3 ms·

This is true, but totally misses the point of the NYT Magazine article. The 'four marvels' powder was mentioned only in passing. [edited to remove my dig at h

This is true, but totally misses the point of the NYT Magazine article. The 'four marvels' powder was mentioned only in passing. [edited to remove my dig at homeopathy, which wasn't at issue here - it was naturopathy] The more interesting thesis of the original article is that some inflammatory disease is related to a 'leaky gut' syndrome and that it could be modulated by diet and changing gut flora. Unfortunately this argument was not made very rigorously in the article, and while it remains controversial there is a lot of ongoing research into the idea.

nikatwork 14y ago
> if it was homeopathic, we can be quite certain that it was doing nothing at all. From TFA: >several recent peer-reviewed studies have shown that at least one of the active drugs in four-marvels powder, quercetin, exhibits anti-inflammatory activity. Dismissing all traditional treatments without using research is just as woo-ey as blindly accepting them.
- short_circut 14y ago
  Actually if it was homeopathic we really can be certain that it would do nothing at all. Maybe the person you were responding to didn't quite state it clearly. I don't believe either that commenter or the article refereed to it as a homeopathic remedy. I won't get into why a homeopathic remedy can't work. It should be pretty obvious just based on what homeopathy claims
- aheilbut 14y ago
  Whoops. I misread 'naturopath' as 'homeopath'. When you dilute something 10e60-fold, I'm comfortable dismissing it, and it's not woo-ey at all. But that wasn't the case here. I didn't mean to imply that traditional treatments can't contain active ingredients that can be useful -- they surely can, and are the source of many drugs.
  - derleth 14y ago
    You can’t have naturopathy without homeopathy: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/28/you-cant-have-naturopathy-without-homeop/ http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/28/you-cant-have-n... > the NPLEX (Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examinations), which is required for naturopaths to be licensed in the 16 states in the U.S. and 5 provinces in Canada that license naturopathic physicians tests naturopaths on homeopathy > Then there’s the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP). If you take a look at its blog and search it for the word “homeopathy, you’ll rapidly see that the largest “professional” organization of naturopaths not only embraces homeopathy but defends it against attacks.

nikatwork 14y ago

> if it was homeopathic, we can be quite certain that it was doing nothing at all. From TFA: >several recent peer-reviewed studies have shown that at least one of the active drugs in four-marvels powder, quercetin, exhibits anti-inflammatory activity. Dismissing all traditional treatments without using research is just as woo-ey as blindly accepting them.

short_circut 14y ago
Actually if it was homeopathic we really can be certain that it would do nothing at all. Maybe the person you were responding to didn't quite state it clearly. I don't believe either that commenter or the article refereed to it as a homeopathic remedy. I won't get into why a homeopathic remedy can't work. It should be pretty obvious just based on what homeopathy claims
aheilbut 14y ago
Whoops. I misread 'naturopath' as 'homeopath'. When you dilute something 10e60-fold, I'm comfortable dismissing it, and it's not woo-ey at all. But that wasn't the case here. I didn't mean to imply that traditional treatments can't contain active ingredients that can be useful -- they surely can, and are the source of many drugs.
- derleth 14y ago
  You can’t have naturopathy without homeopathy: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/28/you-cant-have-naturopathy-without-homeop/ http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/28/you-cant-have-n... > the NPLEX (Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examinations), which is required for naturopaths to be licensed in the 16 states in the U.S. and 5 provinces in Canada that license naturopathic physicians tests naturopaths on homeopathy > Then there’s the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP). If you take a look at its blog and search it for the word “homeopathy, you’ll rapidly see that the largest “professional” organization of naturopaths not only embraces homeopathy but defends it against attacks.