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WHAT'S NEW
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Analysing alternative medicine
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Before trying alternative therapies, find out what you need to know to make an informed decision.
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By Wayne MacPhail
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Naturopaths, herbalists, homeopaths and other alternative healers -- you've never had more choice of non-mainstream and purported treatments for menopause, headaches, backaches, colds or even more serious health problems like AIDS or cancer. But do these treatments work? Here are some rules to help make sense of your alternatives:
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof
If I told you a spaceship had landed in my backyard last night you would, I hope, expect proof of that claim. Since the claim is extraordinary, the proof would need to be equally extraordinary. It would need to be, say, a sample of metal not created in this solar system. And, you would expect that, since I made the extraordinary claim, I should be able to provide the extraordinary proof.
You wouldn't believe it if I just said, "You can't prove it didn't happen." The same applies to anyone making claims about alternative therapies. If someone claims they can cure headaches with magnets they've made an extraordinary claim. So, they should be able to provide not just testimonials, but real, solid proof, and lots of it. What constitutes proof? Read on.
Anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all
Proof or evidence shouldn't be subjective. A friend says, "You should try hawthorn tea for high blood pressure, it worked for me." That's not proof. That's a bad experiment with a sample size of one person. Human beings are notoriously terrible at evaluating the effectiveness of health interventions on themselves.
Most health problems are self-limiting. That means it's hard to tell if something cleared up by it or was treated by some therapy. And, the body does a darned good job of healing itself, most of the time. Finally, human beings tend to forget the occasions when something didn't work and focus on the few times a "cure" happened.
Look for repeatable results
Of course, someone who makes money from selling a magnetic headache cure is going to say it works. They may even believe it works. That doesn't mean it does.
Can unbiased researchers repeat the effect? Could 200 people with headaches be treated with magnets and another 200 be treated with pieces of metal that just look like magnets and the effect be observed even if neither the researchers nor the patients knew if they were getting magnets? Could that experiment be repeated with other researchers and other patients with the same result? That's the sort of proof you should be looking for. It's published constantly in journals like Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Antiquity doesn't equal authenticity
Just because an idea is thousands of years old doesn't make it right or effective. Consider racism, foot binding and female circumcision.
Today's science hasn't caught up to this ancient wisdom yet
If someone asks you to pay for a cure that relies on an energy that can't be detected by scientific instruments your response should be: "You can treat me with an energy not recognized by contemporary science, if I can pay you in currency not recognized by contemporary banks." Treatments, like money, should have to work in the real world.
Find the mechanism
All treatments rely on a physical, chemical or electrical mechanism. If someone tells you that massaging your feet can correct a problem in your kidneys you should ask: "By what mechanism does that happen?" If the answer you get is, "Through an undetectable life energy", see above.
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