Trick or Treatment

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THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK ARE GUIDED ENTIRELY BY A SINGLE PITHY sentence, written over 2,000 years ago by Hippocrates of Cos. Recognized as the father of medicine, he stated:

If somebody proposed a new medical treatment, then Hippocrates declared that we should use science to decide whether or not it works, rather than relying on somebody’s opinion. Science employs experiments, observations, trials, argument and discussion in order to arrive at an objective consensus on the truth. Even when a conclusion has been decided, science still probes and prods its own proclamations just in case it has made a mistake. In contrast, opinions are subjective and conflicting, and whoever has the most persuasive PR campaign has the best chance of promoting their opinion, regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

Guided by Hippocrates’ dictum, this book takes a scientific look at the current plethora of alternative treatments that are rapidly growing in popularity. These treatments are piled high in every pharmacy, written about in every magazine, discussed on millions of web pages and used by billions of people, yet they are regarded with scepticism by many doctors.

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