Wednesday, November 26, 2003

The New Medical Research Something bothers me about medical research. I heard a study quoted last week that said coffee is really good for you, it prevents all kinds of cancer. The same week, another study was announced that proved definitely that coffee causes cancer. If you follow medical studies, you know this happens ALL THE TIME. St. John's Wort is proven ineffective, then three months later it is a star again after it is proven to work flawlessly. Fat is bad, then just saturated fat is bad, then just hydrogenated fat is bad, then fat is actually good, it's carbohydrates we have to worry about. And every conclusion is based on scientific studies. My friend who is a university professor would say "If the results are divergent, then the method must be questioned." Divergent results mean they aren't narrowing in on one thing closer and closer, that the results are all over the place. Convergent results get you closer and closer to one thing, one conclusion. Am I saying we need to question the scientific method? Yes, I am. I think there's something wrong with it. In the holistic health world, it is sometimes not even possible to do a scientific study to judge a certain technique. How can you have a "placebo massage?" How can you have a pretend aroma in aromatherapy? You could create a fake rose smell, but then that smell might cause a whole chain reaction that you weren't anticipating. I am beginning to think that I trust therapies based on how long they've been used and are still in practice. For instance, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) - including acupuncture, chi gong, tui na, etc. - has been used for five thousand years and is still getting more and more popular. Okay, I believe in that one. Massage, thousands of years. Good. Homeopathy? Two hundred fifty years. Well, kind of a short time, but we'll give it the benefit of the doubt. (:-) With this mindset, how does research happen? I have this idea... The "medical researchers" of the twenty-first century will be the historians and anthropologist. They will tell us the remedies that were discovered and proposed years and years ago and how we can recreate them. They will find the ancient healing techniques in various societies around the world and bring them into our midst. I told my wife that hobbyist geneologists, like our friend, will soon become very popular, as we are quizzing them for information about how their great, great, great grandfather cured a hangover. They will become the new medical researchers. 11:38:43 AM

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