7 interesting facts about placebos

Placebos act as controls in many different medical tests, but they're curious in their own right. Here's some things about placebos and their famous effect that you might no have known.

• The word placebo, from the Latin for "I shall please," first turned up in medical texts in the 18th century.
• It was defined as a treatment intended to make a patient happy rather than do any actual healing.

• Placebos are often called sugar pills, and indeed, they're sometimes tablets made of sugar or starch.
• A placebo can be any form of faux medical therapy or treatment made to look like the real thing. in many cases, they aren't a pill at all, much less made of sugar.

• Scientists include placebo groups in clinical trials thanks to the work of anesthesiologist Henry K. Beecher, MD.
• In 1955, Dr. Beecher analyzed 15 studies in which patients with various diseases had received placebos.
• He found that about 35 percent of them responded as though they had received real treatments.

• Dr. Beecher's findings had major implications for the study of new drugs and other therapies.
• It suggested that about one-third of sick people get better if they think they're receiving treatment.
• As a result, when scientists conduct a clinical trial of a new drug or therapy today, they have to account for the Placebo Effect.
• An experimental therapy is usually considered a flop if it fails to treat significantly more than 35 percent of the patients who receive it.

• Some recent studies have cast doubt on Dr. Beecher's 35 percent rule, and on the concept of the Placebo Effect in general.
• However, studies show that placebo treatments are surprisingly effective for a variety of conditions, from Parkinson's disease to gastrointestinal problems.
• Conditions with the highest response rates tend to be those with symptoms that are difficult to quantify, such as pain.

• Skeptics claim that any response to a placebo is "all in your head." They're right, in a sense.
• Sophisticated medical imaging shows that people given placebos experience significant changes in brain chemistry.
• At least 30 studies have shown that when people are given a placebo, but are told it's a pain killer, their bodies produce morphine-like compounds called opioids.

• In one study, researchers applied heat to the skin of volunteers until it hurt. Then they slathered a phony cream on the sore skin. They told the volunteers that the salve contained soothing medication.
• More than 70 percent of the volunteers said the placebo cream relieved their pain.
• The placebo effect appears to go beyond pain reduction.
• In a recent experiment, asthma patients who believed they were receiving the drug salmeterol, but were given placebos, felt better and had improvement in their lung function.

The Placebo Effect has fascinated scientists and the public for years. It's caused controversy and proven that what we believe has a strong impact on our health and bodies.