Homeopathic medicines are promoted as natural alternatives to conventional medications. Do they really work, and are they safe? Here’s what you need to know.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
The Claim: Homeopathic remedies are effective.
When shopping for over-the-counter medications, you may have noticed the term homeopathic on some. These products are often regarded as natural alternatives to standard medications. In fact, they’re formulated based on highly controversial ideas, and in many cases contain little more than water.
German physician Samuel Hahnemann developed the medical philosophy known as homeopathy in the late 1700s.
It’s based on the concept of like cures like, meaning something that causes symptoms of an illness can also cure it, in extremely tiny doses.
We’re talking so tiny that the active ingredient is typically diluted at least a billion times, sometimes to the point of disappearing completely.
The more diluted it is, according to homeopathic principles, the more effective the remedy.
All this is nonsense by standards of modern science. And there’s little evidence that homeopathic treatments work. Because of a loophole in the law, manufacturers are allowed to claim that homeopathic products treat certain illnesses without having to show they’re effective.
Most products are likely safe because they’re so watered down that they contain very little or no active ingredient.
But remedies that are only slightly diluted may have side effects or interact with other medications. Some have been found to cause harm.
Given their limits, homeopathic remedies should not be used as a substitute for proven medical care, especially for serious illnesses. While conventional medicines also have limits, they’re more strictly regulated so we know far more about them. Putting your faith in remedies that are based on a 200 year-old unscientific theory could put your health at risk. And thats the undiluted truth.
Helping you be a healthy skeptic, I’m Robert Davis.