Naturopathy
Consider the following advice offered on the “information resources for consumers” webpage of the Caregroup/Harvard Medical School Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education (CAMRE):
Please consult your local telephone yellow pages under these categories:
Acupuncture
Chiropractic
Holistic Practitioners
Massage - Therapeutic
Naturopathic Physicians
In order to appreciate the implications of this appeal, it is necessary to examine the beliefs and practices of at least one of the recommended groups. “Naturopathic physicians” are a recent manifestation of the field known as “naturopathy,” whose origins were in the 19th century German “natural living” movement. Early naturopaths railed against contemporary medical advances such as the Germ Theory and vaccinations, but espoused the “water cure,” fasting, herbs, homeopathy, colonic “detoxification,” and other fanciful methods.
The content of the field has changed little since then, but the trappings have become distinctly modern. A subset of naturopaths now claims to practice “a distinct form of primary health care,” according to the official definition on the website of their national organization, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP). They state that they are “primary care physicians, most of whom are in general private practice [and] trained to be the doctor first seen by the patient for general healthcare, for advice on keeping healthy, and for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic conditions.”
“Naturopathic doctors” or “N.D.’s,” as they also call themselves, state that they have received training appropriate to the practice of medicine, including a basic science curriculum equivalent to that taught in medical schools. This training occurs in one of four schools in the U.S., each of which offers a four-year, on campus curriculum, but no significant hospital or residency experience. Three of the schools are unaffiliated with larger universities; the fourth, the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine in Connecticut, is owned by the Unification Church, known more commonly as the “Moonies.” The schools have little interaction with the scientific community at large.
Naturopaths believe in “vitalism,” the long discredited notion that biological processes don’t conform to universal physical and chemical principles. They claim to “treat the cause of a problem, rather than to merely eliminate or suppress the symptoms.” They claim to know how to “boost the immune system” with herbs and homeopathic preparations. They claim to have esoteric knowledge about preventive medicine that is, implicitly, unknown to “conventionally” trained physicians, public health experts, nurses, nutritionists, and others. They claim special expertise in nutrition and in the use of “natural remedies.”
What is the reality of these claims? Naturopaths invoke a few simplistic “theories” to explain the causes of all disease. These include the actions of ubiquitous, but ill-defined “toxins”; widespread “food allergies”; dietary sugar, fat, and gluten; inadequate vitamins and minerals (which naturopaths offer for sale); epidemic candidiasis (yeast infections); vertebral “misalignments” (a canard borrowed from chiropractic); and a few others. To “diagnose” these entities naturopaths use an assortment of absurd methods, among which are “iridology” or iris diagnosis, which claims that the entire body is represented on the iris of the eye; “applied kinesiology” by which, for example, an “allergy” to a particle of food is detected by placing the food particle in one hand of a patient and observing a resulting weakness in the other; hair analysis; “electrodiagnosis,” which measures the skin’s resistance to a tiny electric current; “live cell analysis”; and more.
Naturopathic “therapies” are an eclectic assortment of implausible and unproven methods, among which are “colonic irrigation” (enemas) and fasting for “detoxification,” hydrotherapy (wrapping part or all of the body in wet towels), homeopathy, acupuncture and “oriental medicine,” chiropractic manipulation, aromatherapy, arduous dietary schemes, intravenous vitamin C and hydrogen peroxide, whole enzyme pills, and other dubious “natural remedies” including botanical, animal, and mineral products, several of which are known to be dangerous. Naturopaths sell “remedies” to their clients at a considerable profit, an obvious conflict of interest that is formally approved by their national organization, the AANP.
How does all this translate into the practice of “naturopathic medicine?” Mainstream naturopathic literature shows numerous examples of practices and recommendations that are both absurd and dangerous. Among these are the repudiation of standard treatments of strep pharyngitis, acute otitis media,[1] and other potentially catastrophic childhood infectious diseases, while offering instead such ineffective “alternatives” as homeopathy, hydrotherapy, and “natural antibiotics” (e.g., herbs such as Goldenseal); affiliation with the strident anti-vaccination movement; the repudiation of standard treatments of asthma, offering instead, for example, a hydrogen peroxide bath to “bring extra oxygen to the entire surface of the skin, thus making the lungs somewhat less oxygen hungry” or “gems and minerals…worn as jewelry, or placed around the home in special places”; warnings against proven medical and surgical treatments for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis, while instead recommending unproven herbs and EDTA chelation “therapy”;[2]treatment of the acute stroke patient with damp compresses and aromatherapy; claims that NDs can diagnose chronic, debilitating diseases such as multiple sclerosis at a much earlier stage than can “conventional” physicians, and effect a cure by fanciful methods; claims that breast cancer can be prevented and cured by an assortment of unproven, expensive “supplements” and “tests” that are not appreciated by “conventional” doctors, nurses, and public health experts; ubiquitous “toxin” hysteria, including anti-fluoridation statements, warnings against most proven pharmaceuticals, and claims that “25% of Americans suffer from heavy metal toxicity”;[3] claims that they can offer “natural childbirth” at home without complications; the exuberant promotion and sale of “dietary supplements” for all complaints, with little regard for safety; and much more. Naturopaths have not subjected these claims to rational study, because they are already convinced that they work. In summary, “naturopathic medicine” is best understood as a pseudoscientific cult.
A 1999 survey of the small number of N.D.s in Massachusetts, performed by two investigators from Children’s Hospital, is consistent with these findings. They found that only 20% of those surveyed would recommend that parents have their children vaccinated, and that only 40% would refer a two-week old infant with a temperature of 101° F (a dire, life-threatening emergency) for definitive medical care.[4]