Dr. Peter Lipson writes in Science-Based Medicine's "Naturopathy For Allergies" [2010-05-20]:
"naturopathy is an unusual chimera. It is basically a collection of old fashioned medical superstitions presented under a veneer of highly speculative, quasi-scientific assertions [...] it is important, from time to time, to evaluate specific claims made by this particular non-science-based belief system [...including] vitalistic mumbo-jumbo [...] a visit to a national (US) naturopathic association website [the AANP] is a painful lesson in how naturopathic believers view health and disease [...they say] 'very often, simple changes of diet, nutritional supplements, and homeopathic remedies can relieve this extreme reaction and the resulting inflammation that triggers most allergy symptoms' [...] none of these assertions is backed up by evidence. Most of it isn’t even promising enough to bother with [...AANP says] 'homeopathic remedies involve taking an extremely diluted form of selected allergens in liquid or sugar-pill form sublingually (under the tongue). These minuscule doses serve somewhat like a vaccination, stimulating your immune system to an effective rather than extreme response' [...] vaccination is to homeopathy as horseback riding is to unicorn wrangling [...] naturopaths, it would seem, are not 'medicine plus', but 'everything but.' Since they do not use proven, effective therapies, the[y] throw unproved, implausible therapies at their patients perhaps hoping that when the allergies relent as a natural course of the disease, they might finally claim credit. That’s what all the best shamans do."
Note: oh snap! He called naturopathy a "non-science-based belief system" while AANP states that naturopathy is "science-based" and "not a belief system."
I agree with the former.
