Only in relation to his wallet.
Reporting such interests is mandatory for researchers publishing in quality journals. Major studies face increasingly heavy scrutiny in this regard.
Of course, some small and more obscure journals have not signed on to codes of practices that govern the top-flight, most influential publications. Financial conflicts of interest are not confined to mainstream research. They also affect research published on “alternative” remedies.
This practice has been curbed by new requirements that clinical trials be made public in an online database.
Those wary of research because of past abuses in this regard should have a look at research into alternative medicine which skates around or ignores such requirements. For instance, a high percentage of studies on Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture come (not surprisingly) from China, which is rife with problems affecting the integrity of research, including biases towards publishing only positive results. I refer you to R. Barker Bausell’s excellent book Snake Oil Science, which notes that virtually 100% of articles appearing in Chinese publications find a positive effect of acupuncture, no matter what it’s being tested on. By contrast, half or less of studies in Western journals report acupuncture being effective.
What I’m trying to get across here is that while there have been defects and ethical lapses in mainstream medical research, problems are being addressed and there’s a healthy debate about further improvements still. Research into alternative medicine (when it’s utilized at all instead of relying on testimonials and slick advertising) is comparatively in the dark ages. And it’s not all about money either. You would think that with $34 billion in sales, the supplement companies and other entities getting fat off consumers would plow more than a minute fraction of their take into research. The problem is that with the sad state of government regulation, they have no incentive to do so.
I’d like to second this. Massage therapy, for example, is considered alternative medicine, presumably part of the $34B, and done properly is not woo-woo pseudoscience.
Jackmannii pretty much said everything I was going to. I imagine that many of the people spending the money on quack medicine are the same ones willing to forward along the spam that had them buy it in the first place.
I am curious how much of that spending is on weight-loss products. I’m not sure any other ailment causes people to put aside logic and rationality as quickly as obesity (or simply not being able to fit in their old jeans).
ETA Agree with those who aren’t ready to lose hope in all Americans for pursuing some therapies that fall under the umbrella of ‘alternative medicine.’ Massages are god’s gift.
The original source for the 34 billion figure is a report from the Centre for National Health Statistics available here(pdf). I have not studied it in detail but it appears the net is drawn pretty wide.
For instance I see “Adults who made CAM self-care purchases spent a total of $4.1 billion out of pocket on yoga, tai chi, or qigong classes (Table 4).” Personally I would not see paying for yoga, tai chi, or qigong classes as paying for alternative medicine any more than I would paying for gym membership or swimming classes.
If this is true, then why haven’t alternative medicines been vetted by the FDA? There have been ‘studies’ on homeopathy that were declared positive, and there are many people who have a financial interest in it, so why isn’t homeopathy recommended by the FDA?
Because anti-Psychotic drugs come with warnings that the side-effects might make you psychotic. Drugs are constantly recalled after they hurt tons of people. Drugs are often too expensive for people to afford. Some Doctors don’t even look at their patients when prescribing drugs. Psychiatrists are handing out anti-depressants like they are candy. Surgeons leave scalpels inside of people on occasion. Sometimes people would rather not be cut open.
Then there is the semantic problem. Things that are actually helpful like chiropractic, massage therapy, or taking herbal supplements get caught up in the wide net that is ‘alternative’ medicine.
And sometimes Valerian root tea is what people need instead of being prescribed Ambien.
That’s a very good point.
Good point, so if we eliminate that figure we now deflate the figure to $ 29.8b. Also take out relaxation techniques as they probably are referring to stretching and meditation for another .2b so we can bring the inflated figure to 29.6b.
NVNMNP is suitably vague. I assume they are including people who make Ginseng and Goji smoothies in the morning under that number.
So chiropractic, massage and movement therapies are caught in their broad net despite the fact that these all can have a completely scientific basis.
Sounds like this study is just incredibly vague and spreads too wide a net to be useful.
It depends on the claims made. If someone thinks yoga, tai chi or chigung classes are going to cure a disease they’re out of luck.
So are all these common enough to justify people abandoning real medicine, or is this just the kind of fear mongering that does drive people away from real medicine?
Chiropracty is appropriate if what you need is you spine adjusted. Massage therapy is fine as long as it’s for relaxation or minor muscle issues. Herbal supplements are fine if you need vitamins, and you actually have someone who actually know something about vitamins administering them. Other than this, it falls under alternative medicine.
And sometimes what people need to be educated in critical thinking.
Alternative medicine hurts people, both directly and indirectly.
Fearmongering is an appeal to emotion and doesn’t really have a place in the discussion.
It’s not just fear mongering, it’s genuine fear. Fearmongering implies that there is some sort of greater intentional conspiracy going on, there isn’t. Modern medicine with it’s consistent, “New study confirms that…”, and then two years later, “New study confirms the opposite of old study…”, and then two years later, “New study confirms that both of the previous studies were wrong…”, and you get to a point of information overload on the part of individuals and they don’t know who to trust. Add to that apocryphal stories from people’s friends about some bad experience in a hospital or with a Doctor and you have a climate of distrust.
Yes, Chiropractic (not chiropracty) is appropriate for things that fall under its scope of practice, that’s tautological. As for massage therapy, it’s not just for relaxation or minor muscle issues. It’s also for lymphatic drainage, there are neuromuscular issues that can be addressed such as referred pain. (See Travell and Simons) Vitamins and Herbal supplements are different things. A vitamin is the mineral extracted, and herbal supplement is taking the herb unadulterated. And the assumption with herbal supplements is that the person recommending them DOESN’T know something about administering them. This study clearly doesn’t make a distinction between how they are used. It doesn’t specify whether the herbal supplements are recommended by an MD or not. It clearly is just pulling from total sales of said supplements. As for ginseng and goji smoothies, are you really arguing that I need a Doctor to prescribe a smoothie that will give me a little pick me up in the morning? Should I also have a prescription for Red Bull? Speaking of which, I wonder if sales of Red Bull are counted in that example. I wonder if Guarana drinks fall under their rubric.
That is always a good thing. Everyone needs to be educated in critical thinking. On this issue especially, both sides tend to leave critical thought at the door.
I’ll take that and raise you, Hospital care hurts people both directly and indirectly. So you take your 400,000 deaths and I call and raise you 200,000 deaths PER YEAR.
Again, a better definition of alternative medicine needs to be brought into this before you can make such a broad claim. I am certain people have been hurt by swedish massage, but that doesn’t mean there is something wrong with the practice itself, just as a Doctor who tells a girl with a malignant tumor that it’s just a cyst from her endometriosis doesn’t invalidate the work of oncologists.
The problem here is the insufficiently defined nature of alternative medicine. A massage therapist in NY state is legally liable for treating a condition without an MD’s recommendation and can lose their license for such a procedure. The problem here is the either/or false dichotomy.
I clicked on a random link and found this one on cupping. So a random accident hurt a guy in NORWAY and this shows the dangers of cupping for which there are vacuum powered cups that don’t require you to ignite an alcohol soaked cotton ball, it just uses an air pump. To be clear am not defending cupping as a legitimate treatment, just pointing out that your cite uses a misapplication of the process as evidence of its danger.
The reason his being in Norway is significant is that the statistics I cited are only for the US, if we wanted to look up worldwide malpractice statistics it would dwarf the dangers of alternative medicine by orders of magnitude.
Also, keep in mind that I am not at all opposed to scientific medicine. I think if you are sick should go see a Doctor. I’m just pointing out the ineffective claims of the anti-CAM scare cites.
People want a quick fix.
Depends on what you classify is alternative medicine. Is it taking soy supplements to alleviate menopausal symptoms? Is it consuming shark fin to cure HIV? Is it the idea that consuming more herbs reduce the risk of cancer?
- Honesty
Hmm, I fail to comprehend some of the outrage here. Many alternative medicines work just fine. For example, last month I picked up a nasty cough that wouldn’t go away, and I couldn’t take Robitussin DM because it interacted negatively with the other medications I’m taking. So a friend recommended a honey-based cough syrup called “Chestal”, which worked like a charm. And it tastes really sweet, too. 
Naturally, one should not eschew modern medicine for serious afflictions (such as cancer) but I see no harm in utilizing alternative treatments in conjuction with traditional ones, especially if the traditional treatments fail to cure the problem.
Hmm, I’ve heard about anti-depressants making people suicidal (which is actually a sign of the drug taking effect, ironically enough) but haven’t heard about anti-psychotics triggering psychosis – can you elaborate?
Assuming you make sure that the alternative treatments are not harmful, and don’t interact negatively with other stuff you’re taking. A honey-based cough syrup wouldn’t be likely to do that, but some herbal medicines might.
Right.
Hmm, I don’t remember the names of the drugs. But you can switch it to anti-depressants. My point was simply about drugs designed to ameliorate some symptoms causing those symptoms to be worse, IE, your example of anti-depressants causing people to become suicidal. I don’t want to go too far into a digression on anti-psychotics, I am not a Doctor. But here’s a link for you. Antipsychotic - Wikipedia
Yeah, that was my point. How many times does surgery go just fine, and how many times is a scalpel sewn into the patient? Since you seem to be so against fearmongering, I’m certain that scalpel sewing has a significant chance of happening, but I’d like to get the real numbers to make sure.
Yeah, that’s called science. Discoveries are refined, things change with new discoveries. The point is that there’s evidence behind it.
The plural of ‘anecdote’ is not ‘data’. This is just a lack of critical thinking.
Fine. The problem here is that Chiropracticy is often promoted as being able to cure just about anything, and that’s why it usually gets lumped in with alternative medicine.
Nod, thats all fine. Again, massage and other touch ‘therapies’ (like Reiki) often promise a lot more than the massage therapist can deliver.
So they should just take whatever and hope it does something? How do you know what herb to take? How do you know how much? How do you know what it does? Do you know how much of an herb is dangerous to take?
If you’re medicating yourself with goji smoothies and guarana drinks then I hope you’re bothering to consult someone who knows something about it. And by ‘something’ I mean actual knowledge of effects and interactions and not the just the guy who works the register at the local head shop. Drinking something cuz it tastes good is one thing, drinking it because you heard from a bother’s cousin’s uncle that it might help your cancer is idiocy, or to put it another way, alternative medicine.
And how many people were helped by alternative medicine? I don’t seem to see any pages for that. How many people use real medicine vs alternative medicine? I’m betting the percentage is skewed just a bit. Alternative medicine doesn’t get any leeway on it’s death rate until it can be shown to actually help, like real medicine can.
It depends on context. If the masseuse tells the patient the massage will cure their X, and then the patient doesn’t get real help with their X, then the masseuse has done real harm. As long as it’s clear that it’s just a massage then it’s fine.
But if the massage therapist doesn’t actually say ‘I can cure X’, but maybe just hints at it, or suggests that maybe it could be helpful, etc. then suddenly this law doesn’t apply anymore.
I’m just talking about why people are afraid, not trying to justify their fear. Believe me if I had a malignant tumor, I’d get it cut out by a surgeon.
Yes, but how is the layman supposed to know what’s what when it keeps changing all the time?
Irrelevant. And ‘lack of critical’ thinking strikes me as a pat buzzterm and not a sufficient analysis of why people are afraid. Fear is irrational it’s an emotion. The bottom line is that the AMA/FDA etc… are accepted by appeals to authority. Critical thinking really matters if you know what you’re dealing with. Most of us get medical treatment and base it on faith that the Doctor is right. Bottom line, most of us do not have the knowledge of medicine to judge whether the Doctor actually knows his shit or not. It doesn’t matter how critically you think, what matters is your ability to understand medicine, something that people do not understand for the most part.
Yes, that’s unfortunate. Not all chiropractors market it that way though.
Reiki isn’t a touch therapy. You are not supposed to touch someone when administering Reiki.
Well some herbal remedies are for simple things. If I feel lethargic I should take some ginseng. Do I need to consult a medical professional to do that or can I just buy a ginseng pill at the deli?
Well the problem here is with how you are using the word, ‘medicate’. Saying that you medicate yourself with goji smoothies and guarana drinks is like saying that someone medicates themselves with a cup of coffee in the morning or a coke at lunch.
So what is the line between self-medication and just drinking something to calm down or get some pep? Like if I drink a glass or two of wine at night to wind down am I self-medicating? For me, I smoke pot on occasion. I don’t consider it self-medication as I am not doing it to alleviate symptoms I am doing it to get into a different headspace just like I might drink a beer or smoke a cigar. What makes goji berries different and how can I tell the difference between ‘breakfast’ and ‘self-medication’?
Again you’re still laboring under a false dichotomy. Much alternative medicine IS real medicine. You can’t get a good reading because the statistics simply are not granular enough. Cupping may very well be frou frou bullshit, but saying that someone got burned when the alcohol caught fire is like saying that intravenous injections are bullshit because someone bent a needle once when administering one. The lack of critical thought cuts both ways in this regard. In otherwords the criticisms need to go much more granularly to separate bullshit CAM from the useful CAM. If regular medicine wanted to co-opt the verifiably useful stuff I’d be more than happy to accept that as a solution, but as long as you are lumping homeopathy and swedish massage into the same category it’s nearly impossible to come up with any statistical verifiability. CAM is an overly broad category that needs to be cut up. Yea, I think homeopathy is bullshit, but I know that chiropractic and swedish massage are not. No I don’t go into the chiropractic can cure asthma school of thought. When it comes to spinal misalignments, my buddy who is a chiropractor, and myself who is a massage therapist can give you permanent relief in some cases, and if not permanent but longer term, and with very few treatments because most spinal misalignments are myo-skeletal and fall within our scopes of practice.
Well a massage can cure a hypertonic Gastrocnemius. ‘Just a massage’, is meaningless in this context because Massage Therapy CAN cure things. It can treat shin splints for instance.
Well s/he shouldn’t be using the word, ‘cure’, because that would be breach of medical ethics and beyond their scope of practice legally. But that doesn’t change the fact that massage therapy really is the solution to many myofascial disorders. There are strict guidelines that a licensed massage therapist must abide by, and one of those is not posing as an MD. You cannot diagnose someone, and pronouncing a cure is as much a diagnosis as telling them what you think their problem is. They need to see a Doctor. A Massage Therapist can say, “Tell your Doctor to look at X.”, but the Doctor has to diagnose.