Government study finds "alternative medicine" doesn't work.

MSNBC is reporting that NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has completed a $2.5 billion dollar study of alternative health remedies.

Guess which ones work?

Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.

While one might argue with the price tag, I'd argue that in principle, there's nothing wrong with investigating "alternative" or otherwise unconventional medical treatments. The point is not to prop up the pharmaceutical industry, but to find out what works and what doesn't.

"Alternative" in the sense of "practiced by folk sages, rather than men in lab coats" isn't a useful distinction. There is — or should be — only stuff that has been shown to work, and stuff that hasn't been shown to work.

(HT Phil Plait.)