Ask a doctor - Why is alternative medicine considered bad?

Q. Why is alternative medicine considered bad?

Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.

Answered by Secondmedic Expert

Alternative medicine is considered bad because it often lacks good quality scientific evidence, which means its efficacy and safety are not as well established. This can lead to people using remedies that do not work and could potentially cause harm. Additionally, alternative medicines may also be costly or difficult to access and they usually lack the expertise of trained healthcare professionals advising on their proper use.

In some cases, people may opt for alternative medicine in place of conventional treatments, such as antibiotics or surgery. While this can work if done correctly under the supervision of a qualified practitioner, it does have serious health risks associated with it due to the lack of reliable research about these treatments. For example, studies have shown that many herbal remedies are mislabeled, contain dangerous heavy metals and contaminants or fail to list important disclaimers regarding possible side effects.

The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) has no legal authority over most forms of alternatives medicines since they are largely unregulated supplements so there is no guarantee when it comes to their potency or safety as compared with prescribed medications from your doctor/pharmacist . Furthermore , utilizing untested procedures can put consumers at risk for potential serious injury if administered incorrectly by a practitioner who does not have experience with them .

Additionally , many promoters of alternative medicinal practices rely on anecdotal evidence instead of controlling for potential confounding variables during clinical trials , leading biased conclusions about effectiveness . Lastly , the review process for published papers about unproven treatments isn’t always rigorous enough either due to article bias from journals involved in poor peer-review processes . All these concerns add up leaving patients feeling uneasy about unclear consequences associated with untested alternatives therapies..