Doctors Note Homeopathic Remedies "Seldom Effective"

Fairfax, New ZealandCollodial silver, deer velvet, arnica and an assortment of other treatments classified as homeopathic remedies are a "waste of time and money," and can sometimes be harmful, doctors say.

According to the New Zealand Press, the latest issue of New Zealand Medical Journal Digest features a roundtable discussion by doctors and a health psychologist that notes the negative side to the use of homeopathic remedies.

The news source reported that doctors Shaun Holt and Sarah Jeffries, and health psychologist Andrew Gilbey have slammed some of New Zealanders' favorite natural health products as ineffective.

Holt told the news source that of the "hundreds" of therapies and products, about 95 percent were either not supported by research or not biologically plausible. Of these alleged "treatments," the doctors specifically identified deer velvet, rescue remedy, arnica, propolis, magnets, shark cartilage, the lemon detox diet and megadoses of vitamin C to treat cancer.

Some of these products, the medical professionals told the news source, such as collodial silver, which is marketed as being beneficial for the immune system and in fighting diseases such as cancer, HIV and pneumonia, could be dangerous.

"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,'' Holt told the news source.

Holt noted that the difficulty for people is determining which products and therapies are worth trying, and which ones lacked any evidence that they worked. He said that too often people went to the respective website and assumed that this was enough research to try the treatment.

According to the news source, the doctors also noted that people often assumed a product or therapy worked because reputable people endorsed it in advertisements.

The North Andover Patch reported that homeopathic remedies are also used as an alternative to Botox treatments, but there is no proof that these work in the same manner.