Trials of individualised homeopathic treatment compared to placebo Written as a plain English summary, this article outlines the findings of the 2014 meta-analysis performed by Dr Robert Mathie et al., which assessed the effect of individualised homeopathic treatment when compared to placebo in double blind randomised controlled trials. EPI3 – Observational evidence for homeopathy from GPs in […]

Homeopathy is controversial. Public figures from  politicians to comedians  frequently make strong statements against homeopathy, but very few people have actually had the chance to read the facts about homeopathy research for themselves. Here we answer the most commonly asked questions about homeopathy, based on the best scientific evidence available.    

The quality of homeopathy research compares well to that of conventional medical research. Only one study has compared the quality of homeopathy research with that of conventional medicine. Overall the homeopathy trials were found to be of higher quality than the conventional trials they were compared to.1 Researchers compared 110 homeopathy trials and 110 matched […]

Some people take the position that public money should not be spent on homeopathy because “there is no proof that it works” or “tax-payers money shouldn’t be spent on placebos”. How much does homeopathy cost? In 2016, just £92,412 was spent on 40,000 homeopathy prescriptions from a total expenditure of £9.2 billion.1 Out of the […]

Many people believe that all high quality randomised controlled trials (RCT) testing homeopathy have been negative. This is untrue. Below are examples of positive high quality  and  testing various types of homeopathy: Individualised homeopathic treatment for diarrhoea in children. A meta-analysis of three placebo-controlled randomised trials by Jacobs et al. 2003 showed that homeopathic treatment […]

A Health Technology Assessment report1 was commissioned by the Swiss health authorities to inform decision-making on the further inclusion of homoeopathy in the list of services covered by statutory health insurance. According to the authors, their report “confirms homoeopathy as a valuable addition to the conventional medical landscape – a status it has been holding for a […]

The scientific evidence for homeopathy is based on the same types of clinical trials as those used to test conventional medical treatments. By the end of 2022, 271 randomised controlled trials of homeopathic treatment for 144 medical conditions have been published in peer-reviewed journals with sufficient information provided to analyse the results. Of these, 157 […]

In August 2005, the Lancet published a study1 which was reported as having compared 110 similar trials on homeopathy and conventional medicine, and reached the conclusion that homeopathy is no better than placebo. An accompanying editorial entitled ‘The end of homoeopathy’2 lead to widespread media attention. However, the conclusions of this study were based on only 8 of the 110 trials, none […]

It is often reported that there is no evidence homeopathy works or that the current evidence base shows homeopathy is no better than placebo. Neither statement is correct. Such misconceptions stem largely from two documents – the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee ‘Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy’ report, and the more recent Information Paper on […]

Public figures from politicians to comedians frequently make strong statements against homeopathy, but it is rare to find people who actually have first-hand knowledge of the facts behind the headlines. Here we look at the biggest stories in detail: