Abstract: Homeopathy has an effect but only in the mind, says a major study published in a leading medical journal. The conclusions of the Lancet analysis are a body blow for proponents of homeopathy, which has been around for 250 years and has attained cult-like status among its aficionados.
Swiss scientists compared the results of more than 100 trials of homeopathic medicines with the same number of trials of conventional medicines in a whole range of medical conditions -from respiratory infections to surgery. They found that homeopathy; hugely popular in the UK, had no more than a placebo effect. A hard-hitting editorial titled "The end of homeopathy," demands that doctors recognise the absence of real curative powers in homeopathic medicine. Around 42 per cent of general practitioners in England refer patients to a homeopath. In Scotland, where homeopathy has taken off to an even greater extent, 86 per cent are said to be in favour of it. It is hardly surprising that homeopathy does badly compared to conventional medicine, it says. It is more surprising that the debate continues after 150 years of unfavourable findings. "The more dilute the evidence for homeopathy becomes, the greater seems its popularity."
The authors of the study were Matthias Egger and colleagues from the University of Berne in Switzerland. They looked at 110 trials using homeopathic remedies and an equal number using conventional medicine in matching conditions.
They looked for an effect in smaller, low quality trials and in larger, higher quality trials. Homeopathic remedies were more likely to have had a positive effect in the small, low quality trials. In the better trials, they say homeopathy was no better than placebo. Prince Charles, a passionate campaigner for integrated health, has just now commissioned a report into its benefits. |
