JULY 2025 NEWS

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On Science-Based Medicine,

Mark Crislip:

Wrote “Garden of Healing.” Dr. Crislip evaluates claims made for medicinal plants in the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

Scott Gavura:

Posted “Your terrain, your fault? Germ Theory Denial 2025.” “According to terrain theory, germs don’t cause disease – it’s your body’s failure to maintain internal purity. If you’re healthy enough, pathogens can’t hurt you…Terrain theory doesn’t just reject evidence: it rejects uncertainty. And in doing so, it offers an illusion of control: Live life purely and holistically, and you can avoid illness. But reality is messier. Disease can strike even the healthy. Through acknowledging the reality of germ theory, we’re also accepting a necessary truth: some aspects of our health are beyond individual control. Germ theory gave us something terrain theory couldn’t deliver: effective, lifesaving interventions like vaccination, antibiotics, sterilization and sanitation – together they have saved many millions of lives and are cornerstones of medicine. Healthy living matters too. Diet, sleep, physical activity, and avoiding tobacco reduce the risk of many illnesses. But when taken to extremes, which terrain theory encourages, it can lead to pseudoscience, stigmatize the sick, and undermine the public health systems and interventions that meaningfully contribute to a healthy society.”

Edzard Ernst:

Reported “Death associated with wet cupping therapy (hajima).” “This effect is likely to be an extremely rare event. Yet, it is worth remembering that wet cupping has other adverse effects that are much more frequent: It is painful. It can lead to nasty infections. It can leave unsightly scars. Even more important is, I think, the fact that wet cupping has no or very few benefits. This means its risk/benefit balance fails to be positive. And, in turn, this means, that we should discourage people from using it.”
Asked “Are chiropractors allowed to call themselves ‘Dr.’?”
Wrote “’Hands-off’ therapies are more effective than ‘hands-on’ therapies in the treatment of chronic cervical pain.”
Discussed “Eric S Kaplan, the strange chiropractor-friend of Donald Trump.” “Eric S. Kaplan is the President of DISC Centers of America, the largest group of Chiropractic clinics in the U.S.A., utilizing Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression….Even the most superficial look at the data, however, suggests that the evidence for nonsurgical spinal decompression is at best flimsy. While there are studies showing benefits, they often lack control groups or have small sample sizes, making it wrong to draw firm positive conclusions. Therefore, most medical professionals remain skeptical due to the lack of robust evidence.”
Discussed “The effect of hydrotherapy on people with non-specific chronic low back pain.” “So, if you have back pain, should you see a chiropractor (osteopath, acupuncturist, homeopath, other SCAM [so-called alternative medicine] practitioner who claims his/her therapy works for sore backs) or a practitioner of hydrotherapy? A difficult choice? Let me help you: the evidence is flimsy for all; the costs for chiro etc. tend to be high; the risks of chiro etc. can be considerable; Best to choose a treatment that is inexpensive and low-risk … which means? Yes, you got it: you might as well choose hydrotherapy!”
Wrote “Feverfew for migraine? A new and rather useless review of the evidence.” “…what exactly does the new review add to the existing knowledge? I fear, the answer is VERY LITTLE! Arguably, the new review is even less rigorous, transparent, thorough and informative than our paper. If that is so, why conduct and publish it?”
Wrote “The eternal allure of the panacea.” “The allure of such concepts is understandable: they are so much simpler than reality! When the naive enthusiasm wears off, it is time for some rational and critical thinking. The causes of disease are manifold, and (sadly) there is no (and never will be) a panacea.”
Declared “Animal chiropractic is nonsense.”

On McGill Office for Science and Society:

Jonathan Jarry:

Posted “Patchy science on LifeWave's mysterious patches.” “Take-home message: LifeWave patches are small, round patches that stick to the skin and that are being sold through multilevel marketing. Sources, including scientific papers, don’t agree on exactly what is inside these patches or how they are supposed to work to cause all sorts of vague health benefits. Published studies tend to be very bad in quality, and the lack of plausibility strongly suggests that when these patches are thought to work, it is because of placebo effects.”
Wrote “Con artists or true believers?” “Are all snake oil salesmen lying to you to get to your money? Or do some really believe what they’re selling?”
Discussed UV blood irradiation. “Take-home message: UV blood irradiation, which goes by a long list of other names, is the process of removing blood from the body, passing it in front of a UV lamp, and putting it back in the body, in order to treat illness. There are very few legitimate medical applications of this procedure, mainly the treatment of a form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (where cancer cells in the blood attack the skin). The technique is commonly offered by wellness clinics for every symptom or illness out there, with virtually no scientific evidence behind it.”

Sophie Pellar:

Wrote “Orange you overdoing it? A deep dive into the science of zone training.” “Think higher heart rate equals more fat burn? The science behind heart rate zones says otherwise. Discover why slow and steady might actually win the fat-loss race.”

Joe Schwarcz:

Wrote “Science shows carnivore diet is best left to lions.” “What is clear is that the fad is not supported by evidence. Quite the contrary. The lack of fibre increases the risk of colon cancer, imbalances the intestinal microbiome, and can lead to explosive diarrhea. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ and processed meat as ‘known to be carcinogenic to humans.’ A high-meat diet raises LDL cholesterol, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol,’ as well as blood levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a compound linked with cardiovascular risk. Meat also lacks vitamin C, magnesium and potassium, all found in plant foods. Then there is the issue of kidney stones.”
Posted “Want more energy and a feeling of wellbeing? That’s the promise of Eria Jarensis” (video with transcript). “Eria Jarensis is an orchid, an extract of which contains N,N-Dimethylphenethylamine (DMPEA)… Whether it has stimulant effects similar to other phenethylamine derivatives is not known because there have been no clinical trials. Neither is there evidence that it is a ‘fat burner,’ a substance that is supposed to boost the body’s metabolic rate leading to more calories burned at rest.”

July – Cara Santa Maria (Skeptical Inquirer) wrote “Twenty years of health scams and wellness trends.”

July 10 – Beth Mole (Ars Technica) wrote “Woman takes 10x dose of turmeric, gets hospitalized for liver damage.” “In fact, while rare overall, turmeric appears to have become the most common herbal cause of liver injuries in the US.”

July 13 – Teddy Rosenbluth (New York Times) wrote “So your doctor is a D.O. Does that matter?” “While vestiges from Dr. Still’s original philosophy are still incorporated into modern training — students spend roughly 200 hours learning a hands-on approach for diagnosing and treating various ailments called osteopathic manipulative treatment — most D.O.s say they don’t use these techniques.”

July 18 – Glenn Sacks (The Hill) wrote “Actually, research supports the COVID school closures.” Four studies are cited, concerned with issues like spread of COVID in households and communities and effects on minority families. “…in the context of the time, what we did was not unreasonable, and that we acted in good faith to protect our students, their families and their communities. “

July 21 – Henry Miller (Genetic Literacy Project) wrote “'Wellness' grifters' pseudoscience imperils public health.” “This movement no longer just peddles ineffective supplements and dubious diagnostics; it’s actively undermining science-based health policy — and putting human and even animal lives at risk. Nowhere is this more evident than in the crisis of H5N1 bird flu, a virus with real pandemic potential.”

July 21 – Emma Yaskinski (New York Times) asked “Do you need to drink electrolytes?” “But experts say you probably don’t need to reach for a sports drink during your regular workouts. Even if those workouts are strenuous or happen in hotter weather, drinking water when you’re thirsty is enough to keep you hydrated. The sugar and carbohydrates found in many sports drinks certainly may help competitive athletes maintain their energy, but the electrolytes have little impact.”

July 29 – Christina Jewett (New York Times) published “Kennedy announces plan to restrict some kratom products.” “In recent years, manufacturers have isolated and amplified a compound in kratom to make a more potent product. Concerns about addiction to 7-OH, or 7-hydroxymitragynine, have mounted because it binds to opioid receptors in the brain…People can buy 7-OH online and in smoke shops, where it’s often labeled kratom and 7 or 7-OH. It comes in the form of gummies, chewables, small drinks or tablets that melt in the mouth.” In a related story, the FDA issued a warning letter to companies marketing 7-OH.

Addition to previous months

January – Quigley and Shanahan published “Probiotics in health care: a critical appraisal” (Annu Rev Med. 2025 Jan;76(1):129-141). “…the field is filled with controversy, inconsistencies, misuse of terminology, and poor communication. While the probiotic concept is biologically plausible and in some cases mechanistically well established, extrapolation of preclinical results to humans has seldom been proven in well-conducted clinical trials. With noteworthy exceptions, clinical guidance has often been derived not from large, adequately powered clinical trials but rather from comparisons of disparate, small studies with insufficient power to identify the optimal strain.”

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