I have seen several products lately advertised in bodybuilding magazines claiming to offer you all kinds of illegal testosterone, growth hormone, insulin and numerous other actual steroid or prescription compounds, by producing a homeopathic preparation of it. For some reason the law allows them to then be able to make claims for these potent substances, yet when the product is tested there is not even a molecule of the product claimed within the bottle.
Homeopathic science explains that the less is in there, the stronger it is, so only the 'energy' of the product actually exists! Sounds like a big con to me, but lets looks at the science. The original substance is diluted with either nine or ninety-nine parts of distilled water and/or alcohol. One part of the diluted medicine is then further diluted until the desired concentration is reached. You'll often see ingredients in homeopathic supplements listed with a number next to them, such as 30C. This refers to the number of times the original substance has been diluted. For example, a 30C dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times.
According to Samuel Hahnemann, the German founder of homeopathy, the more dilute the substance, the more potent it becomes. Hahnemann claimed that no matter how dilute the solution, an original "spirit-like" trace of the original ingredient remains. Modern proponents assert that even when the last molecule is gone, a "memory" of the substance is retained. Do homeopathic supplements work?
Can they really accelerate muscle growth and recovery without the adverse side effects normally attributed to illegal anabolics, even though the product contains none of the ingredients?
According to a review of 40 clinical trials on homeopathic medicines, the authors concluded that all but three of the trials had major flaws in their design and that only one of those three had reported a positive result. The authors concluded that there is no evidence that homeopathic treatment has any more value than a powerful placebo [1].
Of course, you could always make your own homeopathic supplement. Simply take one Creatine molecule from your next tub of Creatamax 8000ES, and dilute it 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. Even though it's so dilute there's no trace of Creatine left, the "memory" of Creatine will still be there - just think of the money you'll save!
