Sceptics and scientists alike say homeopathy is a placebo. However, scientists at IIT Powai have done some ground-breaking research, and plan to release a new study this March.
The British Medical Association has passed some serious judgment on homeopathy, liking it to witchcraft and black magic, “all placebo and no science”.
The debate over homeopathy is not new. Some of the criticism is over the quality of compounds which are heavily diluted with water. The final solution often contains only a millionth of the original ingredient. Researchers in IIT Bombay have found that these white pills work on the principle of nanotechnology.
A team of experts at the institute prepared a highly diluted solution of pills and checked them under powerful electron microscopes and found that even after extreme dilutions, the final solution did retain the original compounds.
Jayesh R Bellare, Professor of Chemical Engineering at IIT-B, said, ”We have shown for the first time that there is a scientific basis to the material aspect of homeopathy. Now it is possible for others to take on this and show that there is or there is not, a medical action based on this. And if there is a medical action, whether the particles that were originally there, are still there in the final medicine and whether they play a role or not.”
The medicinal potency of the drugs after dilution still needs to be studied, but the debate does not bother homeopaths. One homeopath customer CNN-IBN spoke to, said, “These findings and debates are for scientists, not for common man. I have been using it for over 60 years and I trust it.” Noted filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya too seems to be a proud supporter of homeopathy. He said that while allopathy was all well and good, in the end, it turned human being into a vegetable. “You wake up in the morning, you are grog, you sleep at night, you are grog.. Is that well being? So that is where homeopathy comes in.” Finally, it may just remain a matter of trust, till the science catches up.
Reference: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/homeopathy-placebo-or-science/219028-17.html
