3 Biggest Lies Told by Alternative Medicine Practitioners

Health fraud is everywhere, and both conventional and alternative health care providers perpetuate it -- willingly or unwillingly. Many integrative health care providers practice forms evidence-based medicine that offer benefits beyond those provided by allopathic care. Others, however, actively engage in pseudoscience and fraud. The following are the three most common lies told by quack practitioners of alternative medicine:

1. All diseases are caused by _______.

Yeast. Chronic dehydration. Parasites. Acid imbalance. Vitamin deficiency.

Heard these claims before? Many practitioners of alternative medicine simplify disease by claiming that all medical conditions have a single underlying cause. Ironically, Hulda Clark-- author of The Cure for All Diseases and The Cure for All Cancers-- died of cancer after telling people for decades that all diseases, including cancer, were caused by an intestinal parasite.

In reality, many common conditions can be attributed to these allegedly universal underlying causes. Vitamin deficiency and chronic dehydration may contribute to chronic fatigue. Parasites may be an underdiagnosed cause of with irritable bowel syndrome. Yeast may cause chronic sinus infections. But no practitioner worth his salt should assume that psoriasis, depression and brain tumors are all caused by an acidic bloodstream. This lack of logic betrays a dangerously elementary notion of medical science.

2. _______ can cure everything.

Probiotics. Omega-3 fats. Acai. Juice Plus. Colon cleansing. Mon Avie.

Yeah, you've heard this one, too. This lie is most often perpetuated by people involved in multi-level marketing schemes. Just as pharmaceutical companies may influence your medical doctor's opinions-- for better or for worse-- multi-level marketing gigs may influence your holistic healer. If any health care provider, alternative or otherwise, ever suggests that a single product can heal every disease, I urge you to run-- don't walk-- to the nearest exit.

Many products do offer a variety of benefits. Some products and practices-- like omega-3 supplements, acupuncture and a high-veggie diet-- show genuine promise as treatment options for multiple conditions. However, a health care provider should never sell a $50 bottle of fruit juice to people seeking everything from weight loss to cancer cures. This form of practice is nothing more than an irresponsible method for deriving profit from people who are desperate for a one-way solution.

3. Your doctor is part of a huge conspiracy.

Thank Mr. Kevin Trudeau for perpetuating this lie.

Let's face it: there are lies and cover-ups within the pharmaceutical industry, within the medical industry, and (yes, indeed) within the supplement industry. Your doctor might have fallen for a bit of Big Pharma's propaganda. Any physician who prescribes Zoloft to kids or Lamictal for anxiety knows that these uses are not backed by any current form of scientific evidence. In these cases, it is the conventional doctor-- not the naturopath-- who is practicing "alternative" or unscientific medicine.

However, this doesn't mean that your doctor is out to get you. Your physician may not know that saw palmetto outperforms Proscar for benign prostatic hyperplasia. He may not know that conclusive scientific evidence backs the use of fish oil to treat hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia. He may not know that aromatherapy can decrease a person's dependence on pain medications. This isn't because your doctor is a pawn of Big Pharma-- it's simply because he isn't intimately familiar with integrative medicine.

Before casting your well-educated health care provider as a brutal enemy who is out to get you, understand what is-- and what isn't-- your doctor's area of expertise. Want to ask him about kava? Bring a print-out from the National Institutes of Health or a respected institution like the University of Maryland Medical Center. Want to refuse to take an off-label drug? Bring in a copy of a Cochrane review and give the drug company a call to find out any information about clinical trials.

Regardless of whether you choose alternative medicine, conventional medicine or a combination of the two, maintain your stance as an informed consumer. Your body, money and time are too precious for you to waste time with unproven treatments and quack remedies-- regardless of whether you stand on the "alternative" or "conventional" side of the health care fence.