Homeopathy: The Evidence Accumulates
By Steven Bratman, M.D.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine dating back to the early 1800s. Based on the principle of "like cures like," it uses highly diluted substances called "homeopathic remedies" (which if given to healthy people would produce symptoms similar to those of the disease). Homeopathy is widely used throughout the world, but until recently it had never been subjected to scientific studies.

The big problem with homeopathy is that it seems scientifically implausible. Homeopathic remedies are frequently diluted so much that not a single molecule of the original material remains. Chemically speaking, a typically homeopathic tablet is just pure sugar. It seems hard to believe that such tablets can do anything at all, much less cure disease. Nonetheless, a growing body of double-blind placebo-controlled studies suggests that homeopathy can indeed be effective for various health problems.

In the most recent of these studies, a team of British investigators evaluated the effects of a homeopathic remedy for individuals with perennial allergic rhinitis (similar to hayfever).1 Fifty-one individuals were given a single dose of either placebo or a homeopathic remedy consisting of the individual's primary allergen (technically, this is called an "isopathic" remedy) and followed for 4 weeks. Despite the fact that the homeopathic remedy was so diluted it couldn't possibly have contained any of the original allergen, the results were positive. Individuals in the treated group experienced significant improvements in symptoms.

This finding follows three similar studies with positive results by the same respected research group.2,3,4 All together, they enrolled 253 individuals.

Taken together, these small studies challenge scientists to take homeopathy seriously. However, a much larger trial will be necessary to overcome the natural skepticism about homeopathy. If such a study is performed and yields similarly positive results, the next task will be to discover a scientifically plausible explanation for those results.

1. Taylor MA, Reilly D, Llewellyn-Jones RH, et al. Randomised controlled trial of homoeopathy versus placebo in perennial allergic rhinitis with overview of four trial series. BMJ. 2000;321:471-476. 2. Reilly DT, Taylor MA. Potent placebo or potency? Br Homeopath J. 1985;74:65-75. 3. Reilly DT, Taylor MA, McSharry C, et al. Is homoeopathy a placebo response? Controlled trial of homoeopathic potency, with pollen in hayfever as model. Lancet. 1986;2:881-886. 4. Reilly D, Taylor MA, Beattie NGM, et al. Is evidence for homoeopathy reproducible?. Lancet. 1994;344:1601-1606.