A LOCAL naturopath is disappointed that a review by the National Health and Medical Research Council has found there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy can treat health conditions.
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Lisa Darke, who has been practising homeopathy for 17 years, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the findings of the NHMRC Draft Information Paper on the Evidence on Homeopathy, which was released on Wednesday.
She said over the years those who practised natural medicine were often undermined by the orthodox medical world.
“The Australian Medical Association and the Health and Medical Research Council have always questioned what we do,” she said.
“I have read so many scientific clinical trials that prove homeopathy works, I find it amusing that they say there are none.”
The NHMRC asked experts in evidence-based medicine to review published systematic reviews of homeopathy and government reports on homeopathy which covered more than 60 conditions, including asthma, eczema, lower back pain, nausea, depression, malaria and HIV.
The review found “there is no reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective for treating health conditions”.
Ms Darke said homeopathy was about treating like with like and noted natural medicines had been used effectively for thousands of years.
She said homeopathy was a holistic system of medicine which uses micro-doses of biological, botanical and mineral substances to stimulate our body’s own response to overcome illness.
“We believe the human body is able to heal itself and encourage natural medicine as opposed to pharmaceutical medicines,” she said.
Ms Darke said she had seen homeopathy help many of her patients over the years.
“I know this medicine works as I see the results on a daily basis,” she said. “It has great effects and is such a gentle and safe form of medicine.”
“In most cases people who come to see me have tried orthodox medicine and haven’t got any results.”
Ms Darke noted that skin conditions were something she frequently helped people overcome.
“They can be very hard to treat and a lot of people don’t want to use a cortisone-based cream,” she said.
“We do alternate healing from within and produce an internal response to fix the problem rather than applying something to repress the problem.”
Ms Darke noted homeopathy was under utilised in Australia and was more popular in places like Europe and India.
With the paper available for public comment until May 26, Ms Darke said she expected the Australian Homeopathic Association, Natural Health Academy and Australian Traditional Medicine Society would be making plenty of submissions.
Ms Darke said it would be a shame to see people steered away from using homeopathy.
“Having seen such great results from using homeopathy over last 17 years, I think it would be a huge loss to take it away as an alternative treatment.”