In Small Doses

As April sees the return of National Homeopathy Week, Julie Lucas looks at why millions across the globe opt for this alternative medicine

What do Prince Charles, David Beckham and 100 million people in India have in common? They are all users of homeopathy.

In fact, according to the British Homeopathic Association, this complementary form of medicine is now used by over 200 million people worldwide. But is it just mind over matter? In 2010 a government report claimed that homeopathy remedies perform no better than placebos and last year NHS England recommended that treatments were no longer funded on the service.

Despite this, 15 percent of the UK population have used it, and the same report acknowledged ‘the popularity of homeopathy indicates that many patients are satisfied’. A survey of 6,500 patients over a six-year period conducted by Bristol Homeopathic Hospital found that 70 percent of follow-up patients reported improved health, with 50 per cent reporting a major improvement.

The principles of homeopathy were discovered by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who was dissatisfied with the treatments of his day, which in the 18th century included the dubious use of arsenic and bloodletting.