Flower remedies can be bought over the counter, but proponents argue it is best to consult a trained therapist. The therapist would identify the patient’s underlying emotional imbalance, which, in turn, determines the choice of remedy. Flower remedies are also often recommended to healthy individuals with a view to preventing illness.
What is the evidence?
Several rigorous trials of flower remedies are available. None of them shows that this approach is effective beyond placebo in curing disease or alleviating symptoms. As the remedies are highly diluted, adverse effects are not likely.
Conclusion
Flower remedies are based on concepts which contradict current medical knowledge. The trial data fail to demonstrate effects beyond a placebo response. Therefore flower remedies are a waste of money.
Cellular Therapy
The use of human or animal cells or cell extracts for medicinal purposes.
Background
In conventional medicine, organs or cells are sometimes transplanted from one person to another, e.g. bone‑marrow transplantations or blood tranfusions. This is entirely different from cellular therapy as used in alternative medicine, sometimes also called ‘live cell therapy’ or ‘cytotherapy’.
In 1931 the Swiss surgeon Paul Niehans had the idea of injecting preparations from animal foetuses into humans for the purpose of rejuvenation. This concept seemed plausible to lay people and many influential individuals who could afford this expensive treatment became Niehan’s patients. When it emerged that Niehan’s Frischzellen Therapie (fresh cell therapy) was dangerous–thirty deaths had been reported by 1955–his preparations were banned in several countries.
Meanwhile several similar cellular treatments had emerged, particularly on the European continent. Examples include ‘Thymus’ therapy (injection of the extracts from the thymus gland of calves) or ‘Ney Tumoin’ (protein extracts from calves or cows) or ‘Polyerga’ (protein extracted from pig spleen) or ‘Factor AF2’ (extract from spleens and livers of newborn sheep). These preparations are usually injected by doctors (non‑doctor therapists are not allowed to give injections in most countries) who claim that they have anti‑cancer properties, stimulate the immune system or simply regenerate organs or rejuvenate the body in a general sense.
What is the evidence?
Thymus therapy has been extensively researched as a cancer treatment. The totality of this evidence does not show the approach to be effective. Other preparations have either generated similarly negative results or have not been submitted to clinical trials. However, it is known that any treatment that introduces foreign proteins directly into the bloodstream can lead to anaphylactic shock, the most serious type of allergic reaction. If this condition is not treated adequately and immediately, it can result in death.
Conclusion
The seemingly plausible principle of cellular therapy continues to appeal to the rich and super‑rich. None of the claims of cellular therapy are, however, supported by scientific evidence, so these treatments are both dangerous and a waste of money.
Chelation Therapy
The infusion of chemical agents which bind to other chemicals into the bloodstream for the purpose of removing toxins and for treating diseases caused by arteriosclerosis.
Background
Chelation therapy started as a branch of conventional medicine to remove heavy metals and other toxins from the body by introducing powerful chemical agents, which bind to the toxins and are subsequently excreted. This conventional form of chelation therapy is indisputably effective and often life‑saving. In alternative medicine, chelation therapy is used in very different ways and has two main applications.
First, alternative therapists use chelation to remove toxins, but the source of these toxins is unclear. For example, they may attempt to remove mercury which allegedly leaked from dental fillings or vaccines. There is, however, no evidence to suggest any toxicity from these sources. Thus chelation therapy is employed to fix a non‑existing problem.
Second, chelation therapy is used for eliminating calcium ions from the blood, based on the notion that calcium deposits in the arterial wall are responsible for arteriosclerosis which, in turn, is seen as the cause of heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease and other conditions. Consequently, alternative chelation therapists insist that their treatment is helpful for coronary heart disease, stroke prevention, peripheral vascular disease and a range of conditions from arthritis to osteoporosis.
Alternative chelation therapists usually advocate a whole series of treatments. In total, this can cost the patient thousands of pounds.
What is the evidence?
The claims that chelation is effective for coronary heart disease, stroke or peripheral arterial disease is based on outdated scientific theories. Chelation therapy has been tested repeatedly, but these clinical trials fail to demonstrate effectiveness. Serious adverse effects, including deaths due to electrolyte depletion, have been associated with chelation therapy. In 2005 two children, one with autism, suffered cardiac arrest and died after chelation.
Conclusion
Chelation therapy, as used in alternative medicine, is disproven, expensive and dangerous. We urge patients not to use this treatment.
Colonic Irrigation
Use of enemas for ‘cleansing the body’ sometimes herbs, enzymes or coffee are added to the water which is administered via the rectum.
Background
The notion that we are poisoning ourselves with toxic intestinal waste products from ingested food seems plausible to many lay people and is therefore widespread. It forms the basis for a range of alternative approaches which allegedly free the body of such ‘autointoxication’. One of them is colonic irrigation, or colon therapy as it is also called. The popularity of this treatment can be explained through its apparently logical concept and through its continuous promotion by the popular media and certain celebrities.
A treatment session involves partial undressing, insertion of a tube via the rectum and receiving considerable amounts of fluids via this route. The fluid is later extracted and, on closer inspection, appears to be loaded with ‘waste products’.
This visual impression helps to convince patients that colonic irrigation achieves what it claims: the elimination of residues that the body is best rid of. Treatment might last for approximately 30 minutes and long‑term therapy is sometimes advised, with weekly or twice weekly sessions. Colonic irrigation is promoted as a treatment for gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, obesity, migraine and many other chronic illnesses.
What is the evidence?
Enemas have an undoubted role in conventional medicine. The use of colonic irrigation as employed in alternative medicine is, however, an entirely different matter. None of the waste products of our body ‘poison’ us; they are eliminated through a range of physiological processes, unless we are suffering from severe organ failure.