…Ben Goldacre published an article on homeopathy in The Lancet, stating the research on homeopathy is problematic for a variety of reasons. These included the high publication biases of alternative therapy journals, with very few articles reporting null results; ignoring meta-analytic studies in favour of cherry picked positive results; and the promotion of an observational study (that Goldacre described as „little more than a customer-satisfaction survey“) as if it were more informative than a series of randomized trials. Goldacre also states that homeopaths who misrepresent scientific evidence to a scientifically illiterate public, have „…walled themselves off from academic medicine, and critique has been all too often met with avoidance rather than argument…

…Mainstream explanations for any effects:
Mainstream science offers a variety of explanations for how homeopathy, if the preparations themselves are ineffective, may appear to cure diseases or alleviate symptoms:

– Unassisted natural healing — time and the body’s ability to heal without assistance can eliminate many diseases of their own accord
– Unrecognized treatments — an unrelated food, exercise, environmental agent or treatment for a different ailment, may have occurred
– Regression toward the mean — since many diseases or conditions are cyclical, symptoms vary over time and patients tend to seek care when discomfort is greatest, they may feel better anyway but because the timing of the visit to the homeopath they attribute improvement to the remedy taken
– Non-homeopathic treatment — patients may also receive non-homeopathic care simultaneous with homeopathic treatment, and this is responsible for improvement though a portion or all of the improvement may be attributed to the remedy
– Cessation of unpleasant treatment — often homeopaths recommend patients stop getting conventional treatment such as surgery or drugs, which can cause unpleasant side effects; improvements are attributed to homeopathy when the actual cause is the cessation of the treatment causing side effects in the first place
– Lifestyle changes — homeopaths often recommend diet and exercise, as well as limitations in alcohol or coffee consumption and stress reduction, all of which can increase health and decrease symptoms
– The placebo effect — the intensive consultation process and expectations for the homeopathic preparations can result in the release of endorphins or other body-effecting chemicals which alleviate pain or other symptoms, or otherwise affect an individual’s biology
– Psychological healing — the care, concern and reassurance provided by a homeopath as part of the consultation can assure the patient the symptoms are minor and easily treated, or alleviate tension that could exacerbate a preexisting condition. This caring engagement can prove particularly effective when conventional physicians have limited time with the patient or cannot provide a diagnosis or treatment.

A málem bych zapomněla:
… in June 2005, the Swiss Government, after a 5-year trial, withdrew insurance coverage for homeopathy and four other complementary treatments, stating that they did not meet efficacy and cost-effectiveness criteria, though additional insurance can be bought to cover such treatments provided by a medical doctor

Skoro bych se i vsadil, že pani je příbuzná se zde už etablovaným Sedlákem, ten propaguje homeopatickou energetiku…