Homeopathy pills are, after all, empty little sugar pills which seem to work, and so they embody [..] how we can be misled into thinking that any intervention is more effective than it really is.

About This Quote

People who take homeopathic pills (which are essentially sugar pills), report feeling better after taking the pill. The reason why they feel better is because homeopathy is completely ineffective. It is nothing but a placebo. People do not feel better after taking homeopathic pills because the pills contain any active ingredients.

The pills are simply placebos, which make people think they are getting relief. The key part of this quote is “seem to work.” The term “homeopathy” was coined by a man named Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700s, and it means “like cures like,” or “like cures disease.” In other words, if a sick person takes a small dose of a substance that causes a similar disease in healthy people, many people will get better from taking that substance. This theory also explains why some people get better from taking chemotherapy even though it kills half of all patients who use it.

Source: Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, And Big Pharma Flacks

Some Similar Quotes

1. The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who... - Mother Teresa

---

2. After you find out all the things that can go wrong, your life becomes less about living and more about waiting. - Chuck Palahniuk

---

3. It is astounding to me, and achingly sad, that with eighty thousand people on the waiting list for donated hearts and livers and kidneys, with sixteen a day dying there on that list, that more then half of the people in the position H's family... - Mary Roach

---

4. The night before brain surgery, I thought about death. I searched out my larger values, and I asked myself, if I was going to die, did I want to do it fighting and clawing or in peaceful surrender? What sort of character did I hope... - Lance Armstrong

---

5. Frostpine made a face. Lifting the cup, he dumped its contents down his throat. “Auugghh! ” he yelled, his voice stronger than it had been since his return from the harbor. "Are you trying to kill me, woman?"" If I mean to kill someone, I... - Tamora Pierce

---

More Quotes By Ben Goldacre

1. You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.

---

2. You are a placebo responder. Your body plays tricks on your mind. You cannot be trusted.

---

3. And if, by the end [of this book], you reckon you might still disagree with me, then I offer you this: you'll still be wrong, but you'll be wrong with a lot more panache and flair than you could possibly manage right now.

---

4. I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

---

5. Homeopathy pills are, after all, empty little sugar pills which seem to work, and so they embody [..] how we can be misled into thinking that any intervention is more effective than it really is.

---