Terminology of alternative medicine

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Alternative and pseudo‑medicine

General information

* Alternative medicine
* Alternative veterinary medicine
* Quackery (Health fraud)
* History of alternative medicine
* Rise of modern medicine
* Pseudoscience
* Antiscience
* Skepticism
* Skeptical movement
* National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
* Terminology of alternative medicine

Fringe medicine and science

* Acupressure
* Acupuncture
* Anthroposophic medicine
* Apitherapy
* Applied kinesiology
* Aromatherapy
* Auriculotherapy
* Bach flower remedies
* Bates method
* Biorhythm
* Black salve
* Bodywork
* Bonesetter
* Bowen technique
* Breathwork
* Camel urine
* Cow urine
* Cancer treatments
* Greek cancer cure
* Charcoal cleanse
* Chiropractic
* Chiropractic treatment techniques
* Vertebral subluxation
* Christian Science
* Chromotherapy
* Colon cleansing
* Coffee enema
* Colorpuncture
* Craniosacral therapy
* Crystal healing
* Cupping therapy
* Detoxification
* Foot baths
* Duesberg hypothesis
* Ear candling
* Energy medicine
* Esoteric energy
* Therapeutic touch
* Facilitated communication
* Feldenkrais Method
* Functional medicine
* Hair analysis
* Herbal medicine
* Holistic dentistry
* Hologram bracelet
* Homeopathy
* Biological terrain assessment
* Hypnotherapy
* Iridology
* Ionized jewelry
* Lightning Process
* Lymphotherapy
* Medical intuitive
* Mesmerism
* Magnet therapy
* Manual therapy
* Megavitamin therapy
* Mind–body interventions
* MMS
* Myofascial release
* NAET
* Naturopathy
* Oil pulling
* Orgone
* Orthomolecular medicine
* Orthopathy
* Osteomyology
* Osteopathy
* Parapsychology
* Phrenology
* Psychic surgery
* Psychodermatology
* Radionics
* Rapid prompting method
* RBOP
* Reiki
* Reflexology
* Rolfing
* Scientific racism
* ThetaHealing
* Thought Field Therapy
* Urine therapy
* Urophagia
* Vaginal steaming
* Vision therapy
* Vitalism
* Young blood transfusion
* Zero balancing

Conspiracy theories

* Anti-fluoridation/Water fluoridation movement
* Anti-vaccination
* Vaccines causing autism
* Big Pharma conspiracy theory
* GMO conspiracy theories
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* Discredited HIV/AIDS origins theories
* OPV AIDS hypothesis

Classifications

* Allopathic medicine
* Alternative medical systems
* Mind–body intervention
* Biologically-based therapy
* Manipulative methods
* Energy therapy

Traditional medicine

* African
* Muti
* South African
* Ayurveda
* Ayurvedic acupressure
* Dosha
* Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health
* Balneotherapy
* Brazilian
* Bush medicine
* Cambodian
* Chinese
* Blood stasis
* Chinese herbology
* Dit Da
* Gua sha
* Gill plate trade
* Meridian
* Moxibustion
* Pressure point
* Qi
* San Jiao
* Tui na
* Zang-fu
* Chumash
* Curandero
* Faith healing
* Iranian
* Jamu
* Kambo
* Japanese
* Korean
* Mien Shiang
* Mongolian
* Prophetic medicine
* Shamanism
* Shiatsu
* Siddha
* Sri Lankan
* Thai massage
* Tibetan
* Unani
* Vietnamese

Diagnoses

* Adrenal fatigue
* Aerotoxic syndrome
* Autistic enterocolitis
* Candida hypersensitivity
* Chronic Lyme disease
* Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
* Heavy legs
* Leaky gut syndrome
* Multiple chemical sensitivity
* Wilson's temperature syndrome
* Wind turbine syndrome

* v
* t
* e

Alternative medicine is a term often used to describe medical practices where are untested or untestable. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), functional medicine, and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon.

## Contents

* 1 Terms for alternative medicine
* 1.1 Complementary or integrative medicine
* 1.2 Other terms
* 2 Definitions of alternative medicine
* 2.1 Challenges in defining alternative medicine
* 2.2 Different types of definitions
* 2.2.1 Australia
* 2.2.2 Denmark
* 3 Other terms
* 3.1 Allopathic medicine
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 Bibliography
* 8 External links

## Terms for alternative medicine

The terms alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, natural medicine, unorthodox medicine, fringe medicine, unconventional medicine, and new age medicine are used interchangeably as having the same meaning and are almost synonymous in most contexts.[1][2][3][4]

Marcia Angell: "There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative".

There is concern that a lack of stabilized terminology for these practices may give the appearance of effectiveness.[5] Loose terminology may also be used to suggest that a dichotomy exists when it does not, e.g., the use of the expressions "Western medicine" and "Eastern medicine" to suggest that the difference is a cultural difference between the Asiatic east and the European west, rather than that the difference is between evidence-based medicine and other forms of treatment.[6]

Some scholars adopt this "Western" and "Eastern" language. For example, in a study done on musculoskeletal pain acupuncture treatment, researchers use the term "Western Acupuncture", which is defined as the acupuncture practices that are evidence based.[7] This term also removes the cultural connotations that are used in acupuncture such as "qi", or "primordial energy".[8]

### Complementary or integrative medicine

Complementary medicine (CM) or integrative medicine (IM) is when alternative medicine is used together with mainstream medical treatment, in a belief that it improves the effect of treatments.[n 1][10][11][12][13] For example, acupuncture (piercing the body with needles to influence the flow of a supernatural energy) might be believed to increase the effectiveness or "complement" science-based medicine when used at the same time.[14][15][16] Instead, significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may make treatments less effective, notably in cancer therapy.[17][18] Integrative medicine has been described as an attempt to bring pseudoscience into academic science-based medicine.[19] Due to its many names, the field has been criticized by writer Rose Shapiro for what she describes as intense rebranding of what are essentially the same practices.[1]

CAM is an abbreviation of the phrase complementary and alternative medicine.[20][21] The 2019 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine states that the terms complementary and alternative medicine "refer to a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own traditional or conventional medicine and are not fully integrated into the dominant health care system. They are used interchangeably with traditional medicine in some countries."[22]

### Other terms

See also: Medicine:Traditional medicine

Traditional medicine comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the era of modern medicine. The 2019 WHO study defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skill and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness."[22]

Holistic medicine is another rebranding of alternative medicine. In this case, the words balance and holism are often used alongside complementary or integrative, claiming to take into account a "whole" person, in contrast to the supposed reductionism of medicine. The "whole" person idea is referring to the 'analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, spiritual and lifestyle elements' as defined by the American Holistic Health Association.[23] When specific ailments are diagnosed, or health is being analyzed, things like mental health are factors that are also taken into consideration alongside physical health. According to a random national survey in America of US osteopathic physicians, less than a third of the respondents agreed with the fact that holism is a concept in osteopathic medicine that is distinct from allopathic medicine.[24] This study highlights that osteopathic physicians view that practitioners in the allopathic field also practice holism in their respective practices.

Main article: Medicine:Functional medicine

Functional medicine is a marketing term for alternative medicine created by Jeffrey Bland, who founded The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM).[25][26][27]

## Definitions of alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is defined loosely as a set of products, practices, and theories that are believed or perceived by their users to have the healing effects of medicine,[n 2][n 3] but whose effectiveness has not been established using scientific methods,[n 2][n 4][6][30][31][32] or whose theory and practice is not part of biomedicine,[n 3][n 5][n 6][n 7] or whose theories or practices are directly contradicted by scientific evidence or scientific principles used in biomedicine.[6][30][36] "Biomedicine" or "medicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of biology, physiology, molecular biology, biophysics, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice. Unlike medicine,[n 5] an alternative product or practice does not originate from using scientific methods, but may instead be based on hearsay, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources.[n 4][6][10][30][36]

### Challenges in defining alternative medicine

Terminology has shifted over time, reflecting the preferred branding of practitioners.[37] For example, the United States National Institutes of Health department studying alternative medicine, currently named the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), was established as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) and was renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before obtaining its current name. Therapies are often framed as "natural" or "holistic", in apparent opposition to conventional medicine which is "artificial" and "narrow in scope", statements which are intentionally misleading.[38][39]

Prominent members of the science[40][41] and biomedical science community[29] say that it is not meaningful to define an alternative medicine that is separate from a conventional medicine, because the expressions "conventional medicine", "alternative medicine", "complementary medicine", "integrative medicine", and "holistic medicine" do not refer to any medicine at all.[29][40][41][42] Others say that alternative medicine cannot be precisely defined because of the diversity of theories and practices it includes, and because the boundaries between alternative and conventional medicine overlap, are porous, and change.[33][43] The systems and practices it refers to are diffuse, and its boundaries poorly defined.[44][45] Healthcare practices categorized as alternative may differ in their historical origin, theoretical basis, diagnostic technique, therapeutic practice and in their relationship to the medical mainstream.[46] Some alternative therapies, such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda, have antique origins in East or South Asia and are entirely alternative medical systems;[46]: 13 [47] others, such as homeopathy and chiropractic, have origins in Europe or the United States and emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[48] Some, such as osteopathy and chiropractic, employ manipulative physical methods of treatment; others, such as meditation and prayer, are based on mind-body interventions.[49] Under a definition of alternative medicine as "non-mainstream", treatments considered alternative in one location may be considered conventional in another.[50]

Critics say the expression is deceptive because it implies there is an effective alternative to science-based medicine, and that complementary is deceptive because it implies that the treatment increases the effectiveness of (complements) science-based medicine, while alternative medicines that have been tested nearly always have no measurable positive effect compared to a placebo.[6][19][51][52] It has been said that "there is really no such thing as alternative medicine, just medicine that works and medicine that doesn't",[41] and that the very idea of "alternative" treatments is paradoxical because any treatment proven to work is by definition "medicine."[53]

### Different types of definitions

Some definitions seek to specify alternative medicine in terms of its social and political marginality to mainstream healthcare.[54] This can refer to the lack of support that alternative therapies receive from medical scientists regarding access to research funding, sympathetic coverage in the medical press, or inclusion in the standard medical curriculum.[54] In 1993, the British Medical Association (BMA) stated that it[n 8] referred to "...those forms of treatment which are not widely used by the conventional healthcare professions, and the skills of which are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses".[55] In a US context, a definition coined in 1993 by the Harvard-based physician David M. Eisenberg[56][57] described alternative medicine as "interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in US hospitals".[58] In a definition published in 2000 by the World Health Organization (WHO), CAM was defined as a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own tradition and are not integrated into the dominant health care system.[59][60] A widely used[61] descriptive definition devised by the US NCCIH calls it "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine".[62] However, these descriptive definitions are inadequate in the present-day when some conventional doctors offer alternative medical treatments and introductory courses or modules can be offered as part of standard undergraduate medical training;[63] alternative medicine is taught in more than half of US medical schools and US health insurers are increasingly willing to provide reimbursement for alternative therapies.[64] In 1999, 7.7% of US hospitals reported using some form of alternative therapy; this proportion had risen to 37.7% by 2008.[65] A 15-year systematic review published in 2022 on the global acceptance and use of CAM among medical specialists found the overall acceptance of CAM at 52% and the overall use at 45%.[66]

An expert panel at a conference hosted in 1995 by the US Office for Alternative Medicine (OAM),[67][n 9] devised a theoretical definition[67] of alternative medicine as "a broad domain of healing resources ... other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period".[69] This definition has been widely adopted,[67] and has been cited by the UK Department of Health,[70] attributed as the definition used by the Cochrane Collaboration,[71] and, with some modification, was preferred in the 2005 consensus report of the US Institute of Medicine.[n 3] This definition, an expansion of Eisenberg's 1993 formulation, is silent regarding questions of the medical effectiveness of alternative therapies.[72] Its proponents hold that it thus avoids relativism about differing forms of medical knowledge and, while it is an essentially political definition, this should not imply that the dominance of mainstream medicine is solely due to political forces.[72] According to this definition, alternative and mainstream medicine can only be differentiated with reference to what is "intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society of culture".[73] However, there is neither a reliable method to distinguish between cultures and subcultures, nor to attribute them as dominant or subordinate, nor any accepted criteria to determine the dominance of a cultural entity.[73] If the culture of a politically dominant healthcare system is held to be equivalent to the perspectives of those charged with the medical management of leading healthcare institutions and programs, the definition fails to recognize the potential for division either within such an elite or between a healthcare elite and the wider population.[73]

Evidence-based definitions distinguish alternative medicine based on its provision of therapies that are unproven, unvalidated, or ineffective and support of theories with no recognized scientific basis.[74] These definitions characterize practices as constituting alternative medicine when, used independently or in place of evidence-based medicine, they are put forward as having the healing effects of medicine, but are not based on evidence gathered with the scientific method.[10][29][14][15][62][75] Exemplifying this perspective, a 1998 editorial co-authored by Marcia Angell, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, argued that:

> It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work. Once a treatment has been tested rigorously, it no longer matters whether it was considered alternative at the outset. If it is found to be reasonably safe and effective, it will be accepted. But assertions, speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence. Alternative treatments should be subjected to scientific testing no less rigorous than that required for conventional treatments.[29]

This line of division has been subject to criticism on the grounds that not all forms of standard medical practice have adequately demonstrated evidence of benefit,[n 5][76][77] and that most conventional therapies, if proven to be ineffective, would not later be classified as alternative.[67] Another definition is that alternative medicine refers to a diverse range of related and unrelated products, practices, and theories ranging from biologically plausible practices and products and practices with some evidence, to practices and theories that are directly contradicted by basic science or clear evidence, and products that have been conclusively proven to be ineffective or even toxic and harmful.[n 3][44][78][6]

Proponents of an evidence-base for medicine[n 10][80][81][82][83] such as the Cochrane Collaboration take a position that all systematic reviews of treatments, whether "mainstream" or "alternative", ought to be held to the current standards of scientific method.[84] In 2011, the Cochrane Collaboration proposed that indicators of a therapy's level of acceptance include government licensing of practitioners, coverage by health insurance, statements of approval by government agencies, and recommendation as part of a practice guideline; and that if something is currently a standard, accepted therapy, then it is not likely to be widely considered as alternative.[67]

#### Australia

The public information website maintained by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of the Commonwealth of Australia uses the acronym "CAM" for a wide range of health care practices, therapies, procedures and devices not within the domain of conventional medicine. In the Australian context this is stated to include acupuncture; aromatherapy; chiropractic; homeopathy; massage; meditation and relaxation therapies; naturopathy; osteopathy; reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine; and the use of vitamin supplements.[85]

#### Denmark

The Danish National Board of Health's Council for Alternative Medicine (Sundhedsstyrelsens Råd for Alternativ Behandling (SRAB)), an independent institution under the National Board of Health (Danish: Sundhedsstyrelsen), uses the term "alternative medicine" for:

* Treatments performed by therapists that are not authorized healthcare professionals.
* Treatments performed by authorized healthcare professionals, but those based on methods otherwise used mainly outside the healthcare system. People without a healthcare authorisation are [also] allowed to perform the treatments.[86]

## Other terms

### Allopathic medicine

Main article: Medicine:Allopathic medicine

Allopathic medicine or allopathy is a pejorative term used by proponents of alternative medicine to refer to modern scientific systems of medicine,[87] such as the use of pharmacologically active agents or physical interventions to treat or suppress symptoms or pathophysiologic processes of diseases or conditions.[88][89] The expression was coined in 1810 by the creator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843).[90] Among homeopaths and other alternative medicine advocates, the expression "allopathic medicine" is still used to refer to "the broad category of medical practice that is sometimes called Western medicine, biomedicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine."[91]

Use of the term remains common among homeopaths and has spread to other alternative medicine practices. The meaning implied by the label has never been accepted by conventional medicine and is still considered pejorative by some.[92] William Jarvis, an expert on alternative medicine and public health,[93] states that "although many modern therapies can be construed to conform to an allopathic rationale (e.g., using a laxative to relieve constipation), standard medicine has never paid allegiance to an allopathic principle" and that the label "allopath" was "considered highly derisive by regular medicine."[94]

Many modern science-based medical treatments (antibiotics, vaccines, and chemotherapeutics, for example) do not fit Samuel Hahnemann's definition of allopathy, as they seek to prevent illness, or remove the cause of an illness by acting on the cause of disease.[95][96]

## See also

* List of forms of alternative medicine
* Therapeutic nihilism

## Notes

1. ↑ The Final Report (2002) of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy states: "The Commissioners believe and have repeatedly stated in this Report that our response should be to hold all systems of health and healing, including conventional and CAM, to the same rigorous standards of good science and health services research. Although the Commissioners support the provision of the most accurate information about the state of the science of all CAM modalities, they believe that it is premature to advocate the wide implementation and reimbursement of CAM modalities that are yet unproven."[9]
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "[A]lternative medicine refers to all treatments that have not been proven effective using scientific methods."[10]
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of resources that encompasses health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes such resources perceived by their users as associated with positive health outcomes. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed."[28]
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "It is time for the scientific community to stop giving alternative medicine a free ride. There cannot be two kinds of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work... speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence."[29]
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "The phrase complementary and alternative medicine is used to describe a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that have historic origins outside mainstream medicine. Most of these practices are used together with conventional therapies and therefore have been called complementary to distinguish them from alternative practices, those used as a substitute for standard care. ... Until a decade ago or so, "complementary and alternative medicine" could be defined as practices that are neither taught in medical schools nor reimbursed, but this definition is no longer workable, since medical students increasingly seek and receive some instruction about complementary health practices, and some practices are reimbursed by third-party payers. Another definition, practices that lack an evidence base, is also not useful, since there is a growing body of research on some of these modalities, and some aspects of standard care do not have a strong evidence base."[33]
6. ↑ "An alternative medical system is a set of practices based on a philosophy different from Western biomedicine."[34]
7. ↑ "CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine."[35]
8. ↑ The BMA used the term non-conventional medicine instead of alternative medicine.[55]
9. ↑ The Office for Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, was renamed NCCAM in 1998.[68]
10. ↑ "Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients";[79] "Evidence based medicine, whose philosophical origins extend back to mid-19th century Paris and earlier, remains a hot topic for clinicians, public health practitioners, purchasers, planners, and the public. British centres for evidence based practice have been established or planned in adult medicine, child health, surgery, pathology, pharmacotherapy, nursing, general practice, and dentistry; the Cochrane Collaboration and Britain's Centre for Review and Dissemination in York are providing systematic reviews of the effects of health care".[79]

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. Random House. 2010-09-30. ISBN 978-1-4090-5916-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib_IbOu_d9gC&pg=PA1.
2. ↑ "Convergence between Orthodox and Alternative Medicine: A Theoretical Elaboration and Empirical Test". Health 4 (4): 479–94. October 2000. doi:10.1177/136345930000400404.
3. ↑ "Complementary and alternative health care in Israel". Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 1 (1). February 2012. doi:10.1186/2045-4015-1-7. PMID 22913721.
4. ↑ "The Triumph of New-Age Medicine". July–August 2011. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-triumph-of-new-age-medicine/308554/.
5. ↑ "On Fringes of Health Care, Untested Therapies Thrive", The New York Times, June 17, 1996, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/17/us/on-fringes-of-health-care-untested-therapies-thrive.html, retrieved December 22, 2015
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Antiscience trends in the rise of the "alternative medicine" movement". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 775 (1): 188–197. June 1996. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23138.x. PMID 8678416.
7. ↑ Chaabna, Karima; Jithesh, Anupama; Cheema, Jibrail; Aboughanem, Jasmine; Mamtani, Ravinder (2024-01-26). "Western Medical Acupuncture Perception and Use for Pain Management Among Athletes: A Systematic Review" (in English). Journal of Pain Research 17: 357–366. doi:10.2147/JPR.S441869. PMID 38292755.
8. ↑ White, Adrian (2009-03-01). "Western Medical Acupuncture: A Definition" (in en). Acupuncture in Medicine 27 (1): 33–35. doi:10.1136/aim.2008.000372. ISSN 0964-5284. PMID 19369193. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1136/aim.2008.000372.
9. ↑ "Chapter 2: Overview of CAM in the United States: Recent History, Current Status, And Prospects for the Future". White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. NIH Pub. 03-5411. US Government Printing Office. 2002. ISBN 978-0-16-051476-0. http://whccamp.hhs.gov/fr2.html. Chapter 2 archived 2011-08-25.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 National Science Board (2002). "Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding, Section: Belief in Alternative Medicine". Science and Engineering Indicators. Arlington, Virginia: Division of Science Resources Statistics, National Science Foundation, US Government. https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm#c7s5l2a.
11. ↑ "Complementary medicine: common misconceptions". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 88 (5): 244–247. May 1995. PMID 7636814. "Complementary medicine, defined as health care which lies for the most part outside the mainstream of conventional medicine". .
12. ↑ "Placebo and complementary medicine". Lancet 344 (8932): 1279–1281. November 1994. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(94)90757-9. PMID 7967992.
13. ↑ "What is integrative health?". BMJ 343. July 2011. doi:10.1136/bmj.d4372. PMID 21750063.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Treatment (PDQ®): Questions and Answers About Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Treatment". NCI website. National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cam-cancer-treatment/patient/page2.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Complementary alternative health care in Israel and the western world". Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 1 (1). February 2012. doi:10.1186/2045-4015-1-8. PMID 22913745.
16. ↑ "What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)?". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/.
17. ↑ "Potential interactions of complementary and alternative medicine with cancer therapy in outpatients with gynecological cancer in a comprehensive cancer center". Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology 139 (3): 357–365. March 2013. doi:10.1007/s00432-012-1336-6. PMID 23099993.
18. ↑ "Advising patients on the use of non-herbal nutritional supplements during cancer therapy: a need for doctor-patient communication". Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 46 (6): 887–896. December 2013. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2013.02.010. PMID 23707384.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Credulity about acupuncture infiltrates The New England Journal of Medicine". Science-Based Medicine. 2010-08-03. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-infiltrates-the-new-england-journal-of-medicine/.
20. ↑ Elsevier Science (2002). "Author interview (Edzard Ernst, editor of The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine)". Harcourt International. http://www.harcourt-international.com/ernst/interview.cfm.
21. ↑ "Complementary and alternative therapies for cancer". The Oncologist 9 (1): 80–89. 2004. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.9-1-80. PMID 14755017.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "WHO global report on traditional and complementary medicine 2019". World Health Organization (Geneva). 2019. ISBN 978-92-4-151543-6. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/312342/9789241515436-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
23. ↑ "American Holistic Health Association". https://ahha.org/ahha-changing/.
24. ↑ Johnson, Shirley M; Kurtz, Margot E (2002-12-01). "Perceptions of philosophic and practice differences between US osteopathic physicians and their allopathic counterparts". Social Science & Medicine 55 (12): 2141–2148. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00357-4. ISSN 0277-9536. PMID 12409127. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277953601003574.
25. ↑ Sampson, Wallace (July 9, 2009). "Functional Medicine (FM) What Is It?". Science Based Medicine. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/fuctional-medicine-fm-what-is-it/.
26. ↑ Hall, Harriet (2017). "Functional Medicine: Pseudoscientific Silliness". Skeptic 22 (1): 4–5. https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/why-functional-medicine-is-bogus/.
27. ↑ Barrett, Stephen (11 September 2013). "Some Notes on Jeffrey Bland and Metagenics". https://quackwatch.org/consumer-education/bland/.
28. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 19.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 "Alternative medicine--the risks of untested and unregulated remedies". The New England Journal of Medicine 339 (12): 839–841. September 1998. doi:10.1056/NEJM199809173391210. PMID 9738094.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2nd ed.). Amerst, New York: Prometheue Books. 2003. ISBN 978-1-57392-979-0. ; "The need for educational reform in teaching about alternative therapies". Academic Medicine 76 (3): 248–250. March 2001. doi:10.1097/00001888-200103000-00011. PMID 11242574. ; "The rise and rise of complementary and alternative medicine: a sociological perspective". The Medical Journal of Australia 180 (11): 587–589. June 2004. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06099.x. PMID 15174992. ; Sagan 1996
31. ↑ "Ignore growing patient interest in alternative medicine at your peril, MDs warned". CMAJ 157 (10): 1427–1428. November 1997. PMID 9371077. PMC 1228476. http://www.cmaj.ca/content/157/10/1427.full.pdf+html.
32. ↑ "Complementary and alternative medicine: assessing the evidence for immunological benefits". Nature Reviews. Immunology 4 (11): 912–921. November 2004. doi:10.1038/nri1486. PMID 15516970.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 2015, p. 1, chpt. 14-E.
34. ↑ "Complementary Medicine – Alternative Medical Systems". 2014-01-14. http://www.webmd.com/balance/tc/complementary-medicine-alternative-medical-systems.
35. ↑ "The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. 2015-04-07. https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/2007/camsurvey_fs1.htm.
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Alternative medicine and common errors of reasoning". Academic Medicine 76 (3): 230–237. March 2001. doi:10.1097/00001888-200103000-00009. PMID 11242572.
37. ↑ "Integrative medicine": A brand, not a specialty. Science Based Medicine
38. ↑ Consumer health: a guide to intelligent decisions (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 2013. pp. 34–35, 134, 137. ISBN 978-0-07-802848-9. OCLC 758098687.
39. ↑ "Directive 2004/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council". 2004-04-30. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:136:0085:0090:en:PDF.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. HarperCollins. 2013. ISBN 978-0-06-222296-1. Also published in the UK as  Killing Us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. HarperCollins Publishers. 2013-06-09. ISBN 978-0-00-749173-5.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Diamond, J. quoted in Dawkins 2003. (p. 36 in 2004 US ed. ISBN 0618335404).
42. ↑ "Alternative medicine meets science". JAMA 280 (18): 1618–1619. November 1998. doi:10.1001/jama.280.18.1618. PMID 9820267.
43. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp. 14–20.
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 IOM Report 2005, pp. 16, 175.
Sointu 2012, pp. 13–14.
Nissen et al. 2013.
Eisenberg et al. 1993.
45. ↑ "Chapter 2: Understanding CAM: The Problem of Knowledge and the Power of Words". Marginal to Mainstream: Alternative Medicine in America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2004. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-521-83429-2. "By the mid-1990s, the notion that some alternative therapies could be complementary to conventional medicine began to change the status of...alternative medicine. The 21st century is witnessing yet another terminological innovation, in which CAM and conventional medicine are becoming integrative."
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Theorizing Complementary and Alternative Medicines: Wellbeing, Self, Gender, Class. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-230-30931-9.
47. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 18.
48. ↑ Gevitz 1997, pp. 603–33.
49. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 18.
50. ↑ "Researching alternative and complementary therapies: mapping the field". Medical Anthropology 32 (1): 1–7. 2013. doi:10.1080/01459740.2012.718016. PMID 23206171.
51. ↑ "complementary medicine". The Skeptics Dictionary (Online ed.). 2011-05-14. http://www.skepdic.com/compmed.html. 2013-09-27.
52. ↑ "Acupuncture pseudoscience in The New England Journal of Medicine". Science-Based Medicine. 2010-08-04. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/nc/.
53. ↑ "The Best Critique of Alternative Medicine Ever: It's an Animated Video. And It's Hilarious". The Slate Group. 11 September 2013. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_longevity/2013/09/tim_minchin_s_storm_critique_of_alternative_medicine_and_defense_of_reason.html.
54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 "Introduction". Alternative Medicine in Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1992. pp. 1–21. ISBN 978-0-19-827278-6.
55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 British Medical Association (BMA) 1993, p. 7.
56. ↑ "The use of CAM and conventional treatments among primary care consulters with chronic musculoskeletal pain". BMC Family Practice 8 (1). May 2007. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-8-26. PMID 17480212.
57. ↑ "David M. Eisenberg, M.D.". Health Through Food website. SPE Development US Inc.. http://specertified.com/what/team-profile/david-m.-eisenberg-m.d.
58. ↑ Eisenberg et al. 1993. Eisenberg et al. 1998.
59. ↑ "Traditional Medicines: Definitions". WHO Website. https://www.who.int/medicines/areas/traditional/definitions/en/index.html. Retrieved 2012-11-11. Extracted from WHO 2000.
60. ↑ WHO 2000.
61. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 19.
62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 ﻿Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What's In a Name?﻿ (Report). NCCIH Pub. No. D156. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Dept. of Health and Human Services (US HHS). May 2002. https://nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
63. ↑ Sir Walton: Science and Technology Committee 2000, Chapter 1: Introduction.
Kopelman 2004.
Wieland et al. 2011.
"A review of the incorporation of complementary and alternative medicine by mainstream physicians". Archives of Internal Medicine 158 (21): 2303–2310. November 1998. doi:10.1001/archinte.158.21.2303. PMID 9827781.
"Current trends in the integration and reimbursement of complementary and alternative medicine by managed care, insurance carriers, and hospital providers". American Journal of Health Promotion 12 (2): 112–122. 1997. doi:10.4278/0890-1171-12.2.112. PMID 10174663.
64. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp. 17, 196–252.
65. ↑ "Use of complementary and alternative medicine at Norwegian and Danish hospitals". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 11 (1). January 2011. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-11-4. PMID 21244655.
American Hospital Association 2008
66. ↑ "Acceptance and use of complementary and alternative medicine among medical specialists: a 15-year systematic review and data synthesis". Systematic Reviews 11 (1). January 2022. doi:10.1186/s13643-021-01882-4. PMID 35027078.
67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 67.3 67.4 "Development and classification of an operational definition of complementary and alternative medicine for the Cochrane collaboration". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 17 (2): 50–59. 2011. PMID 21717826.
68. ↑ "Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration". Office of Policy and Planning, Office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dept. of Health and Human Services, US Government. 2007. https://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm144657.htm. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
69. ↑ "Defining and describing complementary and alternative medicine. Panel on Definition and Description, CAM Research Methodology Conference, April 1995". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 3 (2): 49–57. March 1997. PMID 9061989.
70. ↑ "Complementary and Alternative Medicine". UK Dept. of Health website. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Complementaryandalternativemedicine/index.htm.
71. ↑ "What is complementary medicine?". BMJ 319 (7211): 693–96. 1999. doi:10.1136/bmj.319.7211.693. PMID 10480829.
"Complementary and alternative therapies in childhood attention and hyperactivity problems". Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 24 (1): 4–8. February 2003. doi:10.1097/00004703-200302000-00003. PMID 12584479.
"Complementary and alternative medicine utilisation in NHS and private clinic settings: a United Kingdom survey of 400 infertility patients". Journal of Experimental & Clinical Assisted Reproduction 2 (1). April 2005. doi:10.1186/1743-1050-2-5. PMID 15807886.
"The Social Demand for a Medicine Focused on the Person: The Contribution of CAM to Healthcare and Healthgenesis". Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 4 (Suppl 1): 45–51. September 2007. doi:10.1093/ecam/nem094. PMID 18227933.
"The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by cancer patients". International Seminars in Surgical Oncology 4 (1). April 2007. doi:10.1186/1477-7800-4-10. PMID 17470282.
Artus et al. 2007.
72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 "CAM and Cultural Diversity: Ethics and Epistemology Converge". The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. 2004. pp. 15–35.
73. ↑ 73.0 73.1 73.2 "The Role of Science in Assessing Conventional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicines". The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. 2004. pp. 36–53.
74. ↑ IOM Report 2005, p. 17.
75. ↑ "The Incidence of self-prescribed oral complementary and alternative medicine use by patients with gastrointestinal diseases". Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology 39 (2): 138–141. February 2005. PMID 15681910.
76. ↑ "Reviewing the reviews. How strong is the evidence? How clear are the conclusions?". International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 17 (4): 457–466. Fall 2001. doi:10.1017/S0266462301107014. PMID 11758290.
77. ↑ IOM Report 2005, pp. 17–18.
78. ↑ Herbal Supplements: Efficacy, Toxicity, Interactions with Western Drugs, and Effects on Clinical Laboratory Tests. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons. 2011. pp. 202–05. ISBN 978-0-470-43350-8.
79. ↑ 79.0 79.1 "Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't". BMJ 312 (7023): 71–72. January 1996. doi:10.1136/bmj.312.7023.71. PMID 8555924.
80. ↑ "Our work". Nuffield Trust website. The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. 2016-12-20. http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/our-work.
81. ↑ What is Evidence-based Medicine. What is...? Series (2nd ed.). UK: Hayward Medical Communications. May 2009. http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/painres/download/whatis/ebm.pdf.
82. ↑ "Research methods & information tools". Nuffield Trust website. The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. 2019-01-28. http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/our-work/research-methods-information-tools.
83. ↑ "Predictive risk and health care: An overview". The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services. 2011-03-01. http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/sites/files/nuffield/publication/Predictive-risk-and-health-care-an-overview_0.pdf.
84. ↑ "Cochrane CAM Field". University of Maryland website. Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland. http://www.compmed.umm.edu/cochrane.asp.
85. ↑ NHMRC (2013-09-27). "Complementary and alternative medicines". NHMRC Website. Your health. http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/complementary-and-alternative-medicines. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
86. ↑ "ViFABs definition af alternativ behandling". http://www.srab.dk/alternativ+behandling/hvad+er+alternativ+behandling-c7-/vifabs+definition.
87. ↑ "Making medicine scientific: empiricism, rationality, and quackery in mid-Victorian Britain". Social History of Medicine 9 (2): 175–194. August 1996. doi:10.1093/shm/9.2.175. PMID 11613446.
88. ↑ "Time to sensitize medical graduates to the Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy". Indian Journal of Pharmacology 47 (1): 1–3. 2015. doi:10.4103/0253-7613.150301. PMID 25821302.
89. ↑ "Definition – allopathy". Farlex. http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/allopathy. Citing: Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (2008) and Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th ed. (2009).
90. ↑ Whorton JC (2004). Oxford University Press US. ed. Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America (illustrated ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 18, 52. ISBN 978-0-19-517162-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=RU0DndWVSPoC&q=allopathy+allopathic+greek+hahnemann&pg=PA18.
91. ↑ "Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review". 2001. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_EDM_TRM_2001.2.pdf.
92. ↑ "Naturopathy, pseudoscience, and medicine: myths and fallacies vs truth". MedGenMed 6 (1): 33. March 2004. PMID 15208545.
93. ↑ "Participants". Closer to Truth. https://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/participants/index3.html.
94. ↑ "Misuse of the term "Allopathy"". National Council Against Health Fraud. 1996. http://www.ncahf.org/articles/a-b/allopathy.html.
95. ↑ "In the name of medicine". Annals of Internal Medicine 128 (3): 246–50. 1998. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-128-3-199802010-00023.
96. ↑ "A critical overview of homeopathy". Annals of Internal Medicine 139 (8): W75; author reply W76. October 2003. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-139-8-200310210-00026-w3. PMID 14568881. http://annals.highwire.org/cgi/content/full/139/8/W-75. Retrieved 2010-12-30.

## Bibliography

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* Board of Science and Education, British Medical Association (1993). Complementary Medicine: New Approaches to Good Practice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-286166-5.
* Committee on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the American Public for the Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine (2005). Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. ISBN 978-0-309-09270-8. https://archive.org/details/complementaryalt00inst.
* Dawkins, R. (2003). Menon, L.. ed. A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-7538-1750-6.
* "Unconventional medicine in the United States. Prevalence, costs, and patterns of use". The New England Journal of Medicine 328 (4): 246–52. January 1993. doi:10.1056/NEJM199301283280406. PMID 8418405.
* "Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey". JAMA 280 (18): 1569–75. November 1998. doi:10.1001/jama.280.18.1569. PMID 9820257.
* "Chapter 28: Unorthodox Medical Theories". Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. 1. New York & London: Routledge. 1997. ISBN 978-0-415-16419-1.
* Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (19th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Education. 2015. ISBN 978-0-07-180215-4.
* Sagan, C. (1996). The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-53512-8.
* Walton J. (2000). Sixth Report: Complementary and Alternative Medicine. London: The Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-10-483100-7. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/12301.htm.
* ~~~~ (2000). General Guidelines for Methodologies on Research and Evaluation of Traditional Medicine. WHO/EDM/TRM/2001.1. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO). http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2000/WHO_EDM_TRM_2000.1.pdf. "This document is not a formal publication of the WHO. The views expressed in documents by named authors are solely the responsibility of those authors."

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