[ RadSafe ] Re: Letter: Homeopathy and Hormesis

[Susan Gawarecki]

As an amusing aside to this thread, researchers have discovered that 
there is a statistically significant better placebo effect with sham 
acupuncture (needles that retract) than with sugar pills.

I think the placebo effect also has important implications for negative 
reactions to low exposures to radiation or chemicals, where the exposed 
person believes that he is harmed.

Susan Gawarecki

Sham Acupuncture More Effective Than Sugar Pill in Easing Arm Pain
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/AlternativeMedicine/dh/2604

BOSTON, Feb. 2 - In a dual between two placebos for treating 
self-reported arm pain, the better placebo emerged victorious, Harvard 
researchers have found. They attributed it to the placebo effect.

During the first two weeks of the comparative study, there was little 
difference between sham acupuncture and a sugar pill, investigators 
reported in today in /BMJ Online First./ However, differences began to 
emerge during the following weeks showing that sham acupuncture produced 
a more enhanced and surprisingly lasting placebo effect.A longitudinal 
regression analysis that followed patients through the study period 
showed that pain scores per week declined significantly more in the sham 
acupuncture group than in the sugar pill group (-0.33 [95% confidence 
interval -0.40 to -0.26] vs. -0.15 [95% CI -0.21 to -0.09]; P<0.001).

<snip>

Not surprisingly, both groups reported the side effects that they had 
been warned about at baseline. "The types of side effects were totally 
different in the two study groups and clearly mimicked the information 
given at the informed consent," Dr. Kaptchuk and colleagues wrote.

<snip>