Re: Homeopathy-FYI - References 4

[Guest guest]

_http://www.healthscout.com/printerFriendly.asp?ap=407 & id=106041_

(http://www.healthscout.com/printerFriendly.asp?ap=407 & id=106041)

Homeopathy Nothing to Sneeze At

ish study shows allergy patients respond to treatment, those on placebo

don't By A. Melville HealthScout Reporter

SUNDAY, 3 December (HealthScout) -- A new ish study has proved that

homeopathic therapy can be effective.

Homeopathic therapies generally rely on giving patients tiny amounts of

medications based on the theory that such treatment can stimulate the immune

system to counter maladies.

Though extremely popular in places like Germany, homeopathy has not been

embraced by the mainstream American medical community, because many doctors

suspect the results from such treatments can be attributed to the placebo

effect.

" Most mainstream physicians don't feel positively about homeopathy because

there simply aren't very many studies that support what they do or show that

it helps, " says Dr Jaffe, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of

Family Physicians, based in Wilmington, Delaware. " It's a lot of people's

suspicion that it's the placebo effect -- you could give someone a sugar

pill and have the same results. "

But it was in fact a placebo that researchers in Scotland say has shown that

homeopathy can indeed work.

Upon randomly treating 50 patients suffering from nasal allergies with

either a homeopathic preparation or a placebo, the research team in Glasgow

found that those who were given the real thing had significantly greater

improvement in nasal air flow.

The study, published this summer in the British Medical Journal , involved a

daily measurement of patients' nasal air flow along with such symptoms as

runny, blocked or itchy nose, sneezing and eye irritation.

Those on the homeopathic treatment had a 28 per cent improved nasal air flow

over the course of four weeks, compared with just a 3 per cent improvement

among those in the placebo group.

" We were very surprised by the results, especially because they were so

clear, " says Dr Reilly, a researcher at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital

and lead author of the report.

In a commentary also published in the British Medical Journal ,

complementary medicine researcher Vickers wrote that the battle over

homeopathic medicine, once raging, is subsiding with more studies indicating

the therapies can work.

" Complementary medicine and conventional medicine have not always coexisted

easily, " he wrote.

" Each has attacked the other. Practitioners of conventional medicine have

used legal sanctions to harass and even jail practitioners of complementary

medicine, " he continued.

" (But) given the increasing amount of data available in some areas of

complementary medicine, research is shifting from efficacy trials to more

pragmatic studies, " he wrote.

With more than 180 clinical trials to date, Vickers added, the most recent

study helps to " further strengthen the evidence that homeopathy shows some

therapeutic effect over placebo. "

Jan Patenaude, RD

Director of Medical Nutrition

Signet Diagnostic Corporation

_www.nowleap.com_ (http://www.nowleap.com/)

(toll free)

Fax:

DineRight4@...

Disease Management Programs for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Migraine and

Fibromyalgia caused by Food Sensitivity

IMPORTANT - This e-mail message is intended only for the use of the

individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that

is

privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If

you have received this message in error, you are hereby notified that we do not

consent to any reading, dissemination, distribution or copying of this

e-mail message. If you have received this communication in error, please notify

the sender immediately by e-mail and telephone ( toll free) and d

estroy the transmitted information.

E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as

information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late,

incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability

for

any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a

result of e-mail transmission.