Results for: placebos
Ian Harris on “Surgery, the Ultimate Placebo”
Ian Harris explains that more than half of commonly performed surgical operations may be placebos. Adequate studies using a blinded control group are essential.
Turmeric for osteoarthritis: Promising but modest effects
A new trial of turmeric (curcumin) for osteoarthritis suggest it may have medicinal effects.
Taopatch Offers Everything… Except Science
Taopatch promises all kinds of vague benefits, but the mechanism of action is implausible and what they call scientific proof is no such thing.
Lipo-Flavonoid for Tinnitus
Lipo-Flavonoid is sold to treat tinnitus. The claims are misleading, and the evidence isn't there.
Teenager? Anxious? Yes, there’s a supplement for that, too.
Health Canada has criticized the marketing of an "anxiety supplement" for teens, without recognizing the larger problem involved; the poor regulations and lack of safety and efficacy data for this, and many other supplements sold.
Veterinary quackery at the San Diego Zoo
As I was spending a quiet Saturday night watching Animal Planet, I was disturbed to see out and out quackery on The Zoo:San Diego, as an elephant named Tembo, who was suffering from arthritis of the hip and one of her legs, was being subjected to thermography and acupuncture. Yes, as with human medicine, acupuncture quackery has infiltrated even the highest levels...
American Family Physician Endorses Acupuncture
A CME article in American Family Physician misrepresents the evidence, claiming acupuncture has been proven safe and effective. An accompanying editorial gives despicable advice on how to manipulate patients to accept this theatrical placebo.
Luminas: Unbelievable Claims About Pain Relief
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true. The claims for the Luminas pain relief patch are not just unscientific; they defy common sense. It's quantum quackery.
Dubious for-profit stem cell clinics: Co-opting ClinicalTrials.gov as a marketing tool
Over twenty years ago, cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski pioneered the abuse of the clinical trial process as a marketing tool to sell his antineoplastons. Now, for-profit stem cell clinics are using ClinicalTrials.gov as a marketing tool for their unproven therapies by listing dubious and scientifically worthless trials in this government database. What can be done?
A world-renowned placebo researcher asks, “Does placebo research boost pseudoscience?”
Professor Fabrizio Benedetti is the most famous and almost certainly also the most influential researcher investigating the physiology of placebo effects. In a recent commentary, he asks whether placebo research is fueling quackery, as quacks co-opt its results. The answer to that question is certainly yes. A better question is: How do supporters of science counter the placebo narrative promoted by quacks,...