Do Homeopathic cures work? Is Oxygen water really good for you?
It’s hard sorting through the hype about nutrition and health benefits in products on store shelves and slickly promoted in television ads. When fantastic claims of more energy or rejuvenation beckons, it’s often hard to ignore.
Magnet Therapy
Ever see those TV ads for magnetic therapy bracelets? They promise everything from better circulation to better sex lives. Before you stop jogging or toss your viagra, you should know something. The efficacy of using magnets to improve blood circulation and overall health is simply not there. It’s founded on the false belief that iron in blood is magnetic and by using magnets, we can manipulate blood to promote better circulation or even influence disease. Iron in blood is bound securely to hemoglobin, if it wasn’t we’d blow up a bloody mess when put under the powerful magnets of an MRI. These magnetic bracelets are best left for costume jewelry or Halloween costumes, since that’s all they’re really good for in terms of anything practical.
Homeopathic Cures
Homeopathic cures are still incredibly popular. Its curing power supposedly lies in taking into account the person’s symptoms along with individual personality. The cures are taken from plants, minerals or even animals and then mostly used in conjunction with water. These diluted concoctions are in fact so much diluted with simple water that their effectiveness must be seriously called into question. Many loyal users swear by their use, so maybe a placebo effect is taking place, but for people to put all their reliance on these techniques to actually battle illness would be a bad or even a dangerous move.
Oxygen Drinks
We breathe air which contains oxygen. Why would we need it in concentrated amounts in fortified water? Supposedly these flavored oxygen drinks replenish the body with oxygen for exhausted professional athletes or when the common person overworks themselves. Unfortunately, oxygen is best absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs, not the stomach. We would need to drink a large amount of oxygenated water about every 30 seconds to get the equivalent of a full breath’s worth of oxygen. This of course doesn’t consider our very normal and necessary act of urination. So if these drinks are tasty, buy them for flavor, not for their non-existent health benefit.
Our health is a complex interaction of individual genetics, nutrition, exercise and living conditions. There are no shortcuts. Always check with your physician before attempting any alternative therapy for a medical condition.
