I gave an example in my prior post... Witch Hazel is a homeopathic treatment that could easily be branded as a treatment for ear cleaning or ear infections. I was not referring to scam treatments and concoctions pushed by quacks of course, but homeopathy is a very big field.
While I'm sure there's homeopathic preparations that use witch hazel, the witch hazel you buy at the drug store is not homeopathic because it actually contains witch hazel in a usable concentration. Homeopathic preparations are, by definition, diluted to the point where there's little or none of the allegedly active ingredient you started out with, the nature of that ingredient allegedly being imprinted on the water.
I think you may be confusing naturopathic with homeopathic.
Naturopathic medicine use natureceuticals/supplements all the time. These contain active ingredients in usable dosages that have research about their mechanism of actions and many of them work quite well. (Witch Hazel may be one! Vitamins and minerals are also common. Fish oil too.)
Homeopathy is a specific belief in homeopathic remedies, which as described in the article are pretty thoroughly debunked pseudoscience. They dilute things down, but the effects are no different than placebo.
In my opinion, this is a really unfortunate confusion that a lot of people have. Natural supplements are useful, and when they are proven useful, they often get turned into regulated medicines! However, homeopathic remedies are entirely different and get to 'free-ride' on the confusion created in the alternative health industry.
No, I did read what you typed. You are confusing terms and honestly most people do it (which was the point of my post).
This Witch Hazel product at CVS is not homeopathic.[1] This is a normal Witch Hazel supplement that is pure distilled Witch Hazel. This is not homeopathic.
Most people think 'homeopathic' just means 'natural supplements/alternative medicines'.
That IS NOT what it is. Homeopathy is a specific 'ritual' that is done where the compound that 'causes illness' is diluted many, many, many times until there is effectively none of it left in the bottle. It is psuedoscience AND IT IS NOT NATURAL MEDICINE. [2]
It matters to understand this, because the homeopathic industry obviously uses this confusion to their advantage.
