Alternative medicine consists of practices claimed to have the healing effects of medicine but which are disproven, unproven, impossible to prove, or are excessively harmful in relation to their effect.
The scientific consensus for alternative medicine is therapy does not, or cannot, work because the known laws of nature are violated by its basic claims.
It is considered so much worse than conventional treatment that it would be unethical to offer as treatment.
Alternative therapies are not part of medicine or science-based healthcare systems.
Alternative medicine consists of practices, products, and therapies that range from those that are biologically plausible,to those with known harmful and toxic effects.
Effects of alternative medicine may be caused by placebo.
Alternative medicine is used by a significant percentage of the population in many countries.
It often suggested alternative medicine be used together with functional medical treatment, because it improves the effect of, or mitigates the side effects of the treatment.
Significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may instead negatively influence treatments, making them less effective, notably cancer therapy.
Becomes quackery by recommending against conventional therapies that are helpful, promoting potentially harmful therapies without adequate warning, and by promoting magical thinking.
The presence of increased conspiracy theories toward conventional medicine and pharmaceutical companies, mistrust of traditional authority figures,and a dislike of the current delivery methods of scientific biomedicine, all of which have lead patients to seek out alternative medicine to treat a variety of ailments.
Defined as a set of products, practices, and theories perceived to have healing effects, but whose effectiveness has not been clearly established using scientific methods.
Alternative products or practices do not originate from using scientific methodology.
Alternative processes may instead be based on testimonials, religion, tradition, superstition, propaganda, or other unscientific sources.
Practices, and theories range to those from biologically plausible practices that are directly contradicted by basic science.
The terms-Alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, natural medicine, unorthodox medicine, fringe medicine, unconventional medicine, are used interchangeably as having the same meaning.
Complementary medicine or integrative medicine are terms used when alternative medicine is used together with functional medical treatment.
Significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may negatively influence treatment.
Allopathic medicine is a term used by homeopaths and proponents of other forms of alternative medicine to refer to mainstream medicine.
Allopathic medicine is used to refer to medical practice that is evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine, but the term has never been accepted by conventional medicine and is considered pejorative.
Many conventional medical treatments do not fit the definition of allopathy, as they seek to prevent illness, or remove its cause.
A group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.
Alternative treatments should be subjected to scientific testing similar to that required for conventional treatments.
Methods may be based on traditional medicinal practices of a particular culture, folk knowledge, superstition, spiritual beliefs, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, new or different concepts of health and disease, and any bases other than being proven by scientific methods.
Americans make more visits for alternative therapies than the total number of visits to primary care doctors.
Approximately one in two Americans use alternative medicine.
The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) act reduced authority of the FDA to monitor products sold as natural treatments.
There is a general scientific consensus that such lack scientific validation, and their effectiveness is either unproved or disproved.
Typically lacks any scientific validation, and their effectiveness is either unproved or disproved.
Research is frequently of low quality and methodologically flawed.
Even with the safest alternative medicines, failure to use or delay in using conventional science-based medicine has caused deaths.
Many alternative medical treatments are not patentable, which may lead to less research funding.
In most countries, alternative treatments can be marketed without any proof of efficacy.
Alternative medicine cannot be tested, refuse to be tested, or consistently fail tests.
Often done by non-physicians who do not operate with the same medical licensing laws which govern conventional medicine.
Integrative medicine may be deliberately misleading patients by pretending placebos are not quackery.
Popularity of the CAM can be explained by moral convictions or lifestyle choices rather than by economic reasoning.
About 50% of people in developed countries use complementary and alternative medicine.
The US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. NCCIH and its predecessor, the Office of Alternative Medicine, research has largely not demonstrated the efficacy of alternative treatments.
Most CAM use is used to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions or other conditions associated with chronic or recurring pain.
In America, women were more likely than men to use CAM.
The most common CAM therapies used in the US include: prayer, herbalism, breathing meditation, meditation, chiropractic medicine, yoga, body work, diet-based therapy relaxation, mega-vitamin therapy and Visualization.
Regulation and licensing of alternative medicine ranges widely from state to state.
Some alternative treatments have been associated with unexpected side effects, which can be fatal.
There is no general consensus about how to balance consumer protection from false claims, toxicity, and advertising with freedom to choose treatments..
Alternative medicines that are biologically active can be dangerous even when used in conjunction with conventional medicine.
Some herbal remedies can cause dangerous interactions with chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy, or anesthetics.
Conventional treatments are subjected to testing for undesired side-effects, whereas alternative treatments, in general, are not subjected to such testing.
Patients with impaired hepatic or renal function are more susceptible to side effects of alternative remedies.
Invalidated or scientifically unsupported health practices can lead individuals to forgo effective treatments.
Many alternative therapies have been investigated in good-quality clinical trials, and they have been shown to be ineffective.
Studies have found that patients using complementary medicine are more likely to refuse surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy and patients using complementary or alternative medicine are more than twice as likely to die than those treated with conventional medicine.