A great post on herbal and altie remedies and their potential inherent dangers. It was written by an organic chemist, which makes me feel very inferior. Wistful, too, for organic, which I did love so.
Herbal Fantasies
Herbal Fantasies
I've said it before, I'll say it again, just because it's all natural doesn't mean it's all good. Just because it's an ancient Chinese secret doesn't make it good, healthy, effective, or not harmful. Prove it. That's all anybody should expect of any treatment. There really shouldn't be such a thing as "alternative medicine". It's ALL medicine. If a product or procedure can't prove it's effectiveness (and that it is safe) then it is a haircut done by a blind man. It might make you feel better, maybe look better, but it doesn't make you better. It only makes you poorer and maybe it makes you look silly.
Along the same vein, a recent (but small) study and a review of copper and magnetic bracelets for arthritis. Flush your money down the toilet. That's apparently just as effective. Dr. Steve Novella reviews the date in Science-Based Medicine:
"Consumers using such products are prey to all of these placebo effects, in addition to others, such as regression to the mean. Arthritis, like many illnesses, waxes and wanes. People are likely to seek treatments when their symptoms are bad, and statistically likely to improve to a more average severity. This regression to mean severity is easily interpreted as a response to whatever treatment they initiated when their symptoms were at their worst."
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