Last week, NPR floated the possibility that a better way to avoid a cold would be to live a low-stress life, not take an “immune boosting” product. In the story, Allison Aubrey briefly discussed the research behind both options.
Essentially, Airborne’s doesn’t have much research behind it, and the research supporting a connection between stress and illness is robust.
And on the science blog, Orac, a December blog entry gave an even more thorough dismissal of the effectiveness of Airborne. (http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/12/your_friday_dose_of_woo_cre ated_by_a_sch_1.php
So why do people feel better- avoiding colds that their spouse or office mates get? Aubrey theorizes that perhaps taking some medicine that you believe is going to help actually lowers your stress. Your immune system might be getting a benefit, but the benefit is from the act of taking care of yourself, not from the herb or vitamin itself.
And in the face of research that’s not very supportive of the immune-boosting properties of many herbs and vitamins, I think that this is an incredibly valid point.
And by the way, this whole phenomenon has a name- the placebo effect.
Steven Brantman, MD, the primary author of “The Natural Health Encyclopedia” presents a fascinating look at the power of the placebo effect:
The placebo effect is the process by which the power of suggestion actually causes symptoms to improve. The original research that identified the placebo effect had some serious errors in it,29 but there is little doubt that some conditions are quite responsive to placebo treatment, such as menopausal hot flashes,5 symptoms of prostate enlargement,8 and many types of pain.16 While it’s often reported that only 30% of people respond to placebo, this number has no foundation, and, in fact the response rate seen in some of the conditions I just listed reaches as high as 70%.
The placebo effect almost always comes as a surprise to those who experience it. Both doctors and patients are fooled. For example, surgeons used to think that arthroscopic surgery for knee arthritis really worked, and hundreds of thousands of such surgeries were performed every year. Then a study came out showing that fake surgery produces just as satisfactory and long-lasting benefits as the real thing.7 Surgeons were shocked and chagrined to find that people given the fake surgery (unbeknownst to them) were so pleased with the results that they said they would happily recommend the treatment to others!
People generally get angry if you tell them their benefits might be due to placebo. However, examples abound to show just how possible this really is. I’ll give a few here.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 30 people with carpal tunnel syndrome, use of a static magnet produced dramatic and enduring benefits, but so did use of fake magnets.34
In a study of 321 people with low back pain, chiropractic manipulation was quite helpful, but no more helpful than giving patients an educational booklet on low back pain.35
In a randomized, controlled trial of 67 people with hip pain, acupuncture produced significant benefits, but no greater benefits than placing needles in random locations.33
And in a randomized, controlled trial of 177 people with neck pain, fake laser acupuncture proved to be more effective than massage.32
Note that these studies do not actually disprove the tested therapies. The study sizes might have simply been too small to detect a modest benefit. What they do show, however, is that comparison to placebo treatment is essential: without such comparison, any random form of treatment, no matter how worthless in itself, is likely to appear to be effective.
What’s really going on here? What happens when you go to a doctor and get a medicine (placebo or real) or a surgery? In every case, it means that you are focused on your illness. And focused in a good way. You are being proactive and doing something about it.
In other words, by focusing your brain on a part of you that is sick, with an intent that your action (medicine or surgery) will help you feel better, you will heal yourself 30-70% of the time.
This fact seems remarkable to me. And I think we should pay more attention to this ability to heal ourselves.
I think we should spend less time and money developing medicines and surgeries to override the placebo effect and embrace it instead.
Think about it: the most prevalent research finding in all of science is that you can heal yourself. It’s about time we took that seriously.