Agriculture •
Lysenkoism, or
Lysenko-Michurinism – was a political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture conducted by
Trofim Lysenko, his followers and Soviet authorities. Lysenko served as the director of the Soviet Union's Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Lysenkoism began in the late 1920s and formally ended in 1964. The pseudoscientific ideas of Lysenkoism built on
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's concepts of the heritability of acquired characteristics. Lysenko's theory rejected
Gregor Mendel's theory of inheritance and the concept of the "gene"; it departed from Darwinian evolutionary theory by rejecting natural selection, viewing that concept as being incompatible with Marxist ideology. •
Biodynamic agriculture – method of
organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms. Biodynamics uses a calendar which has been characterized as
astrological. The substances and composts used by biodynamicists have been described as unconventional and
homeopathic. For example, field mice are countered by deploying ashes prepared from field mice skin when Venus is in the Scorpius constellation. No difference in beneficial outcomes has been scientifically established between certified biodynamic agricultural techniques and similar organic and
integrated farming practices. Biodynamic agriculture lacks strong scientific evidence for its efficacy and has been labeled a pseudoscience because of its overreliance upon esoteric knowledge and mystical beliefs. •
GMO skepticism – The belief that genetically modified foods are inherently unsafe. This contradicts the
scientific consensus.
Architecture •
Feng shui – ancient Chinese system of mysticism and
aesthetics based on
astronomy,
geography and the putative flow of
qi. Evidence for its effectiveness is based on anecdote and there is a lack of a plausible method of action; this leads to conflicting advice from different practitioners of feng shui. Feng shui practitioners use this as evidence of variations or different schools; critical analysts have described it thus: "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork." Modern criticism differentiates between feng shui as a traditional proto-religion and the modern practice: "A naturalistic belief, it was originally used to find an auspicious dwelling place for a shrine or a tomb. However, over the centuries it...has become distorted and degraded into a gross superstition." Additional
New Age and feng shui concepts have been proposed building on the original concept and pseudoscientific claims about energy flowing through the lines have been made. •
Vastu shastra is the ancient Hindu system of architecture, which lays down a series of rules for building houses in relation to ambiance. Vastu Shastra is considered pseudoscience by rationalists like
Narendra Nayak of the
Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations and astronomer
Jayant Narlikar, who writes that Vastu does not have any "logical connection" to the environment.
Finance •
Technical analysis is a
security analysis methodology for forecasting the direction of
prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume.
Behavioral economics and
quantitative analysis use many of the same tools of technical analysis, which, being an aspect of
active management, stands in contradiction to much of
modern portfolio theory. The efficacy of both technical and
fundamental analysis is disputed by the
efficient-market hypothesis, which states that stock market prices are essentially unpredictable. It is still considered by many academics to be pseudoscience. Academics such as
Eugene Fama say the evidence for technical analysis is sparse and is inconsistent with the
weak form of the efficient-market hypothesis.
Health and medicine Pseudoscientific medical practices are often known as
quackery. In contrast, modern medicine is (or seeks to be)
evidence-based. • The
abortion–breast cancer hypothesis posits that having an induced abortion can increase the risk of
breast cancer. This
hypothesis is at odds with mainstream scientific opinion and is rejected by major medical professional organizations. •
Access Consciousness is an alternative medicine technique similar to a combination of
phrenology,
reiki, energy therapies and therapeutic touch, where health and wellness can be improved by touching the 32 "Energy Bars" on a person's head. •
Acupuncture – use of fine needles to stimulate
acupuncture points and balance the flow of
qi. There is no known
anatomical or
histological basis for the existence of
acupuncture points or
meridians and acupuncture is regarded as an alternative medical procedure. Some acupuncturists regard them as functional rather than structural entities, useful in guiding evaluation and care of patients. Acupuncture has been the subject of active
scientific research since the late 20th century and its effects and application remain controversial among medical researchers and clinicians. Some scholarly reviews conclude that acupuncture's effects are mainly attributable to the
placebo effect and others find likelihood of efficacy for particular conditions. •
Dry needling is the therapeutic insertion of fine needles without regard to
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and is similarly controversial. •
Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique similar in principle to
acupuncture. It is based on the concept of life energy, which flows through "meridians" in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to
acupuncture points with the aim of clearing blockages in these meridians. Pressure may be applied by hand, by elbow, or with various devices. Some studies have suggested it may be effective at helping manage nausea and vomiting, lower back pain, tension headaches and stomach ache, although such studies have been found to have a high likelihood of bias. Like many alternative medicines, it may benefit from a
placebo effect.
Quackwatch says acupressure is a dubious practice and its practitioners use irrational methods. •
Adrenal fatigue or
hypoadrenia is a pseudoscientific diagnosis described as a state in which the
adrenal glands are exhausted and unable to produce adequate quantities of hormones, primarily the
glucocorticoid cortisol, due to chronic stress or infections. Adrenal fatigue should not be confused with a number of actual forms of adrenal dysfunction such as
adrenal insufficiency or
Addison's disease. may be applied to a collection of mostly
nonspecific symptoms. A systematic review found no evidence for the existence of adrenal fatigue, confirming the consensus among endocrinological societies that it is a myth. • The
Alexander Technique, named after its creator
Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that was created to retrain habitual patterns of movement and posture. Alexander believed that
poor habits in posture and movement damaged spatial
self-awareness as well as health and that movement efficiency could support overall physical well-being. He saw the technique as a mental training technique as well. Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s in an attempt to address
voice loss during public speaking. Some proponents of the Alexander Technique say that it addresses a variety of health conditions related to cumulative physical behaviors, but there is little evidence to support many of the claims made about the technique. However, both
Aetna and the Australian Department of Health have conducted reviews and concluded that the technique has insufficient evidence to warrant insurance coverage. •
Alternative cancer treatments are
alternative or complementary treatments for
cancer that have not been approved by the government agencies responsible for the
regulation of therapeutic goods and have not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials. Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted
dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given a useful amount of the treatment. These kinds of treatments appear and vanish frequently and have done so throughout history. •
Alternative or fringe medicine – The terms
alternative medicine,
complementary medicine,
integrative medicine, holistic medicine,
natural medicine,
unorthodox medicine,
fringe medicine,
unconventional medicine and
New Age medicine are used interchangeably and are almost synonymous. Terminology shifts over time to reflect the branding of practitioners. Therapies are often
framed as "natural" or "holistic", implicitly and intentionally suggesting that conventional medicine is "artificial" and "narrow in scope". •
Animal magnetism – also known as
mesmerism; was the name given by German doctor
Franz Mesmer in the 18th century to what he believed to be an invisible natural force (
Lebensmagnetismus) possessed by all living things, including humans, animals and vegetables. He believed that the force could have physical effects, including healing, and he tried persistently but without success to achieve scientific recognition of his ideas. •
Anthroposophic medicine, or
anthroposophical medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. Devised in the 1920s by
Rudolf Steiner and
Ita Wegman, it was based on
occult notions and drew on Steiner's
spiritual philosophy, which he called
anthroposophy. Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts. Many drug preparations used in anthroposophic medicine are ultra-diluted substances, similar to those used in homeopathy. Some anthroposophic doctors oppose childhood vaccination and this has led to preventable outbreaks of disease. Professor of complementary medicine
Edzard Ernst and other critics have characterized anthroposophic medicine as having no basis in science, •
Applied kinesiology (
AK) is a technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness. According to their guidelines on allergy diagnostic testing, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology stated there is "no evidence of diagnostic validity" of applied kinesiology. Another study has shown that as an evaluative method, AK "is no more useful than random guessing" and the American Cancer Society has said that "scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness". •
Aromatherapy uses aromatic materials, including
essential oils, and other
aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological or physical well-being. It is offered as a
complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine, the first meaning alongside standard treatments, the second instead of conventional, evidence-based treatments. Aromatherapists, people who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of supposedly therapeutic essential oils that can be used as topical application, massage, inhalation or water immersion. There is no good medical evidence that aromatherapy can either prevent, treat, or cure any disease. Placebo-controlled trials are difficult to design, as the point of aromatherapy is the smell of the products. There is disputed evidence that it may be effective in combating postoperative nausea and vomiting. •
Auriculotherapy (also
auricular therapy,
ear acupuncture, and
auriculoacupuncture) is a form of
alternative medicine based on the idea that the
ear is a micro-system which reflects the entire body, represented on the
auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Conditions affecting the physical, mental or emotional health of the patient are assumed to be treatable by stimulation of the surface of the ear exclusively. Similar mappings are used in many areas of the body, including the practices of
reflexology and
iridology. These mappings are not based on or supported by any medical or
scientific evidence and are therefore considered to be pseudoscience. •
Autistic enterocolitis is a nonexistent medical condition proposed by discredited
British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield when he suggested a link between a number of common clinical symptoms and signs which he contended were distinctive to
autism. The existence of such an
enterocolitis has been dismissed by experts as having "not been established". Wakefield's now-retracted and fraudulent report used inadequate controls and suppressed negative findings and multiple attempts to replicate his results have been unsuccessful. Reviews in the medical literature have found no link between autism and bowel disease. •
Ayurveda – traditional Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old alternative medical practice with roots in ancient India based on a mind-body set of beliefs. Imbalance or stress in an individual's consciousness is believed to be the cause of diseases. As with other traditional knowledge, much of it was lost; in the West, current practice is in part based on the teachings of the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s, •
Balneotherapy ( "bath") is the presumed benefit from
disease by bathing, a
traditional medicine technique usually practiced at
spas. Balneotherapy may involve hot or cold
water,
massage through moving water, relaxation, or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular
minerals such as
silica,
sulfur,
selenium and
radium. Scientific studies into the effectiveness of balneotherapy do not show that balneotherapy is effective for treating
rheumatoid arthritis. There is also no evidence indicating a more effective type of bath, A 2009 review of all published clinical evidence concluded that existing research is not sufficiently strong to draw firm conclusions about the efficacy of balneotherapy. •
Bates method – an alternative therapy aimed at improving
eyesight. Eye-care physician
William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) attributed nearly all sight problems to
habitual "strain" of the eyes and thus felt that relieving such "strain" would cure the problems. In 1952, optometry professor
Elwin Marg wrote of Bates, "Most of his claims and almost all of his theories have been considered false by practically all visual scientists." •
Biological terrain assessment – a set of computerized tests used to measure the pH, resistivity and redox potentials of a person's urine, blood and saliva, with the intention of recommending a customized program of health supplements and remedies (such as vitamins, homeopathic supplements, or herbal medicines) based on the results. Proponents suggest that BTA allows for a correction of biological imbalances before they become pathological, while opponents claim that the tests are imprecise and result in incorrect diagnoses. •
Biorhythm theory – an attempt to predict various aspects of a person's life through simple mathematical cycles. The theory was developed by
Wilhelm Fliess in the late 19th century and was popularized in the United States in the late 1970s. It was described as pseudoscience. •
Body memory (BM) is a
hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. While experiments have demonstrated the possibility of cellular memory there are currently no known means by which tissues other than the brain would be capable of storing memories. Modern usage of BM tends to frame it exclusively in the context of traumatic memory and ways in which the body responds to recall of a memory. In this regard, it has become relevant in treatment for
PTSD. •
Brain Gym is an organization promoting a series of exercises claimed to improve academic performance. Twenty-six Brain Gym activities are claimed to improve eye teaming (binocular vision), spatial and listening skills, hand–eye coordination and whole-body flexibility and by doing this manipulate the brain, improving learning and recall of information. The Brain Gym program calls for children to repeat certain simple movements such as crawling, yawning, making symbols in the air and drinking water; these are intended to "integrate", "repattern", and increase blood flow to the brain. Though the organization claims the methods are grounded in good neuroscience, the underlying ideas are pseudoscience. •
Candida hypersensitivity – It has been spuriously claimed that chronic yeast infections are responsible for many common disorders and
non-specific symptoms, including
fatigue,
weight gain,
constipation,
dizziness, muscle and joint
pain,
asthma and others. The notion has been strongly challenged by the
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. •
Carnivore dieta fad diet in which nothing is eaten but meat. As well as being unhealthy the diet has a damaging environmental impact. •
Chelation therapy is claimed by some practitioners of
alternative medicine to treat a variety of ailments, including
heart disease and
autism. While
chelation is a valid form of medical treatment, used as a means to treat conditions such as acute heavy metal toxicity, the use of chelation therapy by alternative medicine practitioners for behavioral and other disorders is considered pseudoscientific; there is no proof that it is effective. In addition to being ineffective, chelation therapy prior to heavy metal testing can artificially raise urinary heavy metal concentrations ("provoked" urine testing) and lead to inappropriate and unnecessary treatment. The
American College of Medical Toxicology and the
American Academy of Clinical Toxicology warn the public that chelating agents used in chelation therapy may have serious side effects, including liver and kidney damage, blood pressure changes, allergies and, in some cases, even death of the patient. Some proponents, especially those in the field's early history, have claimed that such disorders affect general health via the
nervous system, through
vertebral subluxation, claims which are not based on scientific evidence. The main
chiropractic treatment technique involves
manual therapy, especially
spinal manipulation therapy (SMT), manipulations of other joints and
soft tissues. Its foundation is at odds with
mainstream medicine and chiropractic is sustained by pseudoscientific ideas, such as vertebral subluxation and "innate intelligence" that reject science. •
Chromotherapy, sometimes called
color therapy,
colorology or
cromatherapy, is an alternative medicine method which is considered pseudoscience. Chromotherapists claim to be able to use light in the form of color to balance "energy" lacking from a person's body, whether it be on physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental levels. Color therapy is distinct from other types of
light therapy, such as
neonatal jaundice treatment and
blood irradiation therapy, which is a scientifically accepted medical treatment for a number of conditions, and from
photobiology, the scientific study of the effects of light on living organisms. French skeptic and lighting physicist Sébastien Point considers LED lamps at domestic radiance to be safe in normal use for the general population; he also pointed out the risk of overexposure to light from LEDs for practices like chromotherapy, when duration and time exposure are not under control. •
Chronic Lyme disease (not to be confused with
Lyme disease) is a generally rejected diagnosis that encompasses "a broad array of illnesses or symptom complexes for which there is no reproducible or convincing scientific evidence of any relationship to
Borrelia burgdorferi infection." Despite numerous studies, there is no clinical evidence that "chronic" Lyme disease is caused by a persistent infection. It is distinct from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, a set of lingering symptoms which may persist after successful treatment of infection with Lyme spirochetes. The symptoms of "chronic Lyme" are generic and non-specific "symptoms of life". •
Colon cleansing (a.k.a.
colon therapy) encompasses a number of
alternative medical therapies claimed to remove nonspecific
toxins from the
colon and intestinal tract by removing any accumulations of
feces. Colon cleansing may be branded
colon hydrotherapy, a
colonic or
colonic irrigation. During the 2000s, internet marketing and
infomercials of oral supplements supposedly for colon cleansing increased. Some forms of
colon hydrotherapy use tubes to inject
water, sometimes mixed with herbs or with other liquids, into the colon via the rectum using special equipment. Oral cleaning regimens use
dietary fiber, herbs,
dietary supplements, or
laxatives. People who practice colon cleansing believe that accumulations of putrefied feces line the walls of the
large intestine and that these accumulations harbor
parasites or pathogenic
gut flora, causing
nonspecific symptoms and general ill-health. This "auto-intoxication" hypothesis is based on medical beliefs of the
Ancient Egyptians and
Greeks and was discredited in the early 20th century. •
Colloidal silver (a
colloid consisting of silver particles suspended in liquid) and formulations containing silver salts were used by physicians in the early 20th century, but their use was largely discontinued in the 1940s following the development of safer and effective modern antibiotics. Since about 1990, there has been a resurgence of the promotion of colloidal silver as a dietary supplement, No medical evidence supports the effectiveness of colloidal silver for any of these claimed indications. Silver is not an
essential mineral in humans; there is no dietary requirement for silver and hence, no such thing as a silver "deficiency". The epidemiologist
Michael Osterholm called it "a dangerous mix of pixie dust and pseudoscience". •
Craniosacral therapy is a form of bodywork or alternative therapy using gentle touch to manipulate the synarthrodial joints of the cranium. A practitioner of craniosacral therapy may also apply light touches to a patient's spine and pelvis. Practitioners believe that this manipulation regulates the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and aids in "primary respiration." Craniosacral therapy was developed by John Upledger, D.O. in the 1970s as an offshoot of osteopathy in the cranial field, or cranial osteopathy, which was developed in the 1930s by William Garner Sutherland. According to the American Cancer Society, although CST may relieve the symptoms of stress or tension, "available scientific evidence does not support claims that craniosacral therapy helps in treating cancer or any other disease." CST has been characterized as pseudoscience and its practice has been called quackery. Cranial osteopathy has received a similar assessment, with one 1990 paper finding there was no scientific basis for any of the practitioners' claims the paper examined. •
Cryonics – a field of products, techniques, and beliefs supporting the idea that freezing the clinically dead at very low temperatures (typically below −196 degrees Celsius) will enable future revival or re-substantiation. These beliefs often hinge on the existence of advanced human societies in the distant future that will possess as-of-yet unknown technology for the stabilization of dying cells. There is no evidence a human being can be revived after such freezing and no solid scientific evidence suggests that reanimation will be possible in the future. •
Crystal healing – belief that
crystals have healing properties. Once common among pre-scientific and indigenous peoples, it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 1970s with the
New Age movement. There is no scientific evidence that crystal healing has any effect. •
Cupping therapy is an ancient form of
alternative medicine. Cupping is used in more than 60 countries. Its usage dates back to as far as 1550 B.C. There are different forms of cupping; the most common are dry, wet and fire cupping. Cups are applied onto the skin and a suction is created, pulling the skin up. It is meant to increase blood flow to certain areas of the body. Not a part of medical practice in the modern era, cupping has been characterized as a pseudoscience. There is no good evidence it has any health benefits and there are some risks of harm, especially in case of wet and fire cupping. •
Detoxification – Detoxification in the context of
alternative medicine consists of an approach that claims to rid the body of "toxins" – accumulated substances that allegedly exert undesirable effects on individual health in the short or long term. The concept has received criticism from scientists and health organizations for its unsound scientific basis and lack of evidence for the claims made. The "toxins" usually remain undefined, with little to no evidence of toxic accumulation in the patient. The British organisation
Sense about Science has described some detox diets and commercial products as "a waste of time and money", while the British Dietetic Association called the idea "nonsense" and a "marketing myth". In the human body, the processing of chemicals, including those considered 'toxins', is handled by a number of organs, most prominently the liver and kidneys, thus making detoxes unnecessary. •
Digit ratio – calculated by dividing the length of an index finger by the ring finger of the same hand, has been proposed to correlate with various personality, sexuality, biological, psychological and physical traits/outcomes. The field has been compared to pseudoscience due to irreproducible or contradictory findings, exaggerated claims of usefulness and lack of high quality research protocols. •
Ear candling, also called
ear coning or
thermal-auricular therapy, is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow
candle and placing the other end in the
ear canal. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and ineffective and does not functionally remove
earwax or
toxicants, despite product design contributing to that impression. •
Earthing therapy or
grounding is a therapy that is claimed to ease pain, provide a better night's sleep, and assist with symptoms of
inflammation by being in direct physical contact with the ground or a device connected to
electrical ground. Practitioners claim that Earth has an excess of electrons which people are missing due to insulating shoes and ground cover. Being in electrical contact with Earth is claimed to provide the body with those excess electrons, which then act as
antioxidants. A 2012 systematic review study showed inconclusive results related to methodological issues across the literature. Subsequently, a 2017 systematic review of the benefits of spending time in forests demonstrated positive health effects, but not enough to generate clinical practice guidelines or demonstrate
causality. •
Electrohomeopathy (or
Mattei cancer cure) is a derivative of
homeopathy invented in the 19th century by Count Cesare Mattei. The name is derived from a combination of
electro (referring to an electric
bio-energy content supposedly extracted from plants and of therapeutic value, rather than
electricity in its conventional sense) and
homeopathy (referring to an alternative medicinal philosophy developed by
Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century). Electrohomeopathy has been defined as the combination of electrical devices and homeopathy. •
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) – reported sensitivity to
electric and
magnetic fields or
electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping and similar non-specific indications. Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation •
Energy medicine,
energy therapy,
energy healing,
vibrational medicine, psychic healing,
spiritual medicine, or
spiritual healing are branches of alternative medicine based on a pseudoscientific belief that healers can channel healing
energy into a patient and effect positive results. This idea itself contains several methods: hands-on, hands-off and distant (or absent) where the patient and healer are in different locations. While early reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing were equivocal and recommended further research, more recent reviews have concluded that there is no evidence supporting clinical efficiency. •
Facilitated communication is a scientifically discredited technique that attempts to aid communication by people with autism or other communication disabilities. The facilitator holds the disabled person's arm or hand during this process and attempts to help them move to type on a keyboard or other device. Studies have consistently found that FC is unable to provide the correct response to even simple questions when the facilitator does not know the answers to the questions (e.g., showing the patient but not the facilitator an object). •
Rapid prompting method - a closely related discredited technique. •
Fad diet - a
diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to
fads in
fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making pseudoscientific or unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. Fad diets are generally restrictive (such as low-calorie diets e.g.
fasting, or high protein-low carbohydrate diets e.g.
Atkins diet), and are characterized by promises of fast weight loss or great physical health (such as "
detoxification" or diets purporting to be
alternative cancer treatments). Fad diets are not supported by
clinical research and their health recommendations are not
peer-reviewed, thus they often make unsubstantiated statements about health and disease. • The
Feldenkrais Method is a type of
exercise therapy devised by Israeli
Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984) during the mid-20th century. The method is claimed to reorganize connections between the brain and body and so improve body movement and psychological state. There is no good
medical evidence that the Feldenkrais method confers any health benefits. It is not known if it is safe or cost-effective, •
Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments. Its proponents claim that it focuses on the "root causes" of diseases based on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine and immune systems to develop "individualized treatment plans". Opponents have described it as pseudoscience,
quackery and, at its essence, a re-branding of
complementary and alternative medicine. These "laws" are dogmas of GNM, not laws of nature or medicine, and are at odds with scientific understanding of human physiology. •
Germ theory denialism – the pseudoscientific belief that
germs do not cause infectious disease and that the
germ theory of disease is wrong. •
Hair analysis is, in mainstream scientific usage, the chemical analysis of a
hair sample. The use of
hair analysis in
alternative medicine as a method of investigation to assist
alternative diagnosis is controversial and its use in this manner has been opposed repeatedly by the
AMA because of its unproven status and its potential for health care fraud. •
Health bracelets and various healing jewelry such as
ionized bracelets,
hologram bracelets and
magnetic jewelry, are purported to improve the health, heal, or improve the
chi of the wearer. No claims of effectiveness made by manufacturers have ever been substantiated by independent sources. •
Hexagonal water – A term used in a
marketing scam that claims the ability to create a certain configuration of water that is better for the body. The term "hexagonal water" refers to a
cluster of water molecules forming a hexagonal shape that supposedly enhances nutrient absorption, removes metabolic wastes and enhances
cellular communication, among other things. Similar to the
dihydrogen monoxide hoax, the scam takes advantage of the consumer's limited knowledge of chemistry, physics and physiology. •
Homeopathy – the belief that a patient with symptoms of an illness can be treated with extremely dilute remedies that are thought to produce those same symptoms in healthy people. These
preparations are often diluted beyond the point where any treatment molecule is likely to remain. Studies of homeopathic practice have been largely negative or inconclusive. No scientific basis for homeopathic principles has been substantiated. :*
Bach flower remedies (
BFRs) are solutions of
brandy and water—the water containing
extreme dilutions of
flower material developed by
Edward Bach, an English
homeopath, in the 1930s. Bach claimed that dew found on flower petals retain imagined healing properties of that plant.
Systematic reviews of
clinical trials of Bach flower solutions have found no efficacy beyond a
placebo effect. •
Iridology – means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify and diagnose health problems through close examination of the markings and patterns of the
iris. Practitioners divide the iris into 80–90 zones, each of which is connected to a particular body region or organ. This connection has not been scientifically validated and disorder detection is neither selective nor specific. Because iris texture is a phenotypical feature which develops during gestation and remains unchanged after birth (which makes the iris useful for
Biometrics), iridology is all but impossible. •
Jilly Juice – a potentially dangerous fermented drink that has been claimed to treat a variety of medical conditions. •
Leaky gut syndrome – in alternative medicine, a proposed condition caused by the passage of harmful substances outward through the gut wall. It has been proposed as the cause of many conditions, including
multiple sclerosis and autism, a claim which has been called pseudoscientific. According to the
UK National Health Service, the theory is vague and unproven. Some skeptics and scientists say that the marketing of treatments for leaky gut syndrome is either misguided or an instance of deliberate
health fraud. Proponents claim that the Process can have a positive effect on a long list of diseases and conditions, including
myalgic encephalomyelitis, despite no scientific evidence of efficacy. The designer of the Lightning Process, Phil Parker, suggests certain illnesses such as
ME/CFS arise from a dysregulation of the
central nervous system and
autonomic nervous system, which the Lightning Process aims to address, helping to break the "adrenaline loop" that keeps the systems' stress responses high. •
Macrobiotic diets (or
macrobiotics) are fixed on ideas about types of food drawn from
Zen Buddhism. The diet attempts to balance the supposed
yin and yang elements of food and cookware. Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce animal products, eat locally grown foods that are in season and consume meals in moderation. Studies that indicate positive results are of poor methodological quality. •
Magnet therapy – practice of using magnetic fields to positively influence health. While there are legitimate medical uses for magnets and magnetic fields, the field strength used in magnetic therapy is too low to effect any biological change and the methods used have no scientific validity. :* The above is not to be confused with current health treatments involving
electromagnetism on human tissue, such as
pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (see:
Electromagnetic therapy). • A
medical intuitive is an
alternative medicine practitioner who claims to use their self-described intuitive abilities to find the cause of a physical or emotional condition through the use of insight rather than
modern medicine. Other terms for such a person include
medical clairvoyant,
medical psychic, or
intuitive counselor. In 2009,
Steven Novella, writing on
Science Based Medicine, calls medical intuitive diagnosis as "purely magical thinking" and refers to a
Huffington Post article about it as "a promotion of a dubious pseudoscientific medical claim". •
Morgellons is the informal name of a self-diagnosed, unexplained
skin condition in which individuals have sores that they believe contain some kind of fibers. Morgellons is poorly characterized, but the general medical consensus is that it is a form of
delusional parasitosis. An attempt to link Morgellons to the cause of
Lyme disease has been attacked by
Steven Salzberg as "dangerous pseudoscience". •
Moxibustion – application on or above the skin of smoldering
mugwort, or
moxa, to stimulate
acupuncture points. A
Cochrane Review found moderate certainty evidence for the use of moxibustion plus usual care in correcting
breech presentation of babies but uncertainty about the need for
External cephalic version. Moxibustion has also been studied for the treatment of pain,
cancer,
stroke,
ulcerative colitis constipation, and
hypertension. Systematic reviews have found that these studies are of low quality and positive findings could be due to
publication bias. • '''
Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET''') are a form of
alternative medicine which proponents claim can treat allergies and related disorders. The techniques were devised by Devi Nambudripad, a California-based chiropractor and
acupuncturist, in 1983, drawing on a combination of ideas from
applied kinesiology, acupuncture,
acupressure, nutritional management and chiropractic methods. There is no credible evidence to support its effectiveness in assessing or treating allergies. •
Naturopathy, or
naturopathic medicine, is a type of alternative medicine based on a belief in
vitalism, which posits that a special energy called vital energy or vital force guides bodily processes such as metabolism, reproduction, growth and adaptation. Naturopathy has been characterized as pseudoscience. It has particularly been criticized for its unproven, disproven, or dangerous treatments.
Natural methods and chemicals are not necessarily safer or more effective than
artificial or
synthetic ones; any treatment capable of eliciting an effect may also have deleterious side effects. •
Negative air ionization therapy is the use of air ionizers as an experimental non-pharmaceutical treatment. It is widely considered pseudoscience. •
Oil pulling – is a folk remedy where oil is "swished" or "held" in the mouth for up to 20 minutes with the goal of improving oral as well as systemic health. It is said that this technique "pulls out" toxins from the body and is claimed to be able to treat a plethora of conditions from
migraines to
diabetes. •
Orthomolecular medicine, sometimes referred to as
megavitamin therapy, is a form of
alternative medicine that aims to maintain
human health through nutritional
supplementation. The concept builds on the idea of an optimum nutritional environment in the body and suggests that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease, according to this view, involves attempts to correct "imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry" by use of substances such as vitamins, minerals,
amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids. The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound
medical evidence and the therapy is not effective; even the validity of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s. •
Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) or
osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) – the core technique of osteopathic medicine. OMM is based on a philosophy devised by
Andrew Taylor Still (1828–1917), who held that the body had self-regulating mechanisms that could be harnessed through manipulating the bones, tendons and muscles. It has been proposed as a treatment for a number of human ailments, including
Parkinson's disease,
pancreatitis and
pneumonia, but has only been found to be effective for lower back pain by virtue of the
spinal manipulation used. It has long been regarded as rooted in "pseudoscientific dogma". In 2010,
Steven Salzberg referred to the OMT-specific training given by colleges of osteopathic medicine as "training in pseudoscientific practices". •
Pulse diagnosis is a diagnostic technique used in
Ayurveda,
traditional Chinese medicine,
traditional Mongolian medicine,
Siddha medicine,
traditional Tibetan medicine and
Unani. It has no scientific legitimacy, and is ill-defined, subjective and unreliable. •
Radionics – means of medical diagnosis and therapy which proponents believe can diagnose and remedy health problems using various frequencies in a
putative energy field coupled to the practitioner's electronic device. The first such "black box" devices were designed and promoted by
Albert Abrams and were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by
Scientific American in 1924. The internal circuitry of radionics devices is often obfuscated and irrelevant, leading proponents to conjecture
dowsing and
ESP as operating principles. Similar devices continue to be marketed under various names, though none is approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration; there is no scientific evidence for the efficacy or underlying premise of radionics devices. The radionics of Albert Abrams and his intellectual descendants should not be confused with similarly named reputable and legitimate companies, products, or medical treatments such as
radiotherapy or
radiofrequency ablation. •
Reiki is a form of
alternative medicine called
energy healing. Reiki practitioners use a technique called
palm healing or
hands-on healing through which a "
universal energy" is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing. Reiki is a pseudoscience, and is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly texts and academic journal articles. It is based on
qi ("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal
life force, although there is no
empirical evidence that such a life force exists. Clinical research has not shown reiki to be effective as a treatment for any medical condition. There has been no proof of the effectiveness of reiki therapy compared to the
placebo effect. An overview of reiki investigations found that studies reporting positive effects had methodological flaws. The
American Cancer Society stated that reiki should not replace conventional cancer treatment, a sentiment echoed by
Cancer Research UK and the
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Developed in Japan in 1922 by
Mikao Usui, A 2009
systematic review of randomized controlled trials concluded that the best evidence available to date does not demonstrate convincingly that reflexology is an effective treatment for any medical condition. There is no consensus among reflexologists on how reflexology is supposed to work; a unifying theme is the idea that areas on the foot correspond to areas of the body and that, by manipulating these, one can improve health through one's
qi. Reflexologists divide the body into 10 equal vertical zones, five on the right and five on the left. Concerns have been raised by medical professionals that treating potentially serious illnesses with reflexology, which has no proven efficacy, could delay the seeking of appropriate medical treatment. •
Rolfing (also called
Structural Integration) – body manipulation devised by
Ida Rolf (1896–1979) claimed by practitioners to be capable of ridding the body of traumatic memories stored in the muscles. There is no evidence that rolfing is effective as a treatment for any condition. passes their hands over and around a patient to "realign" or "rebalance" a putative energy field. No biophysical basis for such an energy field has been found. •
Tin foil hat – A tin foil hat is a hat made from one or more sheets of aluminium foil, or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, worn in the belief it shields the brain from threats such as electromagnetic fields,
mind control and mind reading. The usage of a metal foil hat for protection against interference of the mind was mentioned in a science fiction short story by
Julian Huxley, "
The Tissue-Culture King", first published in 1926, in which the protagonist discovers that "caps of metal foil" can block the effects of telepathy. At this time, no link has been established between the radio-frequency EMR that tin foil hats are meant to protect against and subsequent ill health. •
Traditional Chinese medicine (
TCM) – a
traditional medical system originating in China and practiced as an
alternative medicine throughout much of the world. It contains elements based in the cosmology of
Taoism and considers the human body more in functional and
vitalistic than anatomical terms. Health and illness in TCM follow the principle of
yin and yang and are ascribed to balance or imbalance in the flow of a
vital force,
qi. The TCM description of the function and structure of the human body is fundamentally different from modern medicine. • '
TCM materia medica
' – a collection of
crude medicines used in traditional Chinese medicine. These include many plants in part or whole, such as
ginseng and
wolfberry, as well as more exotic ingredients, such as
seahorses. Preparations generally include several ingredients in combination, with selection based on physical characteristics such as taste or shape, or relationship to the organs of TCM. Most preparations have not been rigorously evaluated or give no indication of efficacy.
Pharmacognosy research for potential active ingredients present in these preparations is active, though the applications do not always correspond to those of TCM. •
Gua sha (),
kerokan or
coining, is part of
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Its practitioners use a tool to scrape people's skin to cause
tissue damage in the belief this has medicinal benefit. Gua sha is sometimes referred to as "scraping", "spooning" or "coining" by English speakers.
Edzard Ernst has written that any apparent benefit from gua sha is due to the
placebo effect. •
Meridians are the channels through which
qi flows, connecting the several
zang-fu organ pairs. There is no known
anatomical or
histological basis for the existence of
acupuncture points or
meridians. •
Shiatsu () is a form of Japanese
bodywork based on ideas in
traditional Chinese medicine.
Shiatsu derives from a Japanese massage modality called
anma. There is no
evidence that
shiatsu is an effective medical treatment. •
Qi –
vital energy whose flow must be balanced for health.
Qi has never been directly observed and is unrelated to the concept of
energy used in science. •
Qigong (),
qi gong,
chi kung, or
chi gung () is a
holistic system of coordinated body posture and movement, breathing and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese
medicine,
philosophy and
martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance
qi (chi), translated as "life energy". Research concerning qigong has been conducted for a wide range of medical conditions, including
hypertension,
pain and
cancer, and with respect to
quality of life. •
Zang-fu – concept of organs as functional yin and yang entities for the storage and manipulation of
qi. •
Urine therapy – drinking either one's own undiluted urine or homeopathic potions of urine for treatment of a wide variety of diseases is based on pseudoscience. •
Promotion of a link between autism and vaccines, in which the vaccines are accused of causing autism-spectrum conditions, triggering them, or aggravating them, has been characterized as pseudoscience. Many epidemiological studies have reported no association between either the
MMR vaccine and autism, or
thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. Consequently, the
Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no causal link between either of these varieties of vaccines and autism. Similarly,
"vaccine overload", a non-medical term describing the notion that giving many vaccines at once may overwhelm or weaken a child's immature immune system and lead to adverse effects is strongly contradicted by scientific evidence. •
Water memory – a homeopathic theory based on the purported ability of water to retain a memory of substances previously dissolved in it. • '''
Wilson's syndrome''' (not to be confused with
Wilson's disease) is an
alternative medicine concept, not recognized as a legitimate diagnosis in
evidence-based medicine. Its supporters describe Wilson's syndrome as a mix of common and
non-specific symptoms which they attribute to low body temperature and impaired conversion of
thyroxine (T4) to
triiodothyronine (T3), despite normal
thyroid function tests. The
American Thyroid Association (ATA) says Wilson's syndrome is at odds with established knowledge of thyroid function, has vague diagnostic criteria and lacks supporting
scientific evidence. The ATA further raised concern that the proposed treatments were potentially harmful. •
Wind turbine syndrome and
wind farm syndrome are terms for adverse health effects that have been ascribed to the proximity of
wind turbines. Proponents have claimed that these effects include death, cancer and
congenital abnormality. The distribution of recorded events, however, correlates with media coverage of wind farm syndrome itself and not with the presence or absence of wind farms. Reviews of the scientific literature have consistently found no reason to believe that wind turbines are harmful to health.
Technology •
5G conspiracies and 5G causes coronavirus theories – theory proposing that
5G causes health issues, including
COVID-19. == Social sciences ==