Quackcast

I've been really enjoying listening to the Quackcast. It's a dry, sarcastic analysis of alternative medicine, complete with explanations of the available medical literature on each subject. Full of great references and in-jokes. It's not "fair and balanced". It's science, and it's all about data. If that's how you prefer your medicine to be done, this is a great podcast. The guiding quote sums it up nicely:

“Ridicule is the only weapon that can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them.”

-- Thomas Jefferson (on a different topic)

Here's the summary of my listening so far. If you don't want to take my word for it (and you shouldn't), please, listen to the podcast! The data is quite convincing. Unless, of course, you don't make decisions based on data, in which case, why are you reading this blog?

• Acupuncture (without electricity) is ineffective and dangerous.
• Chiropractic is sometimes ineffective and dangerous. Now, chiropractors are a varied lot. Some are perfectly reasonable and helpful. I'm not saying you shouldn't see a chiropractor. But if you're going to, make sure you find a sane one. The more reality-challenged ones think that manipulating your spine can cure your allergies. Some reject germ theory, of all things, which means they may not clean tables or equipment. Equipment used to give colinics. You may now run screaming in terror.
• Homeopathy is hysterically ineffective.
• Vitamin C megadoses do not prevent colds, or reduce their intensity or length to any useful degree.
• Probiotics might do something, but not as typically sold.
• The anti-vaccine movement doesn't have a leg to stand on with any argument they've ever made. All they accomplish is getting children maimed and killed.
• Things sold as an "immune system booster" really just provokes an immune response, like inflammation. This does not make you more likely to fight off infection, and it may actually contribute to cardiovascular disease.

The Science-Based Medicine blog, often referenced in the Quackcast, also looks great, but I haven't gotten into it in depth yet.