Tag: detoxification

Maximized Living: “5 Essentials” of Chiropractic Marketing Propaganda

What do vitalism, old school chiropractic subluxations, germ theory denial, detox supplements, marketing gimmicks, and practicing way beyond a reasonable scope have in common?

/ September 22, 2017

Corrigendum. The Week in Review. 03/26/2017

Death from naturopathy. Cows and soldiers have a similar problem. Pseudo-medicines never die. Chiropractic complications. And more.

/ March 26, 2017

“Detox”: Ritual purification masquerading as medicine and wellness

If the "central dogma" of alternative medicine is that wishing makes it so, one of the most important of the other organizing dogmas of alternative medicine is that "toxins," whether they come from inside or outside, are making us sick and that we can't be healthy until we "detoxify." This is far more a religious belief than a science-based one.

/ January 30, 2017

The Medical Director of The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute spewed antivaccine misinformation last week. Why is anyone surprised?

A social media firestorm erupted over the weekend after Dr. Daniel Neides, Director of The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, posted an article full of antivaccine misinformation. The Cleveland Clinic promptly disavowed it, but shouldn't have been surprised that one of its "integrative medicine" leaders is antivaccine. If you "integrate" medicine that teaches that "toxins" cause disease and "detoxification" is the cure, antivaccine...

/ January 9, 2017

Detox Scams are Worthless and Potentially Dangerous

A case report of a healthy woman who landed in intensive care due to her New Year's detox regimen highlights that detox treatments are a dangerous scam.

/ January 4, 2017

NCCIH funds sauna “detoxification” study at naturopathic school

It is no secret that we at SBM are not particularly fond of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (NCCIH; formerly, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine). We’ve lamented NCCIH’s use of limited public funds for researching implausible treatments, the unwarranted luster NIH/NCCIH funding bestows on quack institutions, the lack of useful research it has produced, and its...

/ September 15, 2016

Nobody licenses quacks in my state! HB 4531 and the licensing of naturopaths in Michigan

Over the years, I’ve taken care of women with locally advanced breast cancer so advanced that it’s eroded through the skin, forming huge, nasty ulcers filled with stinky dead cancer tissue that’s outgrown its blood supply, leaving the patient in chronic pain. If the patient is fortunate, her cancer has not metastasized beyond her axillary lymph nodes (the lymph nodes under her...

/ May 16, 2016

Legislative Alchemy: Michigan House Bill 4531 gives naturopaths a broad scope of practice

Michigan House Bill 4531, if passed, would give naturopaths one of the broadest scopes of practice in the U.S., essentially equaling that of a family practice MD or DO. The bill made it through all the necessary House committees and is now before the House for an initial vote determining whether it will proceed further in that body. If it passes there,...

/ May 12, 2016

The one thing you need to know before you detox

Before you start your New Year's detox, this one weird tip will save you time, money, and possibly your health.

/ December 31, 2015

Of Mice and Men…and Coconut Oil

Editor’s note: This post is a collaborative effort between Grant Ritchey, a Science-Based Medicine semi-regular, and Stephanie Tornberg-Belanger, a co-author of the research paper discussed below and who brought the study to Grant’s attention. We are pleased to welcome Stephanie as a guest contributor to SBM. In his last SBM post, Grant reported on a systematic review of the literature that undermined...

/ December 18, 2015