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The US National Institute of Health department, the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NC-CAM), whose aim is to find evidence for alternative medicine, found to its chagrin that alternative medicine doesn’t work. Key snippets:
Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.
Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.
As for therapies, acupuncture has been shown to help certain conditions [though if I read it aright,
That finding was called into question when a later, larger study found that sham treatment worked just as well–ed.], and yoga, massage, meditation and other relaxation methods may relieve symptoms like pain, anxiety and fatigue.…
…Critics say that unlike private companies that face bottom-line pressure to abandon a drug that flops, the federal center is reluctant to admit a supplement may lack merit — despite a strategic plan pledging not to equivocate in the face of negative findings.
…
"There's been a deliberate policy of never saying something doesn't work. It's as though you can only speak in one direction," and say a different version or dose might give different results, said Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired physician who runs Quackwatch, a web site on medical scams.
…
Critics also say the federal center's research agenda is shaped by an advisory board loaded with alternative medicine practitioners. They account for at least nine of the board's 18 members, as required by its government charter. Many studies they approve for funding are done by alternative therapy providers; grants have gone to board members, too.
…
[The Centre’s methodology] is opposite how other National Institutes of Health agencies work, where scientific evidence or at least plausibility is required to justify studies, and treatments go into wide use after there is evidence they work — not before.
…
In a federally funded pilot study, 30 dieters who were taught acupressure regained only half a pound six months later, compared with over three pounds for a comparison group of 30 others. However, the study widely missed a key scientific standard for showing that results were not a statistical fluke.
In other words, NC-CAM, which was founded with the intent of finding evidence for the quackery that the sponsoring Senators were already convinced by (to look for a yes
, in other words, rather than objectively assessing credibility), is perfectly happy to spend millions upon millions of US tax dollars on investigating ludicrous fantasies like distance faith healing, energy healing, and homeopathy (dollars that could be spent on valid research), is biased by a board of proponents, tends to publish lackluster studies with missing controls…and still can’t come up with a single positive result beyond noting that ginger may (may) help with nausea.
If that’s the best they can come up with the cards stacked unreasonably in their favour, then it’s time to pull the plug and spend the next $2.5 billion dollars on something useful.