How safe is homeopathy?
To date, there have been 12 main studies assessing the safety of homeopathic medicine, 11 of which found homeopathy to be a low risk intervention: an Editorial2, an audit3, a prospective study4, a cross-sectional study5, an Organisation report6, and a literature review11, all concluded that homeopathy is ‘safe’. Furthermore, five out of six systematic reviews have concluded in favour of the relative safety of homeopathic treatment, describing adverse effects as mild to moderate and transient1,7,9,10,12. The sixth systematic review8, is the only published paper to reach a negative conclusion that is significantly different to the other reviews; this is generally regarded to be due to flawed methodology.13,14,15,16
The most recent systematic review and meta-analysis, assessing the safety of homeopathic medicines12 concluded:
“…the proportion of patients experiencing adverse effects was significantly higher when receiving conventional medicine and herbs, compared to patients receiving homeopathy.”
- Dantas F, Rampes H. Do homeopathic medicines provoke adverse effects? A systematic review. Br Homeopath J, 2000; 89 (Suppl 1): S35-8
- Kirby BJ. Safety of homeopathic products. J R Soc Med, 2002; 95:221-2
- Thompson E et al. A preliminary audit investigating remedy reactions including adverse events in routine homeopathic practice. Homeopathy, 2004; 93:203-9
- Endrizzi C et al Harm in homeopathy: aggravations, adverse drug events or medication errors? Homeopathy, 2005; 94:233-40
- Marian F et al. Patient satisfaction and side effects in primary care: an observational study comparing homeopathy and conventional medicine. BMC Complement Altern Med, 2008; 18:52
- The Safety of Homeopathy. Report prepared by the European Council for Classical Homeopathy (ECCH). Jan 2009
- Homeopathy in Healthcare: Effectiveness, Appropriateness, Safety, Costs. Gudrun Bornhöfft & Peter F. Mathiessen (Editors), 2011
- Posadzki P et al. Adverse effects of homeopathy: A systematic review of published case reports and case series.’ Int J Clin Pract, 2012; 66 :1178–1188
- Jong MC et al. Adverse drug reactions to anthroposophic and homeopathic solutions for injection: a systematic evaluation of German pharmacovigilance databases. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2012; 21:1295-301
- Stub T et al. Adverse effects of homeopathy, what do we know? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Med, 2016; 26: 146-63
- Habs M and Koller M. Material risks of homeopathic medicinal products: a regulatory frameworks, results of preclinical toxicology, and clinical meta-analyses and their implications. Complementary Medicine Research, 2021; 28:64-84
- Stub T et al. Adverse effects in homeopathy. A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Explore (NY), 2022; 18 :114-128
- Tournier A, Roberts ER, Viksveen P. Adverse effects of homeopathy: a systematic review of published case reports and case series – comment by Tournier et al. Int J Clin Pract, 2013; 67: 388-9
- Walach H, Lewith G, Jonas W. Can you kill your enemy by giving homeopathy? Lack of rigour and lack of logic in the systematic review by Edzard Ernst and colleagues on adverse effects of homeopathy. Int J Clin Pract, 2013; 67: 385-6
- Posadzki P, Ernst E. Adverse effects of homeopathy: a systematic review of published case reports and case series – response by Posadzki and Ernst. Int J Clin Pract, 2013; 67: 389
- Grimes DR. Can you kill your enemy by giving homeopathy? Response by D. R. Grimes. Int J Clin Pract, 2013; 67: 387
