Are you searching for real answers for your health problems and finding conflicting confusing information right and left? Some sufferer says she researched something that works for her, then you find some doctor who says completely the opposite. Mainstream or Big Pharma associated-sites say one thing, “alternative” sites say another. This doctor says that, that doctor says this…. All sorts of FDA conspiracy theories and the whole very boring old idea of “Secrets THEY don’t want you to know about”. Who are “they” anyway? Can someone tell me? Unless you’re convinced that you are a victim of conspiracies (Helpful Hint: stop being a victim and take some responsibility for your life….), many of these sites and articles seem believable in their own way. Who is right? How do you know?

The answer is…..believe No One! That’s right, that’s what I said. Don’t believe me either! But if you want to know why, read on….

For eons people have had opinions. Some are more vocal than others, but when you ask for proof they refer to their own experience or some sister-in-law who says something worked for her second cousin-in-law’s girlfriend. You aggregate all of these people and what do you get? Still a small group opinion about something that may or may not be true or useful. Is this the way to make decisions about your important health problems? I hope not, but if you think so, you can stop reading this now. I can’t help you. Good luck in your life… However, if you can feel where I’m going on this one, then bear with me.

Scientific theory has been around for ages and has helped us decide if a round wheel actually is better than a square wheel. This is not just related to health and medicine, it is related to how we know that gravity exists and what is responsible for us knowing how things work all around us……all of those things that you take for granted. Why is the sky blue? Why does your TV or computer work? Why don’t the tires on your car burn off in a few hours? Does it matter what they are made of? How does light and sound travel and where do they go? These are all actually VERY simple problems and issues compared to the trillions of biochemical processes that go on in your body every minute of the day.

One can argue that we are headed too fast towards too much technology and we are wiping out the planet and there is too much artificial stuff that we deal with everyday. That could very well be true, and I agree with some of that. However, it does not negate how we know what works and what doesn’t and how we got that knowledge. The sciences have provided a way to check things out using well defined research processes to figure out exactly what works and what does not.

Do we know everything? Of course not!! We are WAY not there yet. But the point is that there is a LOT of science that has been done on millions of biochemical, physiologic and anatomical processes in our bodies. We do know a STAGGERING amount about how our bodies work, how they process foods, how they interact with the environment, how genetics steer us into or out of harm’s way etc.

Do we consume crap daily and should not? Does everyone get some kind of pill offered for every little symptom? Of course. A LOT of what you do in terms of eating, drinking, breathing, exercising (or not) influences your health. Of course ingesting or exposing ourselves to chemicals that are “not natural” to our bodies can’t be good. On the other hand, some chemicals have saved our lives. But there is a balance. Did you know for example that our bodies are designed to live for WELL over 100 years ON AVERAGE? Obviously, we are not usually getting there and it can be related to what we eat, drink and breathe.

Regarding what works ( or not), did you know that 40% of the time you can give someone a sugar pill and it is likely to help….or at least seem to? This is called the placebo effect, tells us that our mind-body connection may be stronger than we think, and tells us that what someone says is a truly effective remedy ain’t necessarily so. In some cases it is a simple natural fix, so who cares if it is placebo effect or not. It worked! Right? Wrong. Often someone has charged you significant money for a worthless treatment so you have lost out in that way and if you have a serious problem you may be selling yourself short by thinking that you have just found an effective treatment. Instead, you may have put yourself in front of the eight ball and delayed important treatment, mainstream OR alternative.

What is my overall point? Simply that scientific process as proof of what works is far more compelling than Sally or Jane giving a testimonial (often fake) on a web-page. Scientific process is rigorous and demanding and is NOT always right. However, if numerous well designed research studies show the same thing about a particular problem or treatment, you might want to consider that it is likely true. Go figure. In some cases, good scientific proof is lacking but there is a plausible explanation or hypothesis for why something may indeed work. More studies are done and we often have a winner. It is often reasonable to try such remedies before absolute proof is established as long as harm is not proven or is low risk.

What makes me sick is that pseudo-doctors, rip-off artists, poorly informed people (both health care professionals and lay folks) are all over the map talking out of their ass. Sorry for being blunt, but even some doctors who are accusing other doctors of being ignorant or are entrenched in conspiracies are in fact self-deluded and under-informed.

The plain fact is that no one knows it all, but there are billions of research articles published out there which support certain treatments or not. Rather than deciding who to listen to based on what they write or say online or in a book (by the way ANYONE can write a book and it can be crap!) or how they sound or look, ask for true proof: Research proof.

What is research? Contrary to what you might hear, research being done is NOT a drug money sponsored and deceitful sham, designed in cigar smoke-filled boardrooms of Big-Pharma and the FDA. In fact they are held to a high standard, often losing millions when their studies are NOT approved by the FDA. There are also a lot of independently funded studies (e.g. charities and foundations) in both mainstream and alternative areas. Finally, regardless of funding, ALL studies have to be approved by something called an IRB (Institutional Review Board…some call it an Independent Review Board) which by law has to include community members just like you!

Research studies have to be stringently designed and carried out so that there are no shennanigans. If there are, they will not get published. Oh and by the way, that is the final layer. Nothing gets published until it is reviewed for quality by peer review boards at the various journals. Since there are a gazillion journals out there, the story line of “they won’t let me publish my results” (boo hoo) is pure baloney and insulting to those of us who are true researchers who serve on peer review boards. It is more like, “they won’t let me publish” because “I’m lazy and don’t want to do it right or submit it to more than one or two journals”.

What research is NOT is someone surfing the internet, picking up random bits of info, compiling them and slapping it all together into a “book”……..worse, a book about “secrets they don’t want you to know about”. Don’t buy into it. It’s a marketing trick and it’ll bite you back. Unfortunately, this type of pseudo-research is what you find online more than anything else.

BOTTOM LINE: Look for those who offer evidence from well designed and performed research studies, mainstream or alternative. Look for quality and facts….. If you don’t know what that means, ask an independent third party that knows science and statistics to review the “proof”. Always ask: “Where’s the beef?” and don’t be easily impressed.