Naturopathy / Natural Therapies

To beat drug-resistant malaria in the Vietnam War, the military screened 2,000+ herbal recipes; in 1972 Tu Youyou’s team extracted artemisinin from sweet wormwood, now a global first-line antimalarial.

After reviewing 1,800 studies it concluded there is no reliable evidence homeopathy is effective for any condition.

The committee found homeopathy no better than placebo and advised the NHS to stop funding; NHS England formally stopped in 2017.

1,162 chronic-low-back-pain patients randomised to real acupuncture, sham (shallow non-point) or usual care: response rates 47.6%, 44.2%, 27.4%.

The 1997 NIH consensus found acupuncture effective for post-op nausea etc.; the WHO’s 2019 ICD-11 first included a traditional-medicine chapter.

Focused UV light treated lupus vulgaris (skin TB), the first ‘natural therapy’ to win a Nobel.

Cold baths, barefoot dew-walking, herbs and diet — the ‘five pillars’ — became a German wellness tradition, listed as intangible heritage in 2015.

A periodic 5-day low-calorie ‘fasting-mimicking diet’ extended lifespan in mice and lowered several ageing and metabolic risk markers in human trials.

Pauling claimed high-dose vitamin C prevents colds and treats cancer; two Mayo Clinic RCTs found no cancer benefit.

‘Detoxes’ cancer with juices and coffee enemas; the NCI reviewed 50 records twice and found no benefit, and the clinic moved to Mexico after a US ban.

‘Eat Your Way Back from Illness’ sold millions claiming mung beans and eggplant cure everything, spiking mung-bean prices; his ‘TCM lineage’ and ‘Health Ministry expert’ claims were found fabricated.

A central ministry overseeing Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, with a budget of hundreds of millions.