Ooh, but I see in the related products list Humphreys Teething Tablets, which are even cheaper-- $4.34 for 135 pills.
Hmm, but you're supposed to take three of the Humphreys at a time. Still, the Humphreys is cheaper per dose (10 cents versus 27 cents).
But maybe it's not as good. They both get five-star Amazon.com reviews, but what about the active ingredients? The Camilia's main active ingredient is a 5C dilution of pokeweed plant-- that 1 part pokeweed to 10,000,000,000 (ten billion) parts water. Pokeweed is poisonous, but that's good because the whole idea behind homeopathic remedies is that a little bit of poison is good for you.
Humphreys is a 3X dilution of pokeweed (1 part pokeweed to a thousand parts water). In the homeopathic world, less active ingredient is better, so that's not good (a 5C dilution-- diluted 1-to-100 five times-- is better than a 3X dilution-- diluted 1-to-10 three times). But, you also get a 3X dilution of Belladonna (aka Deadly Nightshade) for your money.
How's a concerned parent supposed to decide? Should you give your baby the more expensive remedy that only has one poison in it, or the cheaper one that has two?
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I'm pretty sure I saw the same product being sold at Big Y; I'll have to pick some up next time I'm buying groceries.
4 comments:
I used to LOVE those things. I had NO IDEA they were soooo good for me :P
Gavin, of course with homeopathy it's the LABELS that really provide the potency. That's what stimulates the brain's belief system. I wonder if anyone homeopathic doc has done any double blind studies with and w/o labels on the bottles??
Yeah, I bet you're right-- labels are key.
Did you see the study last year that showed that more expensive placebos are more effective?
I wonder if warning labels on homeopathic medicines would make them more or less effective...
I love your idea of warning labels on homeopathic medicine! Let's see, how should it read?
WARNING: Taking too many of these pills at once can cause you to rattle when you walk.
That should just about cover it.
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