Do you believe in homeopathy? One huge Australian study says conclusively that it's not effective at all.
Homeopathy is an alternative medicine that began in the 1700s in Germany and is based on the premise that the body has the ability to heal itself by giving it a small dose of what causes the ailment. The homeopathic doctor creates a solution, which is then shaken to bring out the medicine's power and effectiveness.
In a research conducted by the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia, however, homeopathy does more harm than good.
The research panel analyzed more than 220 studies and almost 2,000 scientific papers to determine if homeopathy is an effective treatment. To increase the reliability of the analysis, they also hired an independent company.
Upon analysis, they discovered that they couldn't find any research that proved homeopathy worked. Although they revealed that some of these scientific papers showed positive outcomes, they either had very few participants or were flawed since the beginning, thereby reducing the quality of the results.
In the end, the council points out that homeopathy is ineffective not in treating any health condition.
The CEO of the council, Warwick Anderson, then reminds patients to think very carefully before they decide to seek homeopathy. He even went on to say that they may just be putting their lives at risk by delaying proper treatments. They should always seek the permission and guidance of their own doctor and may benefit from taking prescriptions while still trying to decide.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the homeopathy working committee of the council, Professor Paul Glasziou, hopes that the results of their study will eventually lead to significant changes to homeopathy support. For example, insurance policies may stop providing for such treatments and pharmacies will think twice before carrying medicines related to homeopathy.
The Australian Homeopathic Association has released a statement urging the council to be more comprehensive in their approach of analyzing homeopathy and should advocate patient choice.