[QUOTE=Harrison;84751]
Ironically, a [/SIZE][/FONT]
homeopathic remedy from France has been selling like hotcakes to help people ward off the flu; it even has some kind of clinical study supporting its efficacy.[/LIST][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]
I wanted to address this one separately. Just b/c something sells doesn't make it a proven therapy. It becomes self-proving. It works like this: I take substance "A" for 4 weeks. I don't get the flu this year. Substance "A" therefore works.
Umm...no. You probably wouldn't have gotten the flu anyway. When an unbiased institution (university, hospital, etc) studies two groups, one who takes "A" and one who doesn't or who takes "B," a placebo, and they find that the influenza rates are lower for those who take "A," then we have a proven therapy. Until then, we have
really good marketing that preys on our fears and our natural tendencies to attribute benefits even when they haven't been proven. We want things to work. Millions take antibiotics when they have the common cold, which is a virus. Antibiotics do not kill viruses. They have no benefit in treating uncomplicated viral illnesses. And yet, the patients get better in 2-4 days, so they're happy the doctors gave them antibiotics.
What would have happened had they not gotten antibiotics? They would have gotten better in 2-4 days. What will they do next year with the same symptoms? Why, go to the doctor and get antibiotics, since it worked this year. Meanwhile, we've created multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria (MRSA is the best known) b/c of our over-use of antibiotics.
This is just one example. Substitute "vitamin C" for substance A above. The original research claiming multiple benefits from high-dose vitamin C (and others, for that matter) has since been refuted. Yet everyone "knows" that vitamin C prevents colds. Why, b/c they took it last year and didn't get a cold. How can one argue with that? The only way is to rely on the actual science and not exaggerated marketing claims.
Don't take my word for any of this. Search for the science. There will be new breakthroughs for everything. There certainly may be clinical proof of the remedy you mentioned, and other new treatments will hopefully be discovered at great benefits to all of us. There are a few anti-virals out there (tamiflu, for one.) They have been proven to be effective in large-scale clinical trials. Remember, though, until someone thoroughly evaluates a treatment or medication, it's
not a
proven therapy. And it may have side effects that haven't become evident until after its widespread use. Sometimes you don't want to be an early adopter
. Vaccines, however, have the proof. Medline or PubMed for further reading.
-tc-