by Dana Ullman, MPH 

www.homeopathic.com

People who want access to reference to and description of approximately 200 clinical trials using homeopathic medicine should get Dana Ullman’s ebook, Homeopathic Family Medicine: Evidence Based Nanopharmacology.  You can choose to purchase a one-time download of this Acrobat file or purchase a 2-year subscription.

Because many close-minded skeptics commonly insist that homeopathic medicines are “simply water,” real scientists and academically-inclined individuals will benefit from reviewing the writings of Professor Martin Chaplin, a world renowned expert on water:  http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/homeop.html and http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/memory.html

Professor Chaplin’s website has references to 1,600+ studies on water.  Chaplin asserts that there IS a difference between “homeopathic water” and any other water.

High Quality Clinical Research:

Skeptics of homeopathy commonly make reference to a very flawed review of clinical research published in the Lancet (2005) by Shang, Eggers, et al.

Responses to the “junk science” review of research published in the Lancet.

-- Lüdtke R, Rutten ALB. The conclusions on the effectiveness of homeopathy highly depend on the set of analyzed trials.  Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. October 2008. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.06/015.  This review shows that Shang’s paper reviews just 8 homeopathic trials and 6 conventional ones (with 6 of the 8 homeopathic trials using just ONE medicine, without any of the typical individualization of treatment). This review also shows other serious biases in the Shang paper.

--Rutten ALB, Stolper CF, The 2005 meta-analysis of homeopathy: the importance of post-publication data. Homeopathy. October 2008, doi:10.1016/j.homp.2008.09/008  (These two reviews and re-analyses of the Shang data threw into doubt the narrow analysis of Shang and team.)

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, August 19, 2000, 321:471-476.  (This review of FOUR studies on the homeopathic treatment of people with respiratory allergies includes reference to and description of other studies that were published in the Lancet and the BMJ.  Even the BMJ published an editorial that acknowledged that these studies were of a high caliber.)

WB Jonas, TJ Kaptchuk, K Linde, A Critical Overview of Homeopathy, Annals in Internal Medicine, March 4, 2003:138:393-399. Although this is not a meta-analysis, it is still a very good review of the clinical literature in homeopathy.

Vickers AJ.  Homoeopathic Oscillococcinum for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like syndromes. Cochrane Reviews. 2007.  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/485935. Four treatment trials (N=1,194) found “promising” results from Oscillococcinum in the treatment of influenza or influenza-like syndrome.  Three prevention trials (N=2,265) did not find efficacy of Oscillococcinum in the prevention of these conditions.  Because Oscillococcinum is made from the liver & heart of a duck and because ducks are reservoirs of flu viruses, this drug make sense, biologically.  It has been used in homeopathy since the 1920s and thus verifies that homeopaths have been knowledgeable of avian sources of flu virus for a long time.

Jacobs J, Jonas WB, Jimenez-Perez M, Crothers D, Homeopathy for Childhood Diarrhea: Combined Results and Metaanalysis from Three Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trials, Pediatr Infect Dis J, 2003;22:229-34.  This metaanalysis of 242 children showed a highly significant result in the duration of childhood diarrhea (P=0.008).

Linde L, Clausius N, Ramirez G, et al., "Are the Clinical Effects of Homoeopathy Placebo Effects?  A Meta-analysis of Placebo-Controlled Trials," Lancet, September 20, 1997, 350:834-843.  Even critics have called this meta-analysis "completely state of the art."  It reviews 186 studies, 89 of which fit pre-defined criteria for its meta-analysis.  Homeopathic medicines had a 2.45 times greater effect than placebo.  A later paper by Linde noted that newer research has led to "reduced" significance, but Linde never said or even suggested that new research made the evidence non-significant...and in fact, he has asserted otherwise.

Kleijnen J, Knipschild P, ter Riet G, "Clinical Trials of Homoeopathy," British Medical Journal, February 9, 1991, 302:316-323.  This is the best objective meta-analysis of clinical research prior to 1991.  This meta-analysis reviewed 107 studies, 81 of which showed efficacy of homeopathic medicines.  Of the best 22 studies, 15 showed efficacy.

Frass, M, Dielacher, C, Linkesch, M,  Endler, C, Muchitsch, I, Schuster, E, Kaye, A. Influence of potassium dichromate on tracheal secretions in critically ill patients, Chest, March, 2005;127:936-941.  This is an impressive study was conducted at the University of Vienna and published in the leading respiratory medicine journal...with substantially significant results in the treatment of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is the #4 reason that people in the USA die).  At present, two different universities are conducted trials to replicate this important study.

Bell IR, Lewis II DA, Brooks AJ, et al. Improved clinical status in fibromyalgia patients treated with individualized homeopathic remedies versus placebo, Rheumatology. 2004:1111-5. Participants on active treatment showed significantly greater improvements in tender point count and tender point pain, quality of life, global health and a trend toward less depression compared with those on placebo. People on homeopathic treatment also experienced changes in EEG readings.  “Helpfulness from treatment” in homeopathic patients was very significant (P=.004).  This journal is published by the British Rheumatological Society.

Frei H, Everts R, von Ammon K, Kaufmann F, Walther D, Hsu-Schmitz SF, Collenberg M, Fuhrer K, Hassink R, Steinlin M, Thurneysen A. Homeopathic treatment of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled crossover trial. Eur J Pediatr. 2005 Dec;164(12):758-67. Epub 2005 Jul 27

Chapman, E, Weintraub, R, Milburn, M, et al., Homeopathic Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial, Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 14,6, Dec, 1999, 521-542.

Adler UC, Paiva NMP, Cesar AT, Adler MS, Molina A, Padula AE, Calil HM.  Homeopathic individualized Q-potencies versus fluoxetine for moderate to severe depression: double-blind, randomized non-inferiority trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009 Aug 17.  http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nep114v1

High Quality Basic Sciences Research:

Sunila ES, Kuttan R, Preethi KC, and Kuttan G. Dynamized Preparations in Cell Culture, eCAM. October 3, 2007; doi:10.1093/ecam/nem082

Witt CM, Bluth M, Albrecht H, Weisshuhn TE, Baumgartner S, Willich SN. The in vitro evidence for an effect of high homeopathic potencies--a systematic review of the literature.  Complement Ther Med. 2007 Jun;15(2):128-38. Epub 2007 Mar 28.   From 75 publications, 67 experiments (1/3 of them replications) were evaluated. Nearly 3/4 of them found a high potency effect, and 2/3 of those 18 that scored 6 points or more and controlled contamination. Nearly 3/4 of all replications were positive.

Banerjee, P.; Biswas, S. J.; Belon, P.; Khuda-Bukhsh, A. R.  A Potentized Homeopathic Drug, Arsenicum Album 200, Can Ameliorate Genotoxicity Induced by Repeated Injections of Arsenic Trioxide in Mice. Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A, Volume 54, Number 7, September 2007 , pp. 370-376(7).

DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0442.2007.00945.x

Elia V, and Niccoli M. Thermodynamics of Extremely Diluted Aqueous Solutions, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 879, 1999:241-248.

Rey L. Thermoluminescence of Ultra-High Dilutions of Lithium Chloride and Sodium Chloride. Physica A, 323(2003)67-74.