We don't disagree on the "natural" remedies.

I was incomplete regarding homeopathy. I should clarify. Most all homeopathic remedies do not contain enough active ingredients to cause an effect. Homeopathic "theory" involved extreme and total dilution of the active ingredients. Often not even a molecule of the active ingredient remains. The idea was the more dilute the stronger the remedy.

The FDA does not evaluate homeopathic remedies for safety or effectiveness and federal law mostly gives them a pass due to long ago political reasons. If homeopathic remedies had to pass the same FDA scrutiny of other drugs they would all be off the market as none have ever been shown as effective. Here is NCCAM's summary of the current state of regulation in the US:

Homeopathic remedies are prepared according to the guidelines of the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States (HPUS), which was written into law in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938. Homeopathic remedies are regulated in the same manner as nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. However, because homeopathic products contain little or no active ingredients, they do not have to undergo the same safety and efficacy testing as prescription and new OTC drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does require that homeopathic remedies meet certain legal standards for strength, purity, and packaging. The labels on the remedies must include at least one major indication (i.e., medical problem to be treated), a list of ingredients, the dilution, and safety instructions. In addition, if a homeopathic remedy claims to treat a serious disease such as cancer, it needs to be sold by prescription. Only products for self-limiting conditions (minor health problems like a cold or headache that go away on their own) can be sold without a prescription.



Now, some entities might be calling something homeopathic when it is not in the traditional sense, just to get past FDA oversight. In that case there might be ingredients that actually do something. This violates the principle underwhich the FDA decided not to review homeopathic remedies for safety or effectiveness. Also, the dilution might be done improperly due to carelessness. Or, the product could be contaminated. So, yes in some instances there may be active ingredients in amounts sufficient to actually do something and even harmful ingredients because of lack of oversight. I agree with the doctor that you need to be careful using any such remedies. I just think that doctors should be more explicit about the lack of effectiveness of homeopathic remedies and issues surrounding herbal remedies in general. Given how much money people spend on crap the medical profession should not be treading so lightly. Nor should WebMD.