One alternative health method that has sparked a great deal of debate as to its credibility is homeopathy. Supporters of homeopathic remedies claim that they have witnessed successful results, and numerous individuals claim to have found relief from conditions such as chronic pain through homeopathic treatments.
Critics, however, claim that there is no scientific evidence to explain these claims.
Homeopathy, in its current form, has been around for over 200 years, and is considered an accepted alternative treatment methodology in India. The system involves significantly diluting a substance, directly matched to a person’s symptoms, with the purpose of triggering the body’s intrinsic healing mechanisms.
The primary principle behind homeopathy is treating ‘like with like.’ Homeopathy was discovered by German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, who became outraged with the side effects of commonplace medical practices of his time, and began experiments in giving smaller and smaller doses of medication to himself and a group of healthy volunteers.
Hahnemann reportedly observed that the medicines’ effects became more and more effective as lower doses were given. He also wrote that the symptoms caused by the medicines used at the time were similar to the symptoms of the ailments they were used to treat. These observations led to Hahnemann’s theory that, ‘like cures like.’
Today, most homeopathic remedies involve the use of extremely diluted substances in tablet form. For example, one homeopathic cold treatment is based on diluted onions, because onions cause the eyes and nose to run, similar to the symptoms of a cold. Homeopathic remedies are often so diluted, that critics of homeopathy claim that there is none of the original substance left in the mix.
BBC2’s Horizon series recently covered a challenge proposed by James Randi, an American escape artist and magician, who has offered one million dollars to anyone who can prove that homeopathy actually works. Critics, including Randi, say that any results seen from homeopathy are merely a result of the placebo effect.
Homeopaths argue that if this were so, homeopathics would have no effect on children and babies, as the placebo response is not developed until later in life. To test this theory, Horizon researchers duplicated an experiment performed by Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen’s University, Belfast.
In her experiment, Professor Ennis performed lab tests in which she diluted a histamine to homeopathic levels, and added it to blood cells to determine whether it activated the cells like an undiluted histamine would. She concluded that the diluted histamine did indeed affect the cells, even when she repeated the experiment.
The Horizon researchers, when they duplicated this experiment, did not achieve positive results. The Society of Homeopaths, an organization with approximately 2,000 members, however, points to their own series of studies to back up its practices.
One such study is an evaluation performed at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, in which 6,500 consecutive patients were treated with homeopathics over a 6-year period. Evaluation results showed that 70 percent of patients reported an improvement in their condition, while 50 percent reported ‘major improvement.’
The Society’s director of politics, Melanie Oxley, states, “our results come from treating human beings and animals… there have even been experiments involving plant cells which showed an effect. We need to invest more in homeopathy research because we do see an effect on living systems.”
To date, as far as the homeopathy debate goes, conclusive scientific evidence has not been found. As far as the effectiveness of this practice, some say it works, some say it is absolutely impossible. For many people, the jury is still out, and James Randi has yet to give away his million dollar prize.
-The Alternative Daily
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-148109/Proof-homeopathy-doesnt-work.html
http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/about-homeopathy/what-is-homeopathy/
http://www.homeopathyjournal.net/article/S1475-4916%2809%2900130-1/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=16296912
