James Randi Lecture @ Caltech - Homeopathy

Yes, it needs to be tested as rigorously, and that is the wall I hit when it comes to supplementation, exercise and diet with my clients. They need to be educated on what is real and what is not real. Like Centrum vitamins are absolute junk. Its like trying to absorb rocks. Most people simply don't understand that because they are not educated on biological nutrition and how certain beneficial non drug remedies work, so they look for a panacea or a cure all, which doesn't exist.

Actually, alternative medicines have been tested, and they show no better results than placebo. That's why they're alternative medicines instead of mainstream.

The thing that alternative medicines aren't is regulated- there's very little oversight of alternative medicines or alternative practitioners.

I'm continually amazed that people would rather go for the 'Alternative' that keep making promises that they clearly can not back up with more than anecdotal evidence, instead of the mainstream science, though they have had their share of mistakes, have proven capable of learning form those mistakes.

"It's organic", "All natural" or "Old remedy/recipe" seem to be buzzwords to alternative practitioners.
Have they considered that Cyanide is "All natural" too? :)

@Macrochenia Yesterday I was talking the the girl who cleans my office and she talked about how great the homeophatic medicine was. Then she said "but it takes to long for make effect".

I told her that it doesn't actually make ANY effect at all. Her body was healed by itself and she just drank water.

@ChaosAngel667- yeah, I know a few guys at work who are like that- they take the "vitamin supplement" they get from who knows where that makes all sorts of claims about how it's got 200 or 300% of the daily recommended dose of Vitamin C, and that keeps them from getting sick.

They didn't get it when I told them that the only thing that Vitamin C does for you is to keep you from developing scurvy, and that you just pee out any excess amount with no benefit.

I used to drink protein suplements but didn't make any excersice. So imagine how I felt when a friend told me that without excersice the protein just pee away.

The info got me 100 buck to late. Jejeje anyone makes mistakes but unfortunately not everyone acknowledge it.

Actually, there are ratios in which you absorb protein and pee it out from one who exercises to one who doesn't. For example, there are obese people who switch from sugary glucose carbohydrates to adding more protein to their diet and to their amazement, they lose a few inches of fat.  So, there are times when protein supplements do apply.

Take it a step further about vitamins/minerals. You see, we are not designed to absorb synthetic vitamins, that's why we only absorb about 15% of it and it comes out in the pee. Its a waist of money. We are meant to absorb it with all of its co-factors in plant foods. So, you have to study "Nutraceuticals" those are vitamin/minerals proven by science to have beneficial effect, and those are usually "food form" standardized vitamin/minerals.

James Randi is really a stand-up comic. Sure, we think of him as a skeptic, a magician, and a paranormal investigator, but deep-down, we like Randi because he's funny.

He makes the material accesible..or however your spell that.
I wish my grammar teacher would've been that way.