Diet and Nutrition in Primary Care

Health fraud and the resurgence of quackery in the United States: A warning to the European Union

“…Following a definition provided by an editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, quackery is recognized by "an ideology that largely ignores biologic mechanisms, often disparages modern science, and relies on what are purported to be ancient practices and natural remedies" [30]. Another widely used definition is "interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in US hospitals" [31][32][33][34][35]. These definitions encompass a heterogeneous group of popular, pseudoscientific and irrational therapies such as therapeutic touch, homeopathy, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, reflexology, iridology, and a plethora of similar fringe practices not grounded in legitimate science [35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”

“…What are some of the reasons that products remain unproven? Most unproven products (e.g., herbals) cannot be patented, so that any company committing several million research dollars to prove safety and efficacy would not be assured of a positive income flow [31,32]. Therefore, funding is usually allocated preferentially to advertising the unproven products, a tactic which gives skittish investors, marketing departments and stockholders heightened assurance of a return on the investment.…”