Alternative reading

At the beginning of the year I set out to read one non-fiction book a month. Got a bit slack the last couple of months, but should have no trouble catching up. Have just read Kevin Treudeau’s ‘Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About’. Once you get past the author’s bashing of drug companies and federal government institutions, he has some interesting advice and recommendations about natural health. One thing that I find disconcerting is that there are very few direct references in the book to back up his claims. Admittedly he says that he is writing at a level to enable everyone to understand, and he does refer you to other books and websites, but I still feel that statements like ‘it’s been found that…’ need to be backed up with a reference. In a disclaimer he mentions that the book would be too long if all the references were ancluded, and that they are at his website www.naturalcures.com (which will cost you US$9.95 to join). I just feel that the ‘alternative’ health care domain is unlikely to ever gain serious credibility unless they begin to provide high-level evidence for their claims, and if the evidence is already there then lets acknowledge it. Physiotherapy as a profession has had a hard time providing the evidence for what it does, but the evidence is now there, surely others can do the same.