I’m usually on the fence about homeopathic remedies. I’d love to believe they work, but have yet to see the studies backing up their claims. Today however I found a study showing that a homeopathic remedy, Rhus Toxicodendron, “significantly reduces” carrageenan induced inflammation in rats. As I mentioned in another post, carrageenan (irish moss) is a seaweed derived food additive that is also frequently used in raw food desserts . 2016 update: sorry I should say that irish moss is used in raw foods, not carrageenan. Carrageenan is however found in many organic and natural foods as well as toothpaste.

The study authors note: “We found significant reductions compared to control in carrageenan-induced paw oedema, vascular permeability, writhing induced by intraperitoneal acetic acid and stress induced gastric lesions. Rhus tox in homeopathic dilution appears to interfere with inflammatory processes involving histamine, prostaglandins and other inflammatory mediators.” But that doesn’t mean upping the dose will get you more inflammation relief, on the contrary…”Administration of a single dose of Rhus tox 1h prior to injection of Carrageenan significantly reduced the paw inflammation in a dose dependent manner. Administration of multiple doses of Rhus tox increased the intensity of inflammation induced by Carrageenan, but this was not statistically significant. [1]