Lay out the welcome mat: naturopathy has come in from the cold

Use of complementary medicine (CAM) is widespread but often condemned by medical practitioners as being baseless or quackery. But some practices that fall under the umbrella of CAM do have a basis in evidence and may even offer lessons to medical doctors.

 So what’s the difference, really? (Naturopathic Medicine and the Therapeutic Order)

The Therapeutic Order helps physicians prioritize treatments and ensure that the least harm is done to the patient. Naturopathic physicians recognize that good health is the natural state of the body, and that disease results as a disturbance in the body’s environment.

 The Future Of Health: Uniting Medical And Naturopathic Doctors

Medical doctors and naturopathic doctors are often placed on opposite sides of the medical spectrum. In reality, conventional and naturopathic medicine is most effective when used together.

A Conversation With David Friedman, Doctor of Naturopathy

I am always learning, growing, and striving to help others attain optimal health and become the best they can be. As a chiropractic physician, doctor of naturopathy and former teacher of neurology with post graduate education from Harvard Medical School, I am the first to admit that 50 percent of what I learned in college is obsolete today.

California Has A Deadly Problem With Regulating Naturopathic Doctors

About five weeks ago, naturopathic doctor Kim Kelly gave an intravenous injection of curcumin that killed Jade Erick, 30, who sought “natural” treatment for eczema. Her death sparked outrage across the country, while naturopathic doctors scrambled to defend this senseless treatment.

Naturopathic Medicine Week And The Problem Of Endemic Quackery, Like Ozone Therapy

Ozone therapy is one such case of unsafe quackery that is endorsed by the naturopathic profession. Naturopaths claim that ozone, a highly reactive gas, can be used to treat a plethora of serious medical conditions, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and HIV infection. But ozone is extremely poisonous. It is an unstable molecule that reacts aggressively with biological compounds to form free radicals—the ultimate threat to health that alternative medicine zealots warn about.

Naturopaths are Homeopaths

Homeopathy is the biggest thorn in naturopaths’ sides. If the field wants to move forward as a medical profession, it must denounce homeopathy. But I don’t think this is ever going to happen.

Naturopaths: Fake Doctors In White Coats?

There is a widely held belief that there is more than one kind of medical system. We hear about "mainstream" medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, Ayurvedic, naturopathic medicine. But what is most important to anyone interested in their health is whether or not something works.

Naturopathy and science

Although homeopathy is the one woo to rule them all in the U.K. and much of Europe, here in the U.S. homeopathy is not nearly as big a deal. Arguably, some flavor of naturopathy is the second most prevalent “alternative medical system” here, after chiropractic of course, and perhaps duking it out with traditional Chinese medicine, although naturopathy does embrace TCM as part of the armamentarium of dubious medical systems that it uses.

The Morality of Practicing Medicine and the Licensed Naturopath

The “care” aspect of patient care can be challenging for doctors. This is especially true in the face of uncertainty like with chronic or idiopathic diseases. Patients tend to want to know why they are ill. (I know I did.) When patients feel questions are not sufficiently addressed by medical doctors they often look for answers in alternative places, like in the offices of naturopaths.

The Nature of Medicine, and the Medicine of Nature

There are, I am sure, naturopaths who inveigh against conventional medicine, although I have met very few. Similarly, there are conventionally trained health professionals who are dismissive about all modes of care not involving some patented drug or technology. They, too, are uncommon — or at least I hope so.

The shocking confessions of a naturopathic doctor

Compared to a physician (MD or DO), nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, naturopaths are not prepared to manage patients’ health care. Yet, NDs argue they are the solution to the great primary care shortage.

What is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of primary health care that emphasizes prevention and the self-healing process through the use of natural therapies. While the roots of naturopathic medicine date back to the 1890s, naturopathic medicine has witnessed a rapid increase in public interest in recent years as a result of the growing consumer movement to solve the health care puzzle using prevention, wellness and respect for nature's inherent healing ability.

Ye of Little Faith in Naturopathic Medicine

For naturopaths, it does not matter if science refutes the traditional ways of healing. Because for naturopathic believers, what matters is not about what science says, but about beliefs in an alternative, magical healing force. Naturopathic medical beliefs include pseudoscientific ideas like vaccines cause more harm than good, any disease can be successfully treated with homeopathy, alternative cancer therapies are safe and effective, and nutrition can cure mental illness. These beliefs are dangerous and their promotion is unethical.

You’re What Kind of Doctor?

“Wait, you’re what kind of doctor? A nat-uro-pathic doctor? What’s that?”

How Effective is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic medicine has been practiced in some form or another for centuries. The techniques used by naturopathic doctors have been fine-tuned for effectiveness. What makes naturopathic medicine so effective is that the goal of natural treatments is to treat the whole person — not just the symptoms.

Naturopathy Is 99.9% Bull$hit, But Here’s What That 0.1% Can Teach Us

Britt’s blog, Naturopathic Diaries, had long been legendary in scientific circles for exposing the arcane and quackery-ridden world of naturopathy. After all, she had legit street cred as both a former naturopathic doctor and current actual scientist. Despite her exhaustion, she managed to open our eyes to the dangers of naturopathy while showing real vulnerability and insight around what attracted her to it in the first place. What can modern medicine learn from her journey?

Quacking All the Way to the Bank

Naturopaths are winning insurance coverage for medical nonsense.

We Need to Stop Treating Naturopaths Like They’re Medical Doctors

Doctors, government, and the alternative medicine industry all have a duty to do better here. Horseradish and echinacea are no substitute for conventional, science-based medicine. Patients across Canada need better access to family doctors, and they need to know—without a doubt—when it's time to seek one out, and forego the naturopath.

Why 'Naturopathic Medicine' Is An Oxymoron

Comparing the education that physicians and naturopaths obtain in order to prepare for their professions reveals a large difference between the two. Although both schools have a four year program - the similarities end there.

Why Is Big Naturopathy Afraid Of This Lone Whistleblower?

Hold on to your tinfoil hats, folks. Naturopathic physicians, who rely on the so-called "healing power of nature," want to go mainstream and they’re accusing their opposition of libel and slander. This time, the opposition comes in the form of a lone former naturopathic physician fed up with the legitimizing of naturopathic medicine. And her supporter base is growing.

Why one naturopath quit after watching her peers treat cancer patients

"Naturopathic medicine is not what I was led to believe," she wrote on her blog. "I discovered that the profession functions as a system of indoctrination based on discredited ideas about health and medicine, full of anti-science rhetoric with many ineffective and dangerous practices."