The multicenter, cohort study looked at 3,709 patients from 103 homeopathic primary care practices in Germany and Switzerland.  Improvements in conditions such as headache and allergic rhinitis in adults and atopic dermatitis and infections in children were common, but more significant in younger patients, females, and those with the greatest disease severity at baseline.

The authors did note that patients were allowed to use conventional and other complementary therapies during the course of the study and that the observed improvements cannot be attributed to homeopathic treatment alone.

BMC Public Health. 2008 Dec 17;8(1):413. To read the abstract and obtain the full text, click here.

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Zicam is intended to reduce the length and severity of colds by placing its active ingredient, zinc gluconate, in direct contact with the nasal epithelial membrane. Plaintiff alleged that the use of Zicam per its instructions caused her to lose her senses of smell and taste because a toxic quantity of its active ingredient came into contact with her olfactory epithelium.

Two issues caused the court to preclude introduction of the plaintiff’s expert. First, the expert relied on studies with cadavers, but the defense was able to show that such studies did not accurately reflect what would happen in living humans who were administered Zicam. Secondly, the plaintiff’s expert relied on studies from the 1930’s and 1940’s that the court found were not relevant to establish causation.

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Benkwith v. Matrixx Initiatives, Inc., — F.Supp.2d —, 2006 WL 3804547 (N.D. Ala., Dec. 27, 2006).

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