Month: January 2013

Should you be “Eating Clean”?

Like many of you I’m interested in the science of good nutrition. In general, I’ve come to be pretty skeptical of the nutritional literature, as so many studies seem to follow the same trajectory that we see with drug studies: Trivial changes in non-relevant outcomes, a failure to consider the results in the context of the accumulated scientific evidence and often, significant...

/ January 31, 2013

Are You Ready For the Oz Manifesto

“Medicine is a very religious experience. I have my religion and you have yours. It becomes difficult for us to agree on what we think works, since so much of it is in the eye of the beholder. Data is rarely clean. You find the arguments that support your data, and it’s my fact versus your fact.” – Mehmet Oz The above...

/ January 30, 2013

Worms, Germs, and Dirt: What Can They Teach Us About Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases?

Can infection by bacteria, viruses, and parasites cure us of autoimmune diseases, allergies, and other immune system dysfunctions? There is some preliminary evidence, but the jury is still out on a very complex case.

/ January 29, 2013

Congress will soon lose its foremost supporter of quackery, but will it matter?

I don’t much like Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and, I daresay, neither do any of my fellow bloggers here. The reason should be painfully obvious. Arguably, no single elected official currently serving today (or ever) has done more over a longer period of time to promote quackery in the United States. I make this harsh assessment because Senator Harkin was the legislator...

/ January 28, 2013

Is acupuncture as effective as antidepressants? Part 2. Blinding readers who try to get an answer

This is the second blog post about a recent PLOS One review claiming that alternative therapies such as acupuncture are as effective as antidepressants and psychotherapy for depression. The article gives a message to depressed consumers that they should consider alternative therapies as a treatment option because they are just as effective as conventional treatments. It gives promoters of alternative therapies  a...

/ January 27, 2013

An Age of Endarkenment? The American Veterinary Medical Association and Homeopathy

It can be frustrating, and sometimes even a little depressing, to be a skeptic. Promoting reason and science-based medicine often feels like a Sisyphean effort that garners lots of hostility and ad hominem attacks from proponents of pseudoscience and few concrete victories. But once in a while, something happens to give a little hope and inspiration. In 2010, for example, the House...

/ January 26, 2013

One Flu Into the Cuckoo’s Nest

“I don’t seem able to get it straight in my mind….” ― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Influenza is going gangbusters at the moment. I like going to Google Flu trends as well as the CDC flu site to see what flu is doing. Using Google searches as a surrogate for infections is an interesting technique that public health...

/ January 25, 2013

The DC as PCP? The battle continues

Chiropractors are trying to rebrand themselves as primary care physicians, a topic both Harriet Hall and I have addressed (here and here) on SBM.  Toward this end, they are seeking the expansion of their scope of practice, via the magic of legislative alchemy, to include the prescription and administration of drugs.  Not drugs that any self-respecting M.D. would use, but drugs nonetheless.  That...

/ January 24, 2013

Pandemrix and Narcolepsy

Pandemrix has been implicated in inducing narcolepsy in a small number of patients in Scandinavian countries. The mechanism by which this could occur very well may have been found.

/ January 23, 2013

dōTERRA: Multilevel Marketing of Essential Oils

A stay-at-home mom recently e-mailed me. She is a former CAM user who once treated her infant’s colic with homeopathy but has since seen the light and is now thinking skeptically. She asked that I look into the dōTERRA company, seller of essential oils: concentrated extracts distilled from plants, containing the “essence” or distinctive odor of the plant. She said: …moms, well...

/ January 22, 2013