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Infant Nearly Killed by Homeopathy

Case report of life-threatening metabolic acidosis in an infant “overdosed” with homeopathic sugar pills.

November 18, 2011 |
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Supplementary Info

Infant Nearly Killed by Homeopathy, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Sources Cited

Wille D, Hauri-Hohl M, Vonbach P, Tomaske M, Padden B, Bernet V. Too much of too little: xylitol, an unusual trigger of a chronic metabolic hyperchloremic acidosis. Eur J Pediatr. 2010 Dec;169(12):1549-51.

Acknowledgements

Image thanks to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

 

Transcript

Americans spend about 3 billion dollars on homeopathy every year. I’ve talked previously about the near total lack of scientific evidence supporting homeopathy, but maybe I was wrong… to dismiss it as just a waste of money, maybe it can be even worse.

I was surprised to read this new case report published in the European Journal of Pediatrics: A little girl almost killed by homeopathy. An overdose of a homeopathic remedy might seem a contradiction in terms, but just because they’re no better than a sugar pill doesn’t mean you can stuff babies full of sugar pills.

Many homeopathic pills are made of xylitol, which can have a laxative effect and cause diarrhea, which if untreated in an infant can turn into a severe life-threatening metabolic acidosis and land her in an ICU. Hence the title: too much of too little:.

High dose homeopathy is also something you may want to keep away from fido.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Peter Mellor.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And be sure to check out Is Homeopathy Just Placebo?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And be sure to check out Is Homeopathy Just Placebo?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/louis/ Louis

    The conclusion in this video is incorrect. Xylitol is the culprit and the authors of the report say so. I’m against the use of homeopathy beyond the placebo-effect at his point in time, but as a scientific researcher, I think the conclusion in this video is one step too far. Can you overdose on homeopathy in general ? No, there is no proof of that. Can you overdose on xylitol covered homeopathic pills ? Well, one child in Switzerland did. Can we conclude that xylitol is dangerous using this one isolated case as proof ? No not at all ! (1) Can we conclude that homeopathy is dangerous from this one case ? Absolutely not ! It is a scientific fallacy to do so, because the homeopathic solution in the pills was not defined as the causative factor in this adverse reaction report ! Therefore, may I express my personal opinion on this ? I absolutely hate this kind of (ab)use of evidence based science, and that’s what triggered my somewhat dismayed reply.

    (1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17097152

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/geoffrey-levens/ Geoffrey Levens

    There is so much wrong with this video it is almost difficult to sort it all so just a couple comments.

    Xylitol is not commonly used to coat homeopathic pills. Most by far are made of either lactose or sucrose.

    Out of the millions of doses of homeopathy given each year, can you find even one death or serious problem that was proven to be caused by the remedy in question? This one does not qualify as Louis so clearly pointed out.

    While it is true that there isn’t much in the way of solid research at this time, there is an abundance of clinical evidence pointing to the efficacy and safety of homeopathy as a modality.

    When one considers the incredible safety record for homeopathy and compares it with the appalling record for pharmaceutical drugs, perhaps it makes sense to give a very safe, though “unproven” treatment a try as a first rather than a last resort.

  • Valerie Warwick

    This should be about the dangers of xylitol not about the dangers of homeopathy.

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