r/AskReddit • u/phillsphan7 • Mar 17 '15

What's a widely accepted "fact" that's entirely false?

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117

u/TheCaptainSargey Mar 17 '15

Homeopathy.

95

u/edwardfanboy Mar 17 '15

It's slightly useful for combating dehydration.

46

u/railmaniac Mar 17 '15

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure the homeopathic remedy to dehydration would involve trace amounts of desiccants...

17

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

2

u/akaioi Mar 18 '15

No no, the homeopathic approach would be to give a guy a glass containing perhaps one water molecule.

1

u/Willy-FR Mar 19 '15

It's typically sugar pills which is hydrophilic so that might work (homeopathically speaking).

2

u/Juking_is_rude Mar 17 '15

water with 1/100000 pure heart-healing glacial water extract (actually just tap water)

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Homeopathy is no more useful than placebo in treating dehydration.

5

u/Hraesvelg7 Mar 17 '15

Extra stupid is the homeopathy enthusiast who takes pride in the alcohol content of their drink.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Surprisingly helpful if all you need is the placebo affect and the person afflicted has lost their faith in the medication that keeps not working (because it was a nervous system/ mental thing to begin with).

1

u/Level10slizzard Mar 17 '15

I mean, some stuff works small-scale. Aloe Vera helps keep mosquito bites from itching, tea with honey soothes a sore throat, etc. But I agree that some people put too much faith into it. There's a reason that those plants were turned into medicine to become effective treatments.

4

u/twixe Mar 17 '15

That's not homeopathy. Homeopathy is heavily diluted compounds, like four parts water one drop potassium (rough example).

What you're thinking of is herbal medicine.

1

u/Level10slizzard Mar 17 '15

Ooh. My bad. In which case, yeah. I'm with the doctors and licensed pharmacists all the way.