Homeopathy against candida. that's where I suspected.

The principles of homeopathy go against everything we know in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and medicine

This week it was published Under the Pharm-Net channel in Ynet's health section An article claiming that an Israeli study was able to demonstrate that homeopathic treatment is highly effective against the yeast (fungus) Candida. The homeopathic preparation, or remedy as homeopathic preparations are called, which is mentioned in an article called "Candida Mix". It is sold by Super-Pharm - the operator of the channel - and by some of the authors of the study.

Homeopathy is based on the mystical principle according to which "like cures like", known for example from the biblical legend about Nehushtan (Bamadbar XNUMX:XNUMX). Followers of homeopathy believe that a substance capable of provoking different symptoms in a healthy person will cure the same symptoms in a sick person, and the healing power of the substance increases the smaller its dose. Therefore, all homeopathic preparations are diluted and rejuvenated in a process known as "potentization", usually until not even one molecule of the original substance remains, but only water (or alcohol or sugar). To explain how the resulting preparation, which is mostly water with no trace of the original substance, is able to cure - so to speak - diseases, modern homeopaths claim that thanks to the special dilution procedure the "essence" of the substance remains. The water "remembers" the properties of the original material and is apparently capable of stimulating the patient's body to heal itself.

The principles of homeopathy go against everything we know in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and medicine, but it is possible that homeopathic preparations are able to cure patients by some mechanism that has not yet been discovered. However, well-prepared and well-controlled trials, designed to test the effectiveness of a drug or process even if their mechanism of action is unknown, have never been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment. In every well-conducted experiment, homeopathic preparations were as effective as placebo (dummy treatment), that is, they were not effective at all (for more details on the effectiveness of homeopathy and experiments to test it, see HERE, HERE וHERE).

If homeopathic treatments are unable to cure any real problem, how is it possible that the homeopathic preparation "Candida Mix" was able to eliminate, according to the article, the yeast?

This lies in the broad definition that the authors of the article gave to the word "research". Scientific research is published in scientific journals after undergoing peer review. In the peer review process, other scientists in the field, who are not related to the research, check whether the research is reliable, whether it is well planned, whether all methods are reported clearly and transparently, whether it is worthy of publication, and more. Despite the review process, sometimes articles are published that turn out to be wrong or even fake, such as the study that claimed that genetically modified corn causes cancer or a (humorous?) study on the healing ability of Jesus. Such studies are often exposed after other scientists fail to repeat the results of the experiment or following a critical reading by other researchers in the field.

A search for the original study in scientific journals turned up nothing. Details of the "research", conducted by the physician and homeopath Dr. Boaz Ron and his colleagues, appear in the article:

"The study was carried out on 36 subjects (of various ages, some of them also on the autistic spectrum), during which stool or vaginal mucosa samples were sent to a microbiological laboratory at Elisha Hospital.

The samples that were found to be positive for the presence of a fungus were sent to the homeopathic laboratory of Super-Pharm for the preparation of an appropriate homeopathic preparation. After three months, the subjects returned and sent samples to the laboratory to test the level of the fungus in their bodies. The treatment was found to be very effective in treating the fungus (over 91%)"

It is also possible to find on the website of Adib, the Center for Classical Homeopathy, a letter from Prof. Israela Berdichevsky, Professor of Microbiology at the Technion's Faculty of Medicine, which is presented as if it were research for everything.

As mentioned, the homeopathic research has not been published and has not been peer-reviewed, moreover, well-planned and well-controlled experiments have repeatedly shown that homeopathic preparations are ineffective - two facts that raise questions about the validity of the research. Indeed, it seems that the experiment described in the article and in the letter suffers from many failures and is far from being a well planned or controlled experiment.

When testing the effectiveness of a medical treatment, a randomized controlled double blind clinical trial must be conducted using the double blind method that includes a control group (randomized controlled double blind clinical trial). In an experiment like this, they compare a large number of people (several hundred to several thousand) who were randomly divided into two groups. One group will receive the tested treatment and the other group, the control group, will receive a different treatment or a sham treatment. Both the subjects and the researchers do not know which group each patient belongs to, to prevent their biases from influencing, consciously or unconsciously, the results of the experiment. The homeopathic experiment in the treatment of candida does not meet even one of these conditions.

The number of patients selected for the experiment (36) is extremely small and does not allow valid conclusions to be drawn from its results, and even if there were more participants there is no control group. Without a control group, it is not possible to conclude whether the improvement seen in the patients is indeed due to the homeopathic preparation or occurred for another reason, such as a spontaneous improvement in the condition or thanks to another treatment and according to the article the subjects are indeed were taken care of Also in other treatments (my emphasis):

"The results of the study indicate that the treatment is extremely effective compared to other treatments that have partial and temporary effectiveness. The treatment is given without the need for expensive food supplements and without side effects. The treatment is given In parallel with existing treatments (medicinal, supplements, nutrition, etc.) and even improves them, without chemical substances or side effects" (At least there are no side effects or chemical substances, after all almost all homeopathic preparations are nothing more than water).

It is not clear how the subjects were selected in the experiment. There is also no blinding: both the subjects and the researchers know who is being treated, especially since there is no control group.

The candida connection

Candida is a yeast that exists naturally on the skin, in the digestive system and in women also in the vagina. Candida is harmless and even protects against bacteria and other disease-causing organisms by competing with them for resources. Rarely and under certain conditions, for example after taking antibiotics that harm the bacteria that limit the spread of Candida, the fungus may spread and cause an infection in the vagina, mouth or on the skin. In people whose immune system is damaged (due to AIDS, post-transplant treatments, chemotherapy, etc.) the fungus may spread to penetrate internal organs and endanger the patient's life.

Since candida lives on each and every one of us and may even cause minor problems, it has been "adopted" by many of those who practice alternative medicine as the source of all evil, at the same time as claims that the normal medical establishment is unable to diagnose the problems it causes and therefore claims that it is all nonsense. These therapists blame Candida for many ailments even though there is no evidence that it is indeed related to them, in the article for example Ron claims that:

"The presence of the fungus and the toxins it releases into the body affect the general health (triggers allergies, worsens attention and concentration disorders, sleep disorders, persistent weakness and fatigue, vaginal and bladder infections and even difficulties with fertility, weight loss, etc.) accompanied by complaints in the digestive system". Some therapists also blame candida as the cause of autism, but there is no basis for this either.

Since candida exists, as mentioned above, in any case as part of the natural human flora, it is not surprising that the fungus was detected in all 36 subjects. Various studies have shown that the candida level changes even without any treatment (eg HERE וHERE) Therefore, there is no surprise that after three months the candida level decreased in most of the subjects, especially because they received treatment in addition to the homeopathic preparation.

In conclusion, apart from the fact that there is no reason to try to destroy the Candida yeast if there is no fungus or a more serious infection (real and not imaginary) it also seems that the study does not meet any of the basic requirements of scientific research: the sold preparation has no ability to affect the fungus and the current experiment failed to show Because there really is in homeopathy. On the face of it, it seems that instead of publishing real research, adding knowledge to the reader or at least showing critical thinking, the publication of the research on Ynet - under the channel of a marketing network - is intended for marketing and public relations for an expensive and unnecessary product and a not cheap test sold by the network.
for further reading

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The article was first published on Noam Levitan's SciPhile blog