Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine (Vitamins, Supplements, and All Things Natural: A Look Behind the Curtain)

by Paul A. Offit

I learned that all therapies should be held to the same high standard of proof; otherwise we’ll continue to be hoodwinked by healers who ask us to believe in them rather than in the science that fails to support their claims. And

There you go

it’ll happen when we’re most vulnerable, most willing to spend whatever it takes for the promise of a cure.

(George Bernard Shaw commented on the limits of faith healing after a visit to the shrine of Lourdes. “All those canes, braces, and crutches,” he wrote, “and not a single glass eye, wooden leg, or toupee.”)

First, Oz and his Superstars provide an instruction book for something that doesn’t come with instructions: life.

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Another lure of alternative medicine is that it’s personalized.

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The promise of ancient wisdom is also appealing.

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Traditional healers also offer something else. Where modern medicine is spiritless and technological, they argue, alternative medicine is spiritual and meaningful. “The

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Finally, practitioners of alternative medicine appeal to the popular notion that you can manage your own health, that you don’t need doctors to tell you what to do.

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“The gaps in medical knowledge we all dread are not likely to be filled by energy fields, meridians, and astrology but by the purposeful pursuit of knowledge under a single set of standards we call science.

The problem comes when mainstream healers dismiss the placebo response as trivial or when alternative healers offer placebos instead of lifesaving medicines or charge an exorbitant price for their remedies or promote