NAET

NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique) is an alternative medicine treatment for allergies using a combination of chiropractic, applied kinesiology and acupressure. It was founded in 1976 by Devi S. Nambudripad while treating her own allergy symptoms. Devi S. Nambudripad is a licensed chiropractor and acupuncturist practicing in California, US.

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Medical community views

NAET is largely regarded by the medical community as quackery. For example, Dr. Stephen Barrett's^[1] view on NAET is not favourable. He concludes, after an examination of the technique and Nambudripad's credentials;

NAET clashes with the concepts of anatomy, physiology, pathology, physics, and allergy accepted by the scientific community. The story of its "discovery" is highly implausible. Its core diagnostic approach -- muscle testing for "allergies" -- is senseless and is virtually certain to diagnose nonexistent problems. Its recommendations for dietary restrictions based on nonexistent food allergies are likely to place the patient at great risk for nutrient deficiency, and, in the case of children, at risk for social problems and the development of eating disorders. I believe that practitioners who use NAET have such poor judgment that they should not be permitted to remain licensed. If you encounter a practitioner who relies on the strategies described in this article, please ask the state attorney general to investigate.

Others in the medical community state it has placebo effects at best. A recent review^[2] concludes that "there have been no studies supporting the use of these techniques, and several have refuted their utility. A beneficial placebo effect may be responsible for the perceived clinical effectiveness in many cases of food intolerance." There is a distinct lack of studies of NAET, another review of complementary allergy tests^[3] goes so far as to state that "NAET has to be the most unsubstantiated allergy treatment proposed to date."

Alternative community views

The above views must be contrasted with the anecdotal evidence of the many testimonials praising NAET. An internal survey of NAET's patients conducted over 10 years reported that "Approximately two thirds of the sample group experienced resolution of symptoms within the first 15 -25 visits."^[4]

Too little evidence

Like many alternative medicine treatments NAET does not fit the clinical model for trials and so very little peer reviewed literature has been produced for it.^[2] From a scientific viewpoint the lack of credible information makes it difficult to set a value on NAET's usefulness, while from those who claim to have been "cured" by NAET there comes a lot of praise. Unfortunately no real conclusion can be arrived at until a systematic clinical trial is performed and reported on.

References