Health
Homeopathy Ineffective for Treating Any Health Condition, Meta-Study Finds
(epSos .de/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)
Marisa Taylor, AL JAZEERA AMERICA
(Al Jazeera America)—Health experts in Australia said they have completed an exhaustive review of available research on homeopathic medicine, resulting in one very simple conclusion — it doesn’t work.
Researchers at the Australian government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) were tasked with looking at a total of 176 controlled studies into how effective homeopathy is in treating patients with various complaints. The results, published Wednesday, found “no reliable evidence in humans that homeopathy was effective for treating the range of health conditions considered.”
As such, patients should not turn to homeopathy to treat health conditions that are “chronic, serious, or could become serious,” the study found. “People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness,” the authors of the report added.
For some health conditions, a review of the studies showed that homeopathy was no more effective than a placebo, the report said.
###
