Klein, Sabine; Tournier, Alexander; Würtenberger, Sandra; Wolf, Ursula; Baumgartner, Stephan (9 September 2016). Physicochemical investigations of homeopathic potencies: A systematic review of the literature. European journal of integrative medicine, 8(Suppl1), p. 27. Elsevier 10.1016/j.eujim.2016.08.065
Introduction: In order to direct future research on homeopathic
potencies, it is necessary to have a solid overview over
previously used methods and experimental results. For this systematic
review, we focussed on laboratory experiments that
investigated physicochemical properties of homeopathic potencies
and compared them to controls or between several potency
levels.
Methods: Relevant publications were searched for in
databases (SCOPUS, Embase, Web of Science, HomBRex,
PubMed), article references, and personal collections of literature.
Eligible documents were peer-reviewed articles, theses,
books, book sections, and conference proceedings without language
restrictions. Biological systems and mathematical models
were excluded. All articles found were rated by two reviewers
according to a manuscript information score (MIS). Articles
could score between 0 and 10 points, as 0 to 2 points were given
each for description of: experimental procedure, materials, measuring
instruments, potentisation method, controls. Articles with
an average MIS ≥5 were retained for further review.
Results: 173 publications were submitted to information
scoring. 57 publications were excluded due to low MIS,
and 116 publications with an average MIS of 7.2 were
included in the review. Among the physical and chemical
methods used were: nuclear magnetic resonance; spectroscopy;
(thermo)luminescence; fluorescence; conductivity; calorimetry;
pH; atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron
microscopy. High quality research was characterised by the use
of several independent production series of the potencies, adequate
controls, blinding and randomisation of the samples, and
statistical analyses of the results.
Conclusions:Arigorous methodology is necessary to receive
meaningful results in the physicochemical characterisation of
homeopathic potencies.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Abstract) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Medical Education > Institute of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (IKIM) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Klein, Sabine, Tournier, Alexander, Wolf, Ursula, Baumgartner, Stephan |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 530 Physics 500 Science > 540 Chemistry |
ISSN: |
1876-3820 |
Publisher: |
Elsevier |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Sabine Klein |
Date Deposited: |
08 Nov 2016 12:55 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 14:59 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1016/j.eujim.2016.08.065 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/89331 |
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