's capacity to produce false-positive results?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Reilly+d+AND+Taylor+ma+AND+Beattie

Homeopathy has a longer history integrated in hospitals than conventional medicine

History

How it all began...

The history of the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex can be traced back to 1894 when it used to be the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital. This institution which was reputed for its devoted nurses and efficient management was situated on McGill College Avenue until 1927. At that time the demand for more beds led to a public appeal for $500,000 which allowed the hospital to move to Marlowe Avenue, where the modern complex is currently located.

This hospital was the home of many firsts. For example, in 1942 curare was first used in clinical anaesthesia, and in 1943 the hospital pioneered the first post-operative recovery room in Canada. By 1951, the impressive medical and surgical advances accomplished by the hospital allowed it to acquire the new name of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Montreal, in honour of the wife of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, who was soon to become the Queen Mother.

In December 1961, the completely renovated building was officially opened by the Premier of Quebec, Jean Lesage. It was “Canada’s largest little hospital”. The renovations had taken three years to complete and completely modernized the hospital facilities.

In June 1995, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) became one of the Montreal-area acute-care hospitals to be slated for closure in response to a directive from the provincial government to cut the costs of health care provision. In the following year, the QEH Board of Directors, the QEH Foundation and other bodies and individuals in the community joined forces and decided to take matters into their own hands by forming the Centre-West Community Health Corporation (CWCHC) which became incorporated in June 1996. This project allows for the continued delivery of acute care services as well as the supply of a full spectrum of services to care, share, prevent and cure.

The CWCHC became a new, not-for-profit health organization with no government funding whose purpose was to provide as many medical and health promotion services to its community as possible on the premises of the former QEH. The Queen Elizabeth Health Complex, under the management of the CWCHC, is therefore a reincarnation and a new legal form for a century-old community institution. Its mission is to provide efficient, readily accessible medical services, complementary and alternative therapy, as well as emotional and mental health services that will contribute to improving the health of our community in accordance with the policies and guidelines of the Government of Quebec.

At a time when we are actively searching for tangible and long-term solutions to our health care needs, the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex (QEHC) offers an innovative and efficient health care model, providing a diverse range of community health care services - all under one roof. Ensuring ready access to both medical and alternative health services, the QEHC is an attractive option to avoid the overcrowding, delays and other inconveniences so often experienced in hospitals and CLSCs.

http://www.qehc.org/history

Homeopathy on Dr. Oz's Show

Lisa Samet on Dr. Oz's Show
Monday, January 28, 2013

Lisa Samet, N.D., was interviewed by Dr. Oz about homeopathy in January, 2013.

With her help, Dr. Oz reveals how you can replace your over-the-counter medications with homeopathic solutions. Looking for an all-natural solution for your problems? Homeopathy might be right for you!

Addressing people, not disease,
in a wholistic way by encouraging the body to heal itself

Lisa Samet, N.D. focuses primarily on homeopathy in her Montreal practice

About Lisa Samet, N.D.
In her experience it is the deepest healing modality available in that it does not just soothe or palliate symptoms but can actually trigger the body to start to heal itself. This can seem quite miraculous when deep-seated or long-standing problems are actually eradicated as the body, with a push from the homeopathic remedy, starts to rebalance and regain its health. Most of the frustration with conventional medicine today is that although the drugs can take away many of the effects of a disease (pain, inflammation, etc), they don’t actually affect the disease process itself. This is evidenced by the fact that people usually take drugs for chronic illness indefinitely, and even after say, twenty years, if they would go off the medicines, they would likely be in the same place they started or worse off. Frankly, this can also be true in the ‘natural medicine’ world, where supplements and herbs can help the symptoms but never seem to address the chronic susceptibility to a problem. › Read more

Lisa Samet, Naturopathic Doctor and Homeopath
› Click here to learn more: lisasamet.com

It is not easy to master the art of homeopathy. Consulting an experienced practitioner is essential. It is more difficult to find a good homeopathic remedy than to write a prescription for prednisone or antibiotics, for example, or suggest a mixture of herbs or vitamin supplements. While some relief may be experienced from any of these therapies, deep healing will not occur in any comparable way to what is experienced with the correct homeopathic remedy.

The challenge comes in that we are addressing the individual as a whole being, not the disease. In the conventional world there is a drug protocol for the disease name that one has, but in the world of homeopathy, we find a remedy that matches the individual’s personal manifestation of the illness, not on the disease name itself. This is because we are addressing the whole person, not the disease. What this means is that two people with the same disease, for example, rheumatoid arthritis, would likely get two completely different homeopathic remedies. For even though it is the same disease name, the type of pain, the location of the pain, the factors that influence the pain, etc., will most likely be different from one person to the next and these specifics are what the homeopath uses to prescribe on, in addition to a general and thorough understanding of all aspects of the patient.

Sometimes it is challenging for the patient to accurately express what they experience. Because people are complex beings, finding the correct remedy may not always be achieved on the first attempt. The good news is, there are rarely any negative side effects with homeopathy, so it is worth being patient as the results from the correct remedy will be worth your wait.

Due to the difficulty of mastering the art of homeopathy, it is imperative to find a practitioner who is well trained as a ‘classical’ homeopath. This is someone who takes a very thorough case at the initial interview, often lasting more than two hours for an adult with a chronic illness, and then selects one remedy, not a mixture of remedies or alternating different remedies, that best matches the patient’s total symptom picture. In this way, a successful result has the highest chance of being achieved.

Lisa Samet is very experienced, as she has been studying homeopathy since 1989 and practicing since 1999. She considers herself fortunate to have been trained by some of the best in the field. She has seen terrific results in her practice even with very complex diseases.

In addition to homeopathy, Lisa Samet is passionate about helping people with optimizing their diet and learning tools to reduce stress. She will guide you on lifestyle improvements and nutrition optimization, including food sensitivity evaluation to identify hidden foods that continue to keep people sick, as well as detoxification and intermittent fasting to optimize health. Habitual patterns of negative thinking, worrying, anxiety can keep us from enjoying living. These thought patterns and fixed ways of seeing situations in our lives can keep us miserable. Emotional re-patterning work can help patients experience a profound shift, overcoming long-held stuck patterns that prevent them from living their fullest and happiest lives.

Emotional Re-patterning

Habitual patterns of negative thinking, worrying, anxiety can keep us from enjoying living. These thoughts patterns and fixed ways of seing situations in our lives can keep us miserable. Emotional re-patterning work can help you experience a profound shift. Overcome long-held stuck patterns that prevent you from living your fullest and happiest life using easy-to-learn methods. › Read more

Naturopathic Medicine

The safety record for naturopathic medicine is excellent. This makes sense given the emphasis on non-toxic, natural source medicines and gentle, non-invasive treatments. Focusing on lifestyle improvements and nutrition including food sensitivity evaluation to identify hidden foods that continue to keep you sick, as well as detoxification and intermittent fasting to optimize health. › Read more

› Click here to learn more: lisasamet.com

We hope you now have a complete overview of naturopathic medicine and homeopathy and a little bit of Lisa Samet, N.D.’s own background and interests. Choosing a naturopathic doctor to work in partnership with to improve your health is a worthwhile endeavor. If we can be of any further help, please feel free to contact us.

Contact Lisa Samet, N.D.
» Send an email to Lisa Samet, N.D.
Long distance consultations by phone
or Skype are available
Tel: 514-279-6629
Hahnemann Homeopathic Center
1173 Mont-Royal Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2V 2H6
Fax: 514-279-0111

Published Articles

Published: Dr. Oz Website, February, 2013
 Homeopathy Explained

http://www.homeopathy.ca/lisasamet.shtml

Harvard Study Has Good News for Homeopathic Medicine By John Weeks March 4, 2016

Harvard Study Has Good News for Homeopathic Medicine

John Weeks

March 4, 2016

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by John Weeks, Publisher/Editor of The Integrator Blog News and Reports

The American Journal of Public Health has recently published a survey article out of Harvard that shows that homeopathic medicine, while still only used by a small fraction of the U.S. population, has jumped 15% in use. In addition, most users put homeopathy among the top 3 complementary and integrative strategies they use in their health care.

The interest of this journal in this publication is linked to possible public health benefits from the use of homeopathic medicine. The principal investigator was Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD and the team also included placebo expert Ted Kaptchuk, OMD. They hail from Harvard’s School of Public Health and from a Harvard Medical School affiliated hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess. The teams notes that prior studies of homeopathy “suggest potential public health benefits such as reductions in unnecessary antibiotic usage, reductions in costs to treat certain respiratory diseases, improvements in peri-menopausal depression, improved health outcomes in chronically ill individuals, and control of a Leptospirosis epidemic in Cuba.”

The data was gleaned from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey. The researchers explored the prevalence and use patterns of homeopathic medicines among U.S. adults in relation to other complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) use. Versions of this survey in 2002 and 2007 found use of homeopathic medicines at 1.7% and 1.8% of the adult population, respectively. The 15% growth in the recent half-decade corresponds to an overall use rate of 2.1% in 2012. The most common conditions for which people sought homeopathic treatment were respiratory and ear-nose-and-throat complaints as well as musculoskeletal pain syndromes. Users tended to be more educated than non-users.

Use of homeopathy in the US is lower than in many European countries. The authors note, for instance, that surveys have found rates at 8.2% in Italy and nearly 15% in Germany. A recent Italian wire-service story reported findings of a 2012 survey by a homeopathic manufacturer that found much higher use, at close to one-in-six adult Italians.

The Harvard team reported that positive views of homeopathy were much higher among those who saw a professional homeopath compared to those who simply purchased the pills from the store and self-prescribed. Those who consulted professionals were more likely to feel that homeopathy was “very important in maintaining health and well-being.” The sense of the importance of the remedies was also stronger. More of those who’d consulted a homeopathic practitioner thought that homeopathy helped their health condition “a great deal” than did the self-prescribers.

Naysayers, who believe these medicine are nothing more than placebos, will likely question the additional perceived value post practitioner visit. Is it anything more than the greater level of investment in a placebo one has if the placebo is practitioner-recommended rather than self-prescribed?

The article came to The Integrator from homeopath and author Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH (pictured). He sent notice of the Harvard publication and of the recent report on Italian use with this note: “Here's some GOOD news about homeopathy!”

Ullman adds: "This survey confirms that a certain well-educated and well-satisfied group of Americans benefit from self-prescribing homeopathic medicines as well as from going to professional homeopaths. Although these numbers are much higher in select countries in Europe, it is more than reasonable to support individual choice in health care. Just as our country is a melting pot of different cultures and races, our health and medical care likewise needs this healthy diversity."

Homeopathy has taken it on the chin the last two years. The Harvard study was published amidst a renewed flare up of bad publicity following a controversial 2015 report from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. The chair of the report, general practitioner Paul Glasziou, MD blogged on the controversial findings at the British Medical Journal. A wave of postings from anti-homeopathy writers, such as this, immediately followed.

Weighing the public health potential of homeopathic medicine requires a wading into a river of twin ambiguities. These can each be true simultaneously: 1) homeopathic treatment only has value as a placebo, and 2) expanded use of these medicines can be useful tools in the public health campaign against antibiotic overuse. This 2008 study, for instance, found that 13% of doctors use antibiotics as placebos. Mightn’t we have been better off, from a population health perspective, had they prescribed homeopathic remedies and not delivered this extra load of antibiotics onto the terrain?

French researchers spoke to this potential last year when they concluded that “management of patients by homeopathic GPs may be less expensive from a global perspective and may represent an important interest to public health.” The Harvard researchers included a similar note: “Because of potential public health benefits associated with the use of homeopathy, further research on this modality and targeted studies of users are warranted.”

Perhaps the way to move forward is to allow skeptical doctors to deliver homeopathic medicine to their patients while announcing to them that it is a placebo. Kaptchuk and others have reported that the placebos can still work. If they have more significant positive value, well, that healing can take place without the skeptic’s approval.

About the Author:

John Weeks

John Weeks is a writer, speaker, chronicler and organizer with 32 years of experience in the movement for integrative health and medicine. the long-time founder/editor of The Integrator Blog News & Reports, a primary connective terrain for the diverse stakeholders and professions in the field and was invited in May 2016 to serve as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Besides his Integrative Practitioner column, he presently writes for Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, the Huffington Post and elsewhere.

He increasingly enjoys teaching and mentoring. He has keynoted, led plenary sessions, breakouts, and offered guest lectures for dozens of organizations ranging from the Bastyr University to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the UCLA School of Medicine to the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, the AANP and AIHM to the American Hospital Association. He has consulted with insurers, employers, professional organizations, universities and government agencies at all levels.

As an organizer, Weeks convened the Integrative Medicine Industry Leadership Summits (2000-2002), directed the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Care (2004-2006), fund-raised the start-up of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (2002), and co-founded the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health, which he directed 2007-2015. In 2014, three consortia and others combined to grant him a Lifetime Achievement Living Tribute Award. Four academic institutions have granted Weeks honorary doctorates for his work. Seattle-based, he considers himself a particularly lucky soul to have worked remotely while living with his spouse Jeana Kimball, ND, MPH, and their children in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico for 6 of the last 15 years.

https://www.integrativepractitioner.com/topics/news/harvard-study-has-good-news-for-homeopathic-medicine

HRI-supported researcher presents PhD findings at international congress

HRI-supported researcher presents PhD findings at international congress

26 April 2018

https://www.hri-research.org/2018/04/hri-supported-researcher-presents-pilot-study-at-international-congress/

The Israeli Society for ADHD recently held an international congress in Tel Aviv, during which HRI-supported researcher Philippa Fibert presented the results of her PhD pilot feasibility study assessing the effectiveness of treatment by homeopaths and nutritional therapists for children with ADHD.

During her presentation Philippa discussed the importance of pragmatic trials to assess whether interventions might improve the long term negative outcomes associated with ADHD. The pilot study findings regarding the effectiveness of treatment by nutritional therapists and homeopaths specifically using the Trials Within Cohorts (TWiCs) methodology were also described.

Reflecting on her experience at the Congress, Philippa said, “When I thanked the conference organiser for the opportunity to speak, particularly given the controversial status of homeopathy, she replied ‘we are open to what works’.”

To find out more about Philippa‘s PhD and trial click here.

https://www.hri-research.org/2018/04/hri-supported-researcher-presents-pilot-study-at-international-congress/