Critique of the paper "The untold saga of chromotherapy in dentistry" by DSV Sindhuja and others (J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Feb;11(2):453-457)
Thomas J. Wheeler
A letter was sent to the editor of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care in response to the paper cited above (Sindhuja et al.). The first part of the letter read, in part, "I found this article to be unscientific and inappropriate for a medical journal...I realize that colored light may have psychological effects, and that different colored light might have different effects on the skin, but ideas such as treating the 'aura' and 'chromatised water' are scientifically unfounded. I hope that in the future you and your editors will be more careful in ensuring that only science-based articles are published." Among the comments included to document the unscientific nature of the paper were the following:
"The authors do not even hint at the idea that their claims are rejected by scientific medicine, or even that they might be controversial.
"Here are a couple examples of the absurdities:
"The seven chakras (which are mystical 'energy points' in the body), numbered from bottom to top of the human body, are said to correspond to seven colors in the same order as the colors appear in the electromagnetic spectrum. This shows that the system was a human invention, not anything based on scientific reality.
"Yellow light is said to carry 'inspirational and stimulating positive magnetic currents.' What is a 'positive magnetic current'?
"It is irresponsible to suggest that serious diseases such as hepatitis, diabetes, and cancer can be treated with 'chromotherapy.' If patients believe such ideas it may distract them from getting genuine effective medical treatments."
After additional exchanges of correspondence with the journal editors, I was invited to submit a Letter to the Editor for publication. This appeared in 2023 (Wheeler TJ. Response to "The untold saga of chromotherapy in dentistry". J Family Med Prim Care. 2023 Feb;12(2):417-418). The published letter includes a number of criticisms in addition to those mentioned above.