Don’t swallow everything: Alternative medicine
Why is homeopathy “utter nonsense”? What about ear candling? And does ginger really help prevent motion sickness?
Chemistry professor and author Joe Schwarcz, PhD, answers these questions and more in his latest books.
Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s office for science and society, is on a mission to demystify science for students and public alike. Through his bestselling books, a weekly column for The Montreal Gazette, radio shows, university lectures and public talks — including one given Wednesday night in Calgary addressing the public’s rising fear of chemicals — Schwarcz explores the science that surrounds us in our daily lives.
His forthcoming book, Dr. Joe’s Health Lab (Doubleday Canada, Nov. 6, $22.95) focuses on health, nutrition and medicine.
Schwarcz, who’s been fascinated by chemistry ever since seeing a magician perform at a childhood birthday party, used to write up science quizzes for his school buddies. He continues to share his love of science with people, selecting items he finds interesting.
“The main theme in all my books is separating sense from nonsense and providing interesting information. It’s entertainment for the mind, as well as feeding the mind. I try to make it compact, because in these days people have been conditioned to sound bites, which is why I make them punchy and to the point.”
He pulls no punches debunking alternative health practices, especially homeopathy, which has been trumpeted by British royals, including Prince Charles.
“Homeopathy is the most absurd of all of the alternative beliefs,” Schwarcz says.
In 1790 a German physician theorized “that a substance that causes certain symptoms when given to a healthy person in a high dose will, when given in a smaller dose, cure sick people who suffer from the same symptoms. He then compounded his illogical idea by suggesting that the smaller the dose, the more powerful the remedy,” the chemistry prof writes in Dr. Joe’s Brain Sparks. The doses are diluted so much they don’t contain a single molecule of the original substance.
“It’s utter nonsense,” says Schwarcz, explaining that people are being fleeced for what is essentially the placebo effect.
“Many, if not most, diseases are self-limiting and will get better no matter what you do, whether you take a homeopathic remedy or the triply distilled extract of virgin Himalayan mules. If you believe in it, it will work for you 30 to 40 per cent of the time.”
Likewise, he dashes the hopes of menopausal women everywhere when he says there’s no evidence that natural remedies black cohosh and soy extract help with hot flashes. (A Mayo Clinic study published earlier this week also dismissed the use of flaxseed for treating menopausal symptoms.) “We see this over and over again,” says Schwarcz. An initial study shows a positive result; typically they’re poorly controlled or done with few people, and as better studies with proper controls and larger populations are mounted, cold water is thrown on the benefits.
He cautions people to be careful with herbal remedies. While many pharmaceuticals stem from plants, the active ingredient is isolated, purified and standardized. “The approval system is not the same as for prescription drugs; you don’t have to show the same degree of efficacy and safety. And people assume because it’s natural it can’t be harmful, which is totally incorrect.”
Patients should always inform their doctors about the “natural” remedies they take. For example, St. John Wort was first identified as interfering with the antirejection drug cyclosporine after a heart transplant patient took the herb to treat depression but neglected to inform his doctors.
In Dr. Joe’s Health Lab, Schwarcz heaps scorn on “thermal auricular therapy,” or ear candling, saying the practice of holding a lit, hollow candle in the ear to suck out ear wax is absurd.
Worse, it’s dangerous. In some cases, molten wax has burned though people’s eardrums. (The sale of ear candles is illegal in Canada.)
Finally, what about ginger? It actually does work to reduce motion sickness and may help with the pain of arthritis, he says. Apparently, ginger triggers the release of chemicals in the body that have antiinflammatory properties.
Just don’t take it with blood thinners, because it also has an anticoagulant effect. And don’t rely on ginger ale to deliver the goods — it contains very little ginger.
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