Tag: acupuncture

A woman lies face down on a massage table with several acupuncture needles inserted into her bare upper back, receiving acupuncture treatment. A white towel covers part of her body, and she appears relaxed.

More credulous nonsense about acupuncture, this time from National Geographic

PNAS recently published credulous nonsense about acupuncture so bad that I thought it couldn't be topped. "Hold my beer!" cried National Geographic, as it proceeded to top PNAS.

/ May 11, 2026
Acupuncture for xerostomia

PNAS Publishes Rank Pseudoscience

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently published an article on acupuncture. It's a highly credulous take that tries to convince the reader that acupuncture is more than just a highly theatrical placebo. Quackademic medicine continues apace.

/ April 29, 2026
Placebo

The myth of the magically powerful placebo returns

It's been a long time since I've written about the deceptive narratives around placebos promoted by supporters of alternative medicine. Unfortunately, a new article claiming placebos can work as well as "real medicine" is making the rounds on social media. Here we go again.

/ April 27, 2026

Using alternative medicine to treat cancer, even alongside conventional therapies, is still a bad idea

With the MAHA movement poised to introduce a lot more "integrative" or "complementary and alternative" treatments into oncology (and medicine in general), a new study shows the likely result.

/ March 16, 2026
Integrative oncology

Revisiting “integrative oncology”: The battle to integrate quackery with oncology continues

Nature Reviews Cancer published a propaganda piece disguised as commentary promoting "integrative oncology," or what I like to call "integrating" quackery with oncology.

/ August 19, 2024

More Americans turning to complementary approaches to pain control

The use of of complementary health approaches overall, and for pain management, is growing among US adults.

/ February 1, 2024

Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews of Acupuncture

No surprise - there is precious little evidence that acupuncture does anything.

/ December 14, 2022

Acupuncture For Backpain in Pregnancy – More Terrible Reporting

Another meta-analysis shows that acupuncture is nothing but an elaborate placebo, and again is misrepresented in the press.

/ November 23, 2022
A woman lies face down on a massage table with several acupuncture needles inserted into her bare upper back, receiving acupuncture treatment. A white towel covers part of her body, and she appears relaxed.

ASCO endorses “integrative oncology” quackery for cancer pain

Last week, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Integrative Oncology published guidelines for treating cancer pain. These guidelines endorsed quackery like reflexology and acupuncture. The infiltration of quackademic medicine continues apace in oncology.

/ November 21, 2022