login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Kiwi Docs Say Natural Health Products are a Waste of Time and Money
In the latest New Zealand Medical Journal Digest, doctors Shaun Holt and Sarah Jeffries and health psychologist Andrew Gilbey claimed colloidal silver, deer velvet, arnica and rescue remedy are a "waste of time and money" and sometimes harmful.
Holt told The Press that of the "hundreds" of therapies and products, about 95 per cent were either not biologically plausible or not supported by research evidence.
Popular but ineffective products and therapies included deer velvet, rescue remedy, arnica, propolis, magnets, shark cartilage, the lemon detox diet, and megadoses of vitamin C to treat cancer.
Some products, such as colloidal silver, which is marketed as being beneficial for the immune system and in fighting diseases such as cancer, HIV and pneumonia, could be dangerous, he said.
"Silver does have some anti-microbial actions, but not only is there no clinical evidence of an efficacy for these serious indications, products have been shown to contain widely variable amounts of silver and can cause argyria - dangerous and untreatable silver poisoning," Stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.
"The difficulty for people is, which are the 5 per cent of products and therapies worth trying? Use the ones with evidence behind them.
"The problem is people go on the internet, which is not reliable," he sated.
People often assumed a product or therapy worked because reputable people endorsed it in advertisements, he said.
"There is no reason deer velvet would work for anything, though it might produce a placebo effect. It's quite shocking how little research there is, and it's a reasonably big industry," Holt said.
Gilbey said people were paying big money for products and therapies that did nothing.
"I think people would be quite surprised. It would be lovely if you could get something out of the garden, or scrape something off a tree, and it will fight off cancer, but there are not many of those things around," he said.
Source-ANI
|
|
More News on: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
- News Quick Links
 | News Central | | Health Watch | |
| Latest Health News | | Health In Focus | |
| News Category (500+) | | Breaking Health News | |
| Popular News | | Celebrating Life | |
| Health News and Press Release | | Medindia - Exclusive | |
| News Photo Gallery | | India Special | |
| News Video Gallery | | Lifestyle and Wellness | |
| News From Other Resources | |||
| News Categories: |
| » | Schizophrenia Drug Differentiates Cancer Stem Cells into Less Threatening Cells |
| » | Docs Who Seldom Meet Drug Reps Continue to Prescribe Drugs With FDA “Black Box” Warnings |
| » | Revision in Quality Standards for Heparin |
| » | Acne Drug Users At High Risk of Developing Eye Infections |
| » | Patients Who Take Antidepressants When in ICU More Likely to Die |
| More Drug News | |
|
Alternative Medicine Related News |
||||||||
| » | Chinese Herb May Curb Binge Drinking, Treat Alcoholism | » | Acupuncture and Progress In People With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Appear To Be Linked | |||||
| » | Expert Says Alternative Medicines Potentially Unsafe | » | Acupuncture and Hypnosis may Help You Kick the Butt | |||||
| » | PAPupuncture can Provide Long Lasting Pain Relief | » | Acupuncture Improves Skeletal Muscle Atrophy | |||||
| » | Better Health, Mobility, Self-esteem for Wheelchair Tai Chi Practitioners | » | 'Toxic Ingredients' in Traditional Chinese Medicines Exposed | |||||
| Read More >> | ||||||||
