Medical Marvel or Quaint Quackery?

[Prometheus]

I think most of us should be grateful for the hard-won progress of science in general and medical science in particular. Science-based medicine has given us things like antibiotics, vaccinations, germ theory of disease, better sanitation, anesthesia, ‘wonder’ drugs, diagnostic body-imaging, higher life-expectancy etc. In contrast, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which is mostly faith-based medicine, continues to be the indefatigable champion of unproven and disproven therapies.

 

Many scientifically-illiterate patients turn to chiropractic, acupuncture, herbal preparations, and homeopathic nostrums in their desperate attempt to find a cure. Unfortunately, this uncanny obsession with woo-woo remedies and magical treatments does not stop at homeopathy. Mind you, homeopathy is predicated on assumptions so preposterous that if such assumptions were true, then everything we know about biology, chemistry, and physiology would be entirely false. In addition to such questionable therapies, medical quacks promote scientifically implausible treatments such as therapeutic touch, magnetic therapy, reflexology, cupping, and spiritual healing. I’ll dedicate this thread to exposing the popular, but dubious, methods of alternative practitioners. For the most part, all the seemingly positive effects of these treatments can be accounted for by the placebo-effect.

 

There’s no such thing as alternative physics or alternative chemistry. The term alternative medicine is a complete misnomer. With all due respect to ancient systems of ‘medicine’ (Traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine etc.), science-based medicine or evidence-based medicine is the only real form of medicine – the rest are just bullshit-laden, spiritual-based pseudo-medicine. Science-based medicine marries skepticism with experimentation; evidence with hypothesis. If an ancient treatment is shown to be efficacious under placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, then such a treatment becomes a part of conventional medicine.

 

I’ll also explore another form of quackery known as prophetic ‘medicine’. Proponents of this quackery offer numerous herbal concoctions (honey, garlic, ginseng, etc) as treatments for various conditions, falsely claiming that their sham treatments cure every known disease including cancer. Do medical experts agree with such fanciful diagnoses? What about the wild-eyed claim that Nigella Sativa, black cumin seed, is a cure for every disease except death? Such ‘cure-all’ remedies are reminiscent of the magical and superstitious ideas that are the hallmark of fradulent alternative treatments.

 

There are many physician bloggers who have dedicated an inordinate amount of time to this topic, confuting erroneous beliefs in such therapies, educating the public about the promises of real medicine, and warning them about the perils of pseudomedicine. I'll refer to some of their timely and timeless expositions on this subject. And, of course, one of the most salient books on this subject is Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial by the clinician and professor Dr. Edzard Ernst.

[Prometheus]

What are some of the alternative treatments offered by prophetic medicine? Well, there’s a cornucopia of absurd advice on the efficacy of herbal remedies. Some of the advice is mildly reasonable, but most of the treatments are outright quackery, as the ancient hadith-mongers who peddled this sort of stuff knew nothing about biochemistry and physiology. Books on prophetic medicine often make for amusing reading. Here are some examples of treatments.

 

“Whoever has seven Ajwa dates every morning he will not be harmed on that day by poison or magic.”

Bukhari

 

The dosage is very precise. Seven dates. Why seven? Who knows? Even if we ignore the humorously anachronistic advice about the harms of magic, it's hard for apologists of pseudo-medicine to provide any plausible mechanism for the effects of 'ajwa dates on poison. How exactly would eating dates prevent the deadly effects of poisoning? If someone inhales or ingests a known toxin or chemical, then it won't matter how many 'ajwa dates they've eaten that morning. Do 'ajwa dates have a magical effect on the body? Should we jettison all of chemistry and physiology? Imagine if a pharmaceutical company advertised a sugar pill as preventing all forms of poison, would such a company survive legal liabilities?

 

P.S. The following website is an invaluable source for science-based medicine. The bloggers are all doctors. And by doctors I mean actual doctors, not silly naturopaths or herbal practitioners. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/

[SayidSomal]

physician heal thy self!

[SayidSomal]

Natural Benefits and Curative Properties of Dates

 

Dates are valuable as medicine for their tonic effect. Being easily digested, they are very useful for supplying energy and repairing waste. Milk in which clean and fresh dates have been boiled is a very nourishing and restorative drink to children and adults alike, especially during convalescence.

 

Intestinal Disturbances :- The nicotinic content in dates is an excellent remedy for intestinal disturbances. According to Metchnikoff, the great Russian scientist, liberal use of dates keeps in check the growth of pathological organisms and helps to establish a colony of friendly bacteria in the intestines.

 

Constipation :- The date is a laxative food. It is highly beneficial in the treatment of constipation as the roughage provided by it stimulates sluggish bowels. They should be immersed in water at night and taken after making them into a fine syrup the next morning to secure laxaive effect.

 

Intoxication :- Dates are an excellent remedy for alcoholic intoxication. In such cases, drinking water in which fresh dates have been rubbed or soaked will bring quick relief.

Weak Heart :- Dates are an effective remedy for weak heart. Dates soaked overnight in water and crushed in the same water in the morning after removing the seeds should be taken at least twice a week in this condition. It will strengthen the heart.

 

Children's Diseases :- According to Dr. Aman, a date tied to the wrist of the baby and allowed to be sucked by him during teething time hardens the gums and prevents other complaints like fretfulness and diarrhea. A teaspoonful of paste of the date prepared with honey is an effective medicine during diarrhea and dysentery during teething. It should be given three times a day.

[Prometheus]

lol. Awoowe, your cut-and-paste piece makes many spurious claims. Dates are good for weak hearts? Not only that, but dates will strengthen the heart? It's easy to hide behind non-scientific, feel-good words like 'strong' heart, but it's medically meaningless. There are dozens of cardiovascular diseases. Assume you're heart is attacked by a virus, which will give you a 'weak heart'. How will gormandizing a bowl of dates affect the virus? There's a reason why doctors don't prescribe dates to people who have myocarditis or any heart disease.

 

I wonder if you will also defend the use of camel urine as a respectable form of treatment. Apparently, a traveling group of eight men came to the prophet and complained of an unknown illness (they vaguely complained about how the weather made them ill), he prescribed a treatment of camel urine! Of course, I think this hadith was written by illiterate bedouins who did not know about germs (or for that matter even cells). Why or how is camel urine supposed to treat these men? The poor authors of this quackery did not know that camel urine is the perfect recipe for all types of pathogens and bacteria. Modern apologists for this staggering medical ignorance argue that the urine of camels (and horses) have high amounts of a certain type of hormone, hence menopausal women use a pharmaceutical drug called Premarin (components of this drug are extracted from horse urine). Two problems. First, the people in the particular story were men (a pious allusion to menopause won't work), and the risk of contracting other diseases is very high if you ingest animal waste product; there's a difference between a chemical extraction of a substance and drinking 'fresh' camel urine. Second, imagine if someone prescribed camel dung to a person who suffered bone problems. Is it reasonable to say that camel dung has traces of calcium, therefore people who need calcium supplements should eat camel dung? What are the possible kinds of bacteria you would ingest if you ate camel dung? Do you think camel urine and camel dung are anything but vomit-inducing forms of quackery?

[SayidSomal]

I am neither your grandfather nor are you mine - so leave the pretentiousness of seniority and the condescension. Also it would be wise for you to leave behind the other trade marks of yours; employing combinations of emotive and derogatory words/remarks to make a point - should you wish to engage in a civilised exchange of knowledge.

 

Advice aside, your response to my simple cut and paste reply to your ridicule at the quoted Hadith shows your weakness and attempt to ridicule something you have no knowledge of - in other words - instead of replying to the medical assertions contained within my cut and paste as it pertain to the hadith regarding the dates (i.e. poison, toxin) - especially the bits about 'Intoxication' & 'Intestinal Disturbances' - you chose to ridicule the part about the heart.

 

The obvious 'scientific' question that you should have asked your self is - Has there being a study on anyone who had eaten "seven Ajwa dates every morning" and if it had any implications boosting the immune system and the relations to poison or toxin - such as food poisoning or any other intoxications? I am sure if there was such study or even anything remotely similar you would have posted.

[Prometheus]

No need to be thin-skinned. Your previous post made a lot of nebulous (and extremely exaggerated) claims. You completely missed the thrust of the argument. You might not know anything about chemistry, but I think it would be irksomely inane if you reduced this thread into an argument over rudimentary facts. If you were to be bitten by a snake, stuffing your face with ‘ajwa dates would be entirely useless in warding off the effects of the poisonous venom. If you were to ingest cyanide, ajwa dates (and bananas, apples, strawberries, etc) would be equally ineffective and futile. If you were to get acute heavy-metal poisoning, ajwa dates (insert your favorite fruit) would have no preventative effects. And so forth. Fruits have nutritional properties, not antidotal properties. (But a half-literate camel-herder would not know the difference.) You can piously quote an irrelevant piece of quackery; however, it would behoove you to expend a little effort in understanding the subject before you go on a quote-mining expedition.

 

It’s intellectually duplicitous to defend patently unscientific quackery. Why should an educated Muslim contort himself out of shape to defend prophetic camel urine ‘medicine’ or implausible ‘ajwa date toxicology? Isn’t it self-evident that the authors of such risible ignorance never quite enrolled in the most basic science courses? What else would explain their curious views on houseflies? Devout nonsense about bacteriophages notwithstanding, flies doesn’t have magical poison-antidote wings. It's an imaginary form of illiteracy. I suppose it’s easy for me to make sardonic comments about bedouin biology, but my derision isn’t really aimed at these ancient authors. The problem with homeopathy and prophetic medicine is suggestibility. It's distressing to see that hyper-faithful people are happy to discard the scientific progress of the last 400 years in favor of the unlettered, unscientific views of ancient know-nothings.

 

Your comment about the proper scientific question made me chuckle. Let's just say you won't find any RCTs (randomized clinical trials) on the magical effects of 'ajwa dates in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, or JAMA.

[AYOUB]

O mankind! There has come to you an instruction from your Rabb (lord), a cure for whatever (disease) is in your hearts, a guidance and a blessing for the true believers.

 

 

Say: "It is the grace and mercy of Allah (that He has sent this Qur'an), so let the people rejoice over it, for it is better than (the worldly riches) they are collecting."

 

Sura Al-Younus 57-58