We have written many times about naturopathic medicine here at Science-Based Medicine, and have often pointed out the pseudo-medical approach to patient care that is so common in this specialty. We believe we have presented sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that no intervention is more implausible, for which there is such a lack of high-quality evidence, or that is inherently downright ridiculous. This makes it not wholeheartedly accepted by a wide swath of the naturopathic community. Whether for prevention, diagnosis, or treatment, naturopaths typically incorporate homeopathy, acupuncture, energy medicine, detoxification, herbs, supplements, and pretty much any other nonsense you can imagine into their practices.
It literally takes seconds to find examples of naturopathic doctors promoting nonsense like this. Below is a simple example from EcoWellness Center.
Energy healers in our clinic see these influences as energy blocks and have the ability to see, translate and connect them to the person’s current life, integrating knowledge from several traditions. These blocks often cause disease and prevent healing. Jennifer saw cases of the disease disappear as the relevant blocks changed. She receives the help of a healing angel to remove negative entities from the individual, which is usually followed by her feeling lighter and her symptoms reduced.
At the same time, the naturopathic community gained an undeserved reputation as an alternative to the conventional medical system in the United States, particularly on the West Coast. Students in naturopathic training programs even refer to themselves as medical students, and many consider themselves to have similar medical training as physicians. They haven’t, but the confusion is understandable considering the propaganda.
In my first year alone, I completely dissected human cadavers by hand, including all muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and organs. I know how to properly palpate, assess, and adjust the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and extremities. I am able to complete a competent head-to-toe physical exam, including cardiac, pulmonary, ophthalmoscopy, ENT, and neurological comprehensive evaluations. As a result of the hundreds of hours I have spent with naturopaths, chiropractors, osteopaths, and medical doctors, understanding and understanding the human body through the study of biochemistry, physiology, pathology, and anatomy, I am more capable and I have grown into a better prepared physician. For my future patients.
It makes me angry to think that future students promoting homeopathy or convincing parents not to vaccinate their babies could use donated human cadavers. That’s not correct. There’s also the fact that naturopathic doctors in some states do not have the legal right to order medical tests or imaging tests or prescribe medications.
In addition to promoting all sorts of incredible treatments, naturopathic doctors promote anti-vaccine misinformation and overemphasize the potential or non-existent side effects of vaccines while downplaying their benefits. They often do so, ignore them, or encourage bespoke alternative vaccine schedules that put children at risk of serious illness. And this is especially problematic because they are legally recognized as primary care providers in many states and have access to large numbers of pediatric patients. And there are laboratories for all of them. That’s the focus of my post today.
Laboratory, laboratory, anywhere…
In recent issues, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, a study compared the pediatric laboratory ordering patterns of naturopathic physicians in the Seattle area to general practitioners. As we will discuss, the results of this study reveal that naturopathic doctors are ordering unnecessary labs that provide little benefit to their pediatric patients, but unfortunately the preface… It reads like promotional marketing copy written by a lobbying or clinic building company.
Naturopathic medicine is a medical profession that uses natural substances to treat human diseases. It aims to identify the root causes of disease and focuses on prevention and promotion of health through self-healing processes and the power of nature.
Natural remedies are clearly magic. When I researched the source of the above quote, I discovered that it was a letter written to. Medscape General Internal Medicine A satisfied naturopathic patient disputed a 2004 paper by none other than our Kimball Atwood.
The introduction/marketing section of the study continues as follows:
Naturopathic doctors are trained as primary care providers who use a holistic approach to diagnose and treat patients, avoiding surgery and the use of synthetic drugs. Naturopathy is one of the largest alternative medicine fields, one of the fastest growing, and the number of natural health care providers is increasing.
Believe it or not, the author is not a naturopath. But I was half expecting to call on readers today to enroll in naturopathic school. It is true that there are thousands of NDs in the United States, licensed in 18 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. And it is true that the numbers are growing. What is not clear is whether the demand is actually increasing.
Later in the paper, the authors point out that globally: cam has a large market of approximately $70 billion, meaning it is widely accepted. This is sadly true. However, they take a bit of a wrong turn by implying that naturopathic medicine accounts for the majority of the market, as it is one of the largest fields in the world. cam. While it does exist, it pales in comparison to chiropractic and accounts for a very small percentage of the total. cam use.
The authors say 38% of adults and 12% of children use it. cam However, this is very misleading and outdated information from 2008. More recent data shows that the number of children exposed to natural remedies is cam Each year, it’s actually a little lower, around 10%, and most cam Practitioners such as naturopathic doctors are not involved.Chiropractic is the most common treatment that requires you to go see someone, but most cam Use by children comes in the form of OTC herbs, supplements, and mind-body therapies such as meditation.
Now, let’s dig into the core of the research.
The study authors analyzed outpatient tests ordered by more than 500 health care providers at Seattle Children’s Hospital, about 80 of them naturopathic physicians, from January to December 2018. During this period, he had 35,185 tests ordered for 6,076 patients. On average, naturopathic physicians ordered twice as many tests per patient overall (10.5 vs. 5.5) and twice as many tests per patient (7.4 vs. 3.5) on the specific day of specimen collection. . Pediatricians and family physicians ordered only one or two tests on her more than half the time, while naturopaths ordered five or more tests on her 58% of the collection days. did.
The types of common tests varied widely between real doctors and naturopathic doctors. 45% of tests ordered by NDs included allergens, trace minerals, and toxic metals. NDs were also much more likely to order a battery of tests rather than the individual tests preferred by healthcare providers. The finding that tests ordered by NDs are far less likely to be abnormal is not surprising. Because (spoiler alert!) they don’t actually think much about what they’re instructing.
The paper’s conclusion contains one of the most unintentionally amusing interpretations I’ve ever seen.
These data also indicate that NDs may not use clinical examinations in the same way as (general practitioners) and use different criteria to make medical recommendations, perhaps influenced by medical training in different clinical examinations. suggests that it is possible.
The authors, who are not naturopathic physicians employed by an actual children’s hospital, appear to excuse the apparently haphazard approach of ordering patient laboratories, while once again giving naturopathic physicians an excellent Provides marketing.
Preventive medicine is the focus of naturopathic practice. Wellness testing generally refers to a single test or a series of tests intended to be performed on healthy or asymptomatic patients with the aim of preventing unwanted complications of a disease.
That’s not it. Health exams are not science-based screenings. Health checkups are a marketing strategy, not good medicine.
A limitation of the study is that naturopathic doctors appear to order the same tests for every child they see. In reality, as anyone familiar with the basics of natural medicine knows, the problem of ordering a lab is much more serious than that. The authors say the data in this study likely represents only a fraction of the labs they typically order, and that’s because a variety of bogus tests that aren’t done at traditional labs This is because they are known to be using non-traditional facilities to carry out their operations, which is spot on. Doctors will recognize it as a scam.
My final concern/question is this: Why is Seattle Children’s Hospital running an outpatient lab at the behest of a naturopathic physician?
