Fun says, "Lo, is that a magical cure?"

Over the years, I've received quite a lot of emails claiming certain food or herb or medicine to be the magical cure that can miraculously cure many different sort of illnesses at one go. They make all sorts of claims and give seemingly convincing stories about how some people were healed and saved by these cures. The whole thing does really seem convincing until you approach the thing from a scientific perspective. Then, you will see that the claims and stories are filled with various loopholes.

Saying that a person ate a certain thing everyday and get cured doesn't establish a fact of the thing is effective for curing that illness. Even if several people got well from that same thing, scientific methods are still required to rule out placebo effects. And at times, you will find that the figures given in the claims aren't correct. This gives you enough reason to suspect the accuracy and authenticity of the claims.

If all these claims aren't backed by science, why are people making such claims like they are scientifically supported? The are two reasons behind this. One reason is profit. Certain parties are making profit by selling those food, herb or medicine. They want to make people buy more believing they are buying something good. So, they twist the truth or tell half-truths to make people buy their products.

The other reason is that these people have fallen into the trap of zealotry. A nutritionist or doctor may have recommended something as a cure for a certain problem to a person. This person took the cure and got well. He introduced this to another person slightly exaggerating the benefits of the cure. This second person introduce to a third, adding his own benefits. The third will then say, "you don't need any other medicine. This will cure all your problems." And so it became a magical cure.

I am not saying that all the claims in those emails are false. Some may be true. However, what worries me is that there is false information being passed around like facts. Next time when you want to forward your emails hoping to spread knowledge, you might want to pause for a few minutes and verify the claims before sending out to your friends. Or else, you may be spreading ignorance.