Dr oz is no wizard but no quack either

[longship]

78. Let's see...

Homeopathy? Zilch! (Plus, no scientific plausibility.)
Reiki? Zilch! (Plus, the plausibility thingie again.)

Acupuncture? Well, at least that's doing something, but... Zilch! It doesn't matter where you stick the needles. It doesn't even matter if you stick needles. Results consistent with placebo effect, in other words, the null hypothesis that it does not work prevails.

And those supplements? Well, vitamins are a medication. As is niacin. They have biological effects. And doctors prescribe them when needed.

However, St. John's Wort is ineffective for depression, but it has some ingredients which apparently suppress anti-retroviral drugs. So folks with HIV probably shouldn't take it. It isn't effective for depression anyway.

Zicam? Overdoses of zinc have occurred resulting in permanent loss of sense of smell. Regardless of effect, that would seem unsafe to me. Plus, it's basically ineffective anyway.

And so it goes. Yet everything sold under DSHEA does not have prove effectiveness or safety as long as they do not make disease claims. And the FDA cannot touch the manufacturers -- let's collectively call them BigSupplement because it's a multi billion dollar business selling fake treatments to rubes who are naive enough to believe the advertisements.

There is no alternative or complimentary medicine. There is just medicine, backed by science. DSHEA only sets up an unnecessary alternative path to quackery.