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Four letters to the editor critical of papers on Reiki have been published.

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SEPTEMBER 16-30 2025 NEWS SEPTEMBER 1-15 2025 NEWS ALL PREVIOUS NEWS PAGES

OCTOBER, 2025

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On Science-Based Medicine,

Scott Gavura:

Wrote “The growing problem of supplement-drug interactions in seniors.” “Surveys of older adults report that many take multiple prescription drugs along with one or more dietary supplements, yet few report this use to their healthcare providers…The findings [of a new review] are both familiar and concerning. The supplements most often implicated were herbal products, particularly St. John’s wort, ginkgo biloba, garlic, ginseng, and echinacea. The most frequently affected medication classes were anticoagulants, antihypertensives, antidepressants, and antidiabetic drugs. Reported effects ranged from reduced therapeutic efficacy (for example, St. John’s wort lowering blood levels of some drugs) to increased bleeding risk with ginkgo or garlic when combined with warfarin or aspirin. The authors also noted that up to one-third of older adults in various studies were taking at least one supplement–drug combination with potential for harm.”

Steven Novella:

Posted “Rejecting the null hypothesis.” Homeopathy and acupuncture were discussed.

Edzard Ernst:

Wrote “The characteristics and essence of meridians and acupoints (or: How the ‘Flat Earth Society’ can demonstrate that our planet has the shape of a disc).” “I would have thought it might be important [not essential] to review this subject as one reviews any subject in science. This would mean that one needs to discuss critically the evidence and plausibility of the concepts. Sadly, the authors of this paper did the exact opposite. They cherry-picked the fairly extensive literature that aims to prove the existance of TCM [traditional Chinese medicine] assumptions like acupoints, meridians, etc., while the less extensive literature that questions these assumptions is swept under the carpet.”
Posted “Spinal manipulative therapy for low back pain and opioid use disorder.” “It is not often that I encounter such misleading research published by apparently reputable institutions!...Isn’t it obvious that the causative factor here is not the SMT but the chiropractors’ advice to stay clear of all drugs? Isn’t it obvious that the findings are largely unrelated to ‘the potential role of SMT’? In case you have not got my point: SMT might be total rubbish, but advising against drugs for LBP is good for reducing the risk of OUD.”
Noted that “Helene M. Langevin announced her retirement as director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).” “Which forms of SCAM [so-called alternative medicine] has she shown to be effective? As far as I can see, the answer is NONE! Her supporters saw her ‘whole person’ emphasis as visionary, but critics said it was vague, difficult to operationalize, and risked diluting rigorous biomedical research with broad, unfocused goals. I would add that holism is not a monopoly of SCAM – all good medicine is holistic, as I stressed on this blog ad nauseam…Despite years of generous funding, the NCCIH – under Langevin’s direction as well as before – has not produced any practice-changing discoveries in the realm of SCAM.”
Posted “Misinformation in YouTube videos about chiropractic treatment for otitis media.” “The authors concluded that misinformation about chiropractic treatment for OM is widespread and highly viewed on YouTube. The omission of proven therapies and promotion of unverified claims pose risks for delayed care and preventable harm…After reading this paper and after watching some of the videos, I foremost have one question: HOW CAN ANYONE STILL BELIEVE THAT CHIROPRACTORS ARE SERIOUS HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS?”
Wrote “Gua Sha therapy for chronic nonspecific low back pain?” “It is easy to imagine that Gua Sha is associated with sizable placebo effects. This means one needs to think carefully about how to control for them in clinical trials, if we want to know whether the treatment works beyond placebo. I am not sure how to achieve this, but I am quite certain that the current study failed to do it. Thus its results merely showed that Gua Sha is just as useless as another therapy that is unproven for CNSLBP.”
Posted “The impact of 'biofield energy' treatment on broiler chicken growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass characteristics, and meat quality.” “The trouble here, it seems to me, is that biofield energy is an invention; IT DOES NOT EXIST! Perhaps, we need to ask how this study came into being. Its authors (1st author Mahendra Kumar Trivedi) come from ‘TRIVEDI GLOBAL INC’. Mahendra Kumar Trivedi has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and managed to publish around 50 Medline-listed studies on the ‘Trivedi Effect’, all showing that it is effective as a panacea. Trivedi Global, Inc. is a US-based company founded by Mahendra Kumar Trivedi. The company is centered around The Trivedi Effect, which they describe as an evidence-based phenomenon in which an individual can harness an inherently intelligent energy from nature and transmit it to living organisms and non-living materials, anywhere in the world through thought intention, to significantly enhance potency and beneficially alter their characteristics… So, what should we make of the above-mentioned, new study? Let me express it as politely as I can: I do not trust its findings until I see an independent replication.”
Discussed “Six reasons why consumers believe in misinformation about so-called alternative medicine (SCAM).”
Wrote “Finally a treatment that works for chronic low back pain?” VER-01 is a standardized cannabis extract. “Given the option of either having spinal manipulation (or any other form of unproven so-called alternative medicine) or a safe and standardised cannabis extract, I certainly know what I would choose!”
Posted “What’s all this hooha about 'antinutrients'?” “‘Anti-nutrients’ (ANs) are compounds found primarily in plant-based foods that interfere with the absorption and utilization of certain nutrients…Diets like keto, paleo, and carnivore eliminate or restrict whole food groups (like grains and legumes) that are high in ANs. Proponents of these diets hype the topic of anti-nutrients to justify excluding these plant foods…Several of the compounds classified as ANs (e.g. phytates and tannins) have, in fact, significant health benefits. Reasonable experts acknowledge that ANs exist and can inhibit nutrient absorption. However, they stress that for the vast majority of people consuming a varied and well-prepared diet, the negative effects are negligible. In summary, for most people consuming a balanced diet, ANs should not be a major concern. The overall benefits of eating whole, plant-based foods far outweigh the potential negative effects of ANs.”

On McGill Office for Science and Society:

Jonathan Jarry:

Wrote “Extracting drugs from nature is hard.” “Take-home message: Natural medicine enthusiasts will often refer to nature as a pharmacy in disguise and claim that various herbs, trees, seeds, fruits, roots, and leaves have healing properties. The fact that a natural molecule has some anticancer activity when added to cells in a plastic dish does not mean it will be safe and effective when given to a patient; in fact, most of these promising compounds fail when rigorously tested in humans.”
Posted “Everyone Else is Lying to You: a damning archive of science denial,” a review of Jonathan Howard’s new book.
Wrote “AGZ is more shaky science from the makers of AG1.” “Take-home message: AGZ is an all-in-one powder you add to your beverage of choice that is claimed to help with sleep and it is made by the company behind the popular AG1 green smoothie powder. The ingredients it contains have very little convincing scientific evidence behind them in terms of helping people with their sleep, and no study of AGZ itself has been released so far.”

Joe Schwarcz:

Wrote “Apple cider vinegar…again.” “A darling of the health food crowd, apple cider vinegar gained some scientific support from a peer-reviewed paper that found impressive weight loss with just a few spoonfuls a day. Alas, the paper has been retracted due to various flaws that make the results untrustworthy.”
Posted “Claims about blue spirulina raise a red flag.” “’Blue spirulina’ is an extract of spirulina that contains mostly phycocyanin and few other nutrients…There are two conditions in which benefits of spirulina have been shown through clinical trials. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis, commonly known as ‘hay fever,’ improve, and blood glucose levels decrease in diabetics with the consumption of 4-8 grams of spirulina with a meal. This is only of academic interest because there are better treatments for both rhinitis and diabetes. ‘Blue algae,’ basically a phycocyanin-rich extract, has not been shown to have such effects…”

October – Doherty and others published “Complementary and alternative medicine for autism – a systematic review” (J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Oct;55(10):3689-3699). “The results of this systematic review identified that for autistic people, vitamin and mineral supplements may only be of benefit if there is a deficiency…The evidence does not support some of the most frequently utilised dietary interventions, such as a Gluten Free Casein Free (GFCF) diet, and the use of targeted nutraceutical supplements may be of benefit, but more conclusive research is still required to direct safe and effective treatment.”

October 1 – Hemsley and others published “Safeguarding the communication rights of minimally- or non-speaking people who are vulnerable to Facilitated Communication, Rapid Prompting (Spellers Method) and variants” (Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 2025, 1–21). “Everyone who works with, or wishes to support, non-speaking people with communication disabilities must be mindful that Facilitated Communication and variants result in facilitator control of messages through mechanisms that are simultaneously too subtle for most observers to notice, yet powerful enough to violate the communication rights of those least able to speak up for those rights.”

October 10 – Molly Young (New York Times Magazine) wrote “If an energy drink drank an energy drink, you’d get a Celsius.” “But does it incinerate calories, as Haley had dreamed? Sort of. ‘Caffeine does raise your metabolic rate, so consuming Celsius would burn more calories than if you didn’t,’ the food scientist Claire Thrift said. ‘But likely so would any other product that contains the same amount of caffeine’.”

October 15 - Kelly Cho (Washington Post) reported “Unsafe amounts of lead found in some protein powders, report says.” “More than two-thirds of the 23 protein powders tested by Consumer Reports had lead levels exceeding the watchdog group’s daily intake safety standards.”

October 16 – Smoliga and Yang published “How an FDA cleared 'brain protection' device built on shaky science made it to the NFL” (BMJ. 2025 Oct 16;391:r2028). The Q-Collar has been marketed to protect against concussion in athletes. “A careful review of the device’s history shows that ‘the science’ behind the Q-Collar is unsound. Q30’s claims keep evolving: as one big assertion is debunked and shown to be unsupported by studies, a new claim arises, only to be debunked again. We are now in a situation where a device that restricts blood flow and is worn around the neck, that has not been shown to provide any clinical benefit, is being sold to vulnerable populations—including children as young as 13. It’s time for the FDA to review its decision.” Papers published in support of the Q-Collar show signs of data manipulation. Hobson and Gilbert (Washington Post) also discussed the Q-Collar in their article “Device claims to protect athletes’ brains, but records reveal doubts at FDA. “…internal FDA documents show that some of the agency’s reviewers doubted Q-Collar research showed the device offered meaningful protection against brain injury, damage or disease. The agency agreed to clear it, the records show, only after Q30 added language to its owner’s manual stating the device does not prevent concussions and that any claims it protects against long-term cognitive problems have ‘not been demonstrated’.”

October 18 – Shannon Osaka and Daniel Gilbert (Washington Post) wrote “As new treatments for microplastics emerge, here’s the evidence on how well they work.” “Some are simple supplements claiming to clear toxins from the gut; others involve high-end blood-filtration machines that can cost more than $10,000 per treatment. Still, experts who study microplastics caution that little is known about quantifying their presence in the body, what a protocol for reducing them should look like and whether removing them will improve patients’ health. There is little published evidence that any therapy is effective at removing microplastics from the body…Scientists worry, however, that even if these treatments remove microplastics from the body, new particles will quickly take their place…Nor will such treatments necessarily remove microplastics from deep in human organs, where researchers believe they can do the most harm.”

October 23 – Mohana Ravindranath (New York Times) wrote “Longevity seekers are taking N.A.D.+ supplements. Do they work?” “But scientists are still debating whether N.A.D.+ decline actually speeds the aging process, or if it’s just associated with it…Many experts think the N.A.D.+ molecule is too big to be absorbed into cells and that the precursors have more potential promise for anti-aging…an F.D.A. spokesperson said the agency had not approved any N.A.D.+ products for medical use and that it had sent warning letters to companies marketing N.A.D.+ products with unproven health claims.”

October 24 – Beth Mole (Ars Technica) reported “Man takes herbal pain quackery, nearly dies, spends months in hospital.” “The man’s family told doctors that, up until a few months prior, he had been taking three different types of herbal supplements that claim to treat joint pain. The man had taken the supplements for four years, and sometimes as often as four times a day, but he had stopped using them in the lead-up to his illness. The supplements were: Artri King, Nhan Sam Tuyet Lien, and Linsen Double Caulis Plus. All are known to contain unlisted glucocorticoids, according to the Food and Drug Administration. And testing of two of the man’s supplements by the hospital confirmed the presence of the steroids. Doctors determined that the man had essentially overdosed on the glucocorticoids—he had taken doses that exceeded the normal levels of glucocorticoids in the body.”

October 31 –Dana Milbank (Washington Post) discussed forest bathing.

Additions to previous months

September – Lydia Denworth (Scientific American) published “Hype about gluten-free diets.” “Other wheat components are more likely to trigger health problems.” (Internet version: “Should you be on a gluten-free diet? Unless you have celiac disease, there are few health benefits to a gluten-free diet.”)

September 27 – David Colquhoun posted “Trump's fantasies about medicine: autism and ADHD: paracetamol, Tylenol, acetaminophen” (video).

September 29 – Katie Suleta (American Council on Science and Health) posted “Functional medicine certification: the line between expertise and hype.” “’Board certified’ is a common and persuasive credential, particularly in medicine, often implying a recognized level of expertise. However, this term doesn't automatically equate to scientific backing. For example, the Institute for Functional Medicine has a new board certification for its practitioners. While the title may sound official, the details suggest it's more of a marketing tactic than a genuine scientific or medical endorsement…The creation of a seemingly official 'board' legitimizes the practice to the public, even if the underlying principles lack scientific validation. This is the precise strategy now being leveraged by the Institute for Functional Medicine…Given the scientific consensus that Functional Medicine is not an effective approach to patient care and does not yield good outcomes, and being a home for many wellness influencers and grifters, all this casts the board certification into a different light. The establishment of the International Board for Functional Medicine Certification is clearly a business move meant to imply medical legitimacy where none exists. It will provide another way for people to tack more initials after their name, lending the appearance of expertise and credibility where none really exists.”

September 30 – Priyankar Dey published “All that glitters ain’t gold: the myths and scientific realities about the gut microbiota” (Nutrients. 2025 Sep 30;17(19):3121). “In this article, ten prevalent myths, including the obsolete 10:1 bacteria-to-human-cell ratio, the reductive categorization of microbes as 'good' or 'bad', and the discredited universal biomarker status of the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in relation to metabolic diseases, have been debunked.”

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