Evidence Watch
Choosing a practitioner: what to look for and what to ask
Regulation of Ayurvedic practice varies enormously between countries, and in many places anyone may use the title. Here is how to assess someone.
Evidence Watch
Trials, reviews and claims that do not hold up.
Evidence Watch
The placebo question, taken seriously
Dismissing a treatment as merely placebo is both a serious criticism and an under-examined one. What placebo effects are, and are not, matters for how traditional medicine should be assessed.
Evidence Watch
Cancer claims: the most important thing on this site to get right
Alternative cancer treatment is an area where the stakes are absolute and the evidence is clear. This article states the position plainly.
Evidence Watch
What traditional use establishes, and what it does not
Long history of use is offered as evidence for herbal preparations constantly. It genuinely is evidence, of a specific and limited kind, and understanding which kind is useful.
Evidence Watch
Ayurveda for skin conditions: evidence, and a specific warning
Skin conditions are visible, chronic and frequently frustrating, which makes them a major market for alternative treatment. One category of product in this area causes real harm.
Evidence Watch
Ayurveda for arthritis: the trials, and the one that got attention
Joint conditions are among the most common reasons people try traditional medicine, and there is a reasonable body of research including one comparatively rigorous trial.
Evidence Watch
Natural does not mean safe: how herbs interact with medicines
Herb-drug interactions are real, some are serious, and the mechanisms are the same ones that produce interactions between pharmaceuticals.
Evidence Watch
How Ayurvedic products are regulated, and where they are not
The same product can be a licensed medicine in one country and an unregulated supplement in another, and the practical consequences for what is in the packet are substantial.
Evidence Watch
Ayurveda for diabetes: what the trials actually show
A substantial number of trials have examined Ayurvedic preparations in type 2 diabetes. The findings are worth knowing, and so is the reason none of them should change your treatment.
Evidence Watch
Detox: what the word is doing
Detoxification is a real physiological process and it is not what detox products claim to do. This is one of the clearest cases where a traditional concept has been repurposed for marketing.
Evidence Watch
Heavy metals in traditional medicines: the thing you should read first
A documented and repeatedly confirmed contamination problem affecting a meaningful proportion of Ayurvedic products on the market. This is the safety issue that matters most.
Evidence Watch
How to read a trial of a traditional medicine
Studies of Ayurvedic and other traditional interventions have some recurring methodological features, and knowing what to look for makes most headlines easy to assess.