How does Homeopathy work?

[nolok]

I believe some links to research proving homeopathy has no discernible effect on that page would help.

As it is, it feels like a knee jerk reaction that wouldn't convince people who are genuinely wondering.

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2009/04/17/no-convin... and the research paper http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19370613

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy

[grimtrigger]

If anything, it would convince them that opponents of homeopathy are close-minded.

But there's a time and place for humor as well. Not everything has to be educational.

[pron]

Thing is, homeopathy, like all voodoo medicine, actually does work (well, for some symptoms, at least). The question of how placebo works is a fascinating one, and is still open. This question could have been treated with both more respect as well as more scientific curiosity.

[Sniperfish]

I agree that 'how do placebos work' is an ongoing and intriguing question.

However homoeopathy is not presented as a placebo-based treatment. The site assesses homoeopathy on its merits as presented by practitioners and supporters of homoeopathic treatments having incremental medicinal benefits. Of which there have been no appropriately controlled and reviewed studies with reproducible results. Placebo here is the 'base case'.

I submit that the question was treated with an entirely appropriate degree of respect.

[iQuercus]

We can study the placebo effect without potentially murdering people by misleading them on a commercial scale.

[nolok]

No because Homeopathy claims to be different than placebo effect, and as such it doesn't "work".

If homeopath were saying to their customer "this is a placebo medicine", something that the general public understands, there would be way less aggressivity towards it.

[Marazan]

How does homeopathy prevent infection by malaria?

Answer: It doesn't.

[charlysisto]

You know the joke/true story (?) : A friend of Niels Bohr notices a horseshoe nailed on his door. When Niels opens up his friend asks :

- you, one of the greatest scientist of this century how could you believe in such things.

- Well I've been told that superstition works even if you don't believe in it !

Incidentally a recent study seems to demonstrate that the placebo effect works even when you know it's placebo...

[adwn]

That was my exact thought, word-by-word, when I read the title on HN.

[Sniperfish]

I was worried, then amused.

[3rd3]

Placebo effect?

[bunderbunder]

The placebo effect tends to only work for certain values of 'work'.

Lately there have been a lot of studies finding that while placebos are great at improving subjective factors, they don't show the same ability to elicit objective improvements. So if you come down with a respiratory infection, a placebo might have you saying you feel better a bit sooner, but you'll still be hacking up phlegm for just as long.

[VinzO]

I was going to suggest to change the question from "How does Homeopathy work?" to "Does Homeopathy work?" and then I clicked the link... :-)

[clef]

Is there an API available?

[danmaz74]

The real problem with homeopathy is that it has become a "catch all" name, like "cloud" in IT. So, many things that do work but are NOT homeopathy (eg: using propolis for a throat ache) are labeled that way, and in many people reinforce the idea that homeopathy does in fact work.

[joaotorres]

Very complete information! They should translate it into other languages too!

[quarterto]

Also: http://howdovaccinescauseautism.com/

[Cuuugi]

Relevant Followup: http://jennymccarthybodycount.com