Can a homeopathic cold remedy be dangerous?
July 21, 2010
The cold remedy Zicam, which contains a form of zinc, is marketed as a “homeopathic medicine.” But the new analysis showing that nasal gels and swabs containing zinc have likely caused a loss of smell in some users raises a hotly debated question: Is Zicam truly homeopathic?
Homeopathy is based on the idea that giving extremely small doses of substances triggers the body’s innate healing ability, according to the National Institute of Health. The theory is that “like cures like,” or that a disease can be cured by a substance that produces similar symptoms in healthy people. The lower the dose, the greater the alleged effectiveness of the remedy.
Critics say homeopathy doesn’t work and has no scientific basis. To prove it, English protesters recently staged a “mass overdose” by swallowing whole bottles of homeopathic pills outside drugstores to show they had no effect. In fact, the products are so highly diluted that they may not even contain a single molecule of the original compound.
Zicam contains an ingredient dubbed Zincum Gluconicum, which the company says produces “cold-like symptoms” in healthy individuals. It was added to the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States in 1997.
But the National Center for Homeopathy says “Zicam is NOT homeopathy” in part because it’s not prepared like a true homeopathic remedy, wrote naturopathic doctors Steve Coward and Kristina Lewis. “Homeopathy is not a product, but a process of selecting the correct remedy specifically indicated for a given person’s health concerns,” they added. “Zicam is a product supposedly indicated for the common cold — ALL cases of the common cold. Therefore it is not homeopathy.”
Whether it’s homeopathy or not, the Food and Drug Administration last year warned consumers to stop taking certain Zicam Cold Remedy products designed to be used in the nose. The agency said it had received more than 130 reports of loss of smell associated with use of the over-the-counter products in the nose. Oral zinc products don’t appear to have the same problem. |
