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They say medicine is as much an art as a science. But sometimes it seems more like a mystery. Take, for example, a new study that shows that sugar pills work, even when patients know they’re taking them. The findings appear in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE. [Ted J. Kaptchuk et al., "Placebos without deception: A randomized controlled trial in irritable bowel syndrome"]
The placebo effect’s been well-documented. Patients who receive dummy pills often show clinical improvement. But in all studies to date, the patients believed they were receiving a real drug. Placebos work, doctors believed, because the mind is a powerful thing. Just thinking you’re being treated can make you feel better.
In this study, however, docs told patients they were getting placebos. Eighty patients with irritable bowel syndrome were instructed to take two sugar pills daily. The bottle even had "placebo" printed on it. After three weeks, 60 percent of the placebo group reported relief from symptoms, compared to 35 percent who’d received no treatment at all.
The doctors say it’s possible that the very act of ministering to patients may have a positive effect. Their findings will have to be repeated with more patients and other disorders. In the meantime, a sugar pill that can treat what ails ya is pretty sweet.
—Karen Hopkin
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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14 Comments
Add CommentHow about testing it on a population of people who don't know what a pill or placebo is?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat won't prove anything. The whole point is that the mind knows, and feels it is in a state of repair. People that don't know they have placebo/medication won't have that mentality, so why give them anything.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf one is hospitalized and takes unfamiliar medications as administered by a caregiver, one might be given a placebo.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, how could one ever be subject to the placebo effect if he took prescription medications which come with information sheets listing active ingredients UNLESS the article was correct? How do you fool an inquiring patient who has access to the internet and other information?
I'm slightly surprised that the authors chose to use only sugar pills as placebos, since sugar has known psychological effects including an increase in neural activity in the dopaminergic pathway, percieved as pleasure (which alters the perception of pain). Why not use microcrystalline cellulose and similar inert fillers as the placebo to eliminate this possible sugar effect?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood point. I was once treated for hypoglycemia with some sugar dissolved in a tiny cup of orange juice. Worked great! Sugar is not an inert substance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe some of those in the study thought that being told that it was only a placebo was intentionally misleading and that they were indeed being given real medicine.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"They're telling me it's placebo so that I'll believe it won't work. But it's really medicine, so if it doesn't work that means that the placebo effect goes both ways and the medicine will have no positive effects."
Maybe it does!
You should have read the study. This was done at Harvard and those effects are well known by the investigators. They said a placebo "like a sugar pill" was used.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree, especially when you consider the somewhat arbitrary and subjective scale they measured the effect. It is just a matter or legacy? I keep hearing about sugar pills being used for placebo...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThinking about this, won't that have an effect on bowl movment?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould this be a plausible explanation for why the age- old aphrodisiacs continue to be used along side real pharmaceutical enhancements.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs Science in the wake of religion?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSaint Galvão (São Galvão, in Portuguese) is the first Saint of Catholic Church that was born in Brazil, and it is cause of proud for Brazilians that are Catholics. Very well, the same Saint Galvão is famous also, in Brazil, by the pills that take his name: The pills of Saint Galvão!!! ... And it is said that the pills are miraculous!
Visit this link for the “authentic” history of the start of the miracles: http://www.saofreigalvao.com/w3c_novena.asp . The page is in Portuguese, but if you apply the tool Google translator a “miracle” of understanding is realized.
I get, on my part, these stories (or histories, for god’s sake!) with a grain of salt.
Is Science in the wake of religion?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSaint Galvão (São Galvão, in Portuguese) is the first Saint of Catholic Church that was born in Brazil, and it is cause of proud for Brazilians that are Catholics. Very well, the same Saint Galvão is famous also, in Brazil, by the pills that take his name: The pills of Saint Galvão!!! ... And it is said that the pills are miraculous!
Visit this link for the “authentic” history of the start of the miracles: http://www.saofreigalvao.com/w3c_novena.asp . The page is in Portuguese, but if you apply the tool Google translator a “miracle” of understanding is realized.
I get, on my part, these stories (or histories, for god’s sake!) with a grain of salt!
Should I have read the original study? I thought I was commenting on a Scientific American story. (However, a review of the original study for any indication that anything BUT a sugar pill was used as placebo, revealed none).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnow it's time to try it on measurable physiologic effects, not just patient report of improvement. Something like heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, etc. BP should work well, since patients typically do not know what it is, so data can be recorded surreptitiously. No patient memory bias involved.
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