Placebos work

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 27 2010

According to a new study people who knowingly take a dummy pill or placebo may benefit from it. These pills are usually made from sugar or other inert non-harmful materials. Usually when used in clinical trials patients are unaware whether they are taking the tested drug or a placebo to ensure the medical benefits of a potential new drug are assessed rigorously. However this new study published in the science journal PLoS ONE, found placebos may work even when patients are aware that they are taking them.

For the study lead author Ted Kaptchuk associate professor of medicine Harvard Medical School and director of the Asian Medicine and Healing Program and his team conducted a three-week trial of 80 patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. One group was given no pills, and the other given pills honestly described as “like sugar pills”. They were told to take the pills twice daily. 59% patients treated with the placebos reported adequate symptom relief compared to 35% in the group taking no pills. Midway through the study, side effects were reported by three placebo patients. By the end of the study, five placebo patients reported side effects, such as respiratory infection, pain, diarrhea, and rash.

According to Associate Professor Kaptchuk, “Not only did we make it absolutely clear that these pills had no active ingredient and were made from inert substances, but we actually had ‘placebo’ printed on the bottle… We told the patients they didn’t have to even believe in the placebo effect – just take the pills.” Although a small study he believes these results suggested there “may be significant benefit to the very performance of medical ritual” of using placebos. Senior study author Anthony Lembo, of the Harvard Medical School added that the results surprised him. He said, “I didn't think it would work…I felt awkward asking patients to literally take a placebo. But to my surprise, it seemed to work for many of them.”

The study was funded by Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center and by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States.