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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Yawn. Another study tries to convince us that mind-body interventions can “reprogram our DNA.” It fails.

A recent systematic review has been touted as demonstrating that “mind-body” practices like yoga can reprogram our DNA. There are several reasons to doubt these claims, not the least of which is the history of bias in past studies on this topic.

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Biology Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

And now for a little tooth fairy science on meditation…

Back in the day, Deepak Chopra used to be a frequent topic of this blog. He still pops up from time to time, such as when irony meters everywhere immediately self-destructed after Chopra criticized Donald Trump for being insufficiently evidence-based or when, after I wrote a post asking why medical conferences keep inviting Chopra to […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Tai Chi for osteoarthritis: How exercise is “rebranded” as complementary and alternative medicine

“Complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more frequently referred to as “integrative medicine” by its proponents, consists of a hodge-podge of largely unrelated treatments that range from seemingly reasonable (e.g., diet and exercise) to pure quackery (e.g., acupuncture, reiki and other “energy medicine”) that CAM proponents are trying furiously to “integrate” as coequals into science-based […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

NCCIH research: Nothing much there behind the curtain

It’s an understatement to say that I’m not exactly a fan of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), the institute formerly known as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and, even a year after its name change, probably still better known by its old moniker. Just type “NCCAM” or […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Popular culture Quackery Science

Health disparities research and the mainstreaming of "integrative medicine"

The overarching goal that proponents of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as is becoming the preferred term, “integrative” medicine is the mainstreaming of the “unconventional” treatments that fall under the rubric of these two terms. Indeed, that’s the very reason why they so insisted on the shift from calling it CAM to calling […]