Tuesday, 24 April 2018

The difference between homeopathy and naturopathy

Naturopathy uses plants and tinctures as medicines. A lot of of naturopathy is hokum, but some of the treatments actually work. A simple example is an orange. If you eat enough oranges, you can ward off scurvy. That's because oranges contain ascorbic acid. Homeopathy, on the other hand, uses tiny amounts of compounds derived from plants, animals, and non living substances, but it is very different from naturopathy, because it never works. Popular Science explains the difference between homeopathy, naturopathy, and pharmaceuticals.

Water doesn’t have memory. Even if some of the remedies used as active ingredients in homeopathic drugs did cure headaches and joint pain, diluting them down thousands of times would only handicap their ability to help you. The NIH notes that “there is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition” and that “several key concepts of homeopathy are inconsistent with fundamental concepts of chemistry and physics.” The European Academies’ Scientific Advisory Council similarly concludes that “there are no known diseases for which there is robust, reproducible evidence that homeopathy is effective beyond the placebo effect” and that “the claims for homeopathy are implausible and inconsistent with established scientific concepts.”

Image: By Chamille White/Shutterstock