Jiffer, I have no hope of persuading you. I am posting because I do not want others who may be on the fence and don't know much about Mercola or Lam to know that they are giving advice that is so far from standard practice that endocrinologists issue a bulletin about it. The FDA is just doing its job when ordering Mercola to quit making claims for products that are unproven. Mercola has the option of proving the effectiveness of his claims. But he doesn't. Instead he sells, sells, and sells. In fact, I think the FDA should be tougher, especially on his bogus cancer screening and treatment claims. They need to shut him down. I think it is a safety issue.

http://www.casewatch.org/fdawarning/.../mercola.shtml

Read everything. Don't put blinders on. Read all the criticism of Mercola and Lam. Read about the placebo effect. Read about how the research on how it is nearly impossible for people to change their mind and that negative information about what they believe may make them even more certain they are right. Read about every supplement you are taking and what are the risks and benefits. And if you won't read it, question yourself as to why.

Good researchers know that they can be fooled and be married to their research. They understand confirmation bias. That is why there is peer review. That is why studies need to be replicated.

It isn't a case of the truth being somewhere in between science based medicine and alternative medicine. There are faults with science based medicine. Confirmation bias. Funding issues. Big pharma is a problem. Placebo responses muddy the waters. But that does not mean in any way whatsoever that alternative medicine is better. Alternative medicine needs to prove itself too. Alternative medicine has its own lobbies. After all "big altmed" manages to lobby to not have its supplements regulated by the FDA provided that they make their claims vague enough. Altmed needs to do the studies and have them reviewed by peers. If results are intriguing then other scientists will try to replicate the work. If effects are shown beyond placebo effects (which can be surprisingly huge especially for things like pain and other amorphous complaints) and the remedies are relatively safe, it becomes medicine.