Overview
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), seasonal allergies affect 18 million Americans annually. Add year-round allergies, and the number of allergy sufferers soars to more than 50 million. Traditional allergy medication can suppress symptoms effectively, but the costs are nothing to sneeze at, and side effects are common. Despite some mainstream scientific evidence that homeopathy is no more effective than a placebo, homeopathic remedies continue to be a popular alternative.
Classic Theory of Homeopathy
The theory of homeopathy, as explained by founder Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800s, is expressed in its law of similars, that “like treats like.” Homeopathic remedies are diluted doses of substances that cause the same symptoms that the patient has. How dilute is dilute? According to Quackwatch.org, “A 30X dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times.” In other words, a homeopathic remedy is unlikely to contain even a single molecule of the marketed substance. According to traditional homeopathic theory, the remedy retains some of the substance’s “essence.” Skeptics say that the remedies are pure water.
Contemporary Homeopathic Theory
Homeopathic practitioners do not deny that diluted remedies may contain only water. The British Homeopathic Association is leading the way in the “new science of homeopathy,” citing Swiss chemist Louis Rey, who reported in 2003 that the “structure of hydrogen bonds in homeopathic dilutions of salt solutions is very different from that in pure water.” Another biochemical researcher found that clumps of material sometimes occur in very dilute substances, leading to the possibility that some original material may remain in extreme dilutions. However, neither of these studies has yet been reproduced by non-homeopathic practitioners, and a modern scientific theory on homeopathy has still not been agreed upon by the homeopathic community.
Controversy of Homeopathic Remedies
Many voices in the medical field have an opinion about homeopathy. Behind the polarization lies a deep history of competition between medical models. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, most current medical research on the effectiveness of homeopathy is not conclusive, and many studies have been declared “flawed.” And mainstream medical researchers, such as Shang et al., who conducted a meta-analysis of 110 medical studies, concluded, “The clinical effects of homeopathy are placebo effects.” Homeopathic medical journals, on the other hand, routinely report statistical success of treatments.
Evidence
In the medical community, a handful of studies have shown some homeopathic remedies to be more effective than a placebo. For example, a 2003 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that some evidence exists that “the remedy Galphimia glauca is efficacious for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.” The Annals of Internal Medicine admits that the lack of biased researchers in the field makes these findings suggestive, but not conclusive.
Potential
Regardless of whether they are effective, homeopathy remedies for allergies continue to grow in popularity in the United States. Homeopathic doctors believe that the remedies may have a great potential to help allergy sufferers: remedies are nontoxic, nonaddictive, and have few if any side effects. Also, a growing number of people are using homeopathic remedies as self-help, without consulting certified homeopathic doctors. This practice is counter to the tradition of homeopathic remedies, as emotional and personality aspects of treatment are notoriously difficult to self-evaluate.
About this Author
Ryan Hurd is a writer and consciousness studies researcher living in California. His dream expertise has been featured in the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Hurd has a MA in Consciousness Studies, and is the author of “Enhance your dream life.”
