By Melissa Kvidahl

Homeopathic remedies, though considered an alternative approach to health by modern, mainstream standards, enjoy a rich history of popularity and success.

“Homeopathy comes from the Greek words ‘homeo,’ which means similar, and ‘pathia,’ which means suffering,” explained Marjorie Roberts, RN, BSN, MSHP, DAHom, and president and CEO of Newton Homeopathics (Conyers, GA). “In other words, what causes suffering in its full form can alleviate suffering in its homeopathic form.”

Homeopathic practitioners and manufacturers call this concept the Law of Similars. Often expressed as “like cures like,” it was originated by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physicist, chemist and linguist in the late 1700s, when the most common medical treatments consisted of bloodletting, purging, blistering and the use of sulfur and mercury, said Lou Paradise, president and product formulator at Topical BioMedica Inc. (Rhinebeck, NY). “These measures often worsened symptoms, and sometimes caused fatal results,” he added.

“During the nineteenth century, homeopathy grew in popularity,” Paradise continued. “In 1830, the first homeopathic schools opened, and throughout the nineteenth century dozens of homeopathic institutions appeared in Europe and the United States. By the turn of the twentieth century, eight percent of all American medical practitioners were homeopaths, and there were 20 homeopathic medical colleges and more than 100 homeopathic hospitals in the United States.”

However, by the late 1950s, there were only 75 pure homeopaths practicing in the US, Paradise noted, due to the rise of penicillin and its perception as being easy and effective against illness. Indeed, so-called miracle drugs like aspirin may have contributed to the decline in popularity in the homeopathic category, but only temporarily.

The public tide turned again in the 1970s toward homeopathic remedies, and the category has been booming ever since, manufacturers reported.

“The personalization of this therapy appeals to the American sense of self-help and engages consumers in treating self-diagnosable conditions,” explained John Durkin, vice president of sales and marketing for Boiron (Newtown Square, PA), makers of Coldcalm® and Oscillococcinum® (Oscillo® for short).
According to Durkin, sales of homeopathic remedies in natural products supermarkets alone experienced sales of $40.5 million for the 52-week period ending December 27, 2008. For Boiron, sales are up seven percent.

Economically Driven Growth
Michele Boisvert, president and pharmacist at Homeolab USA (Montreal, Canada), knows this growth well. For her, the appearance of these products in mass merchandisers should be good news to independent retailers because, for better or for worse, it gets the word out to shoppers who might not frequent health food stores.

“It might be the health food stores that get the category known to people, but once you see it in the drug stores, you’ll see it all over,” she said, noting that perhaps in addition to mass merchandisers, the internet might be the number one factor in the recent resurgence of homeopathic popularity. “The awareness is there. In drug stores, next to the conventional products, you’ll see homeopathics. It’s part of the game now. It’s not like 20 years ago when people didn’t know about homeopathy—now they know.”
Paradise noted that the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists pins growth between 17 and 22 percent in the past four years, reaching approximately $600 million in total sales. And though this success story might come as a surprise to struggling mass merchandisers in this economy, independent retailers stocking homeopathics know that this homeopathic resurgence might be because of the economy.

“Economic decline has an impact upon health by increasing stress factors and decreasing health care investments,” explained Misty Householder, marketing manager for Pflueger USA (Berkeley Springs, WV). “Everyone is searching for ways to better budget, and therefore incorporating an over-the-counter (OTC) alternative medicine into a treatment plan can help individuals avoid missed work and costly doctors visits.”

But why use homeopathics? Certainly any mainstream treatment will be perceived as able to provide the same relief for a customer who might not know about homeopathics. The answer is simple: the price of homeopathic remedies often falls significantly under the price of conventional competitors—something that is very attractive to consumers who are tightening their purse strings in this market. Homeolab USA’s homeopathics, for example, provide 60 doses in a 1-oz. bottle for about $9 retail. Boisvert estimates her competition at costing about $15 for 30 doses. “So homeopathics can cost something under 10 dollars,” she said. “If something is under 10 dollars, they’ll try it.”

“I think the economy has helped our sales of homeopathics actually; it’s much cheaper to try to heal yourself and homeopathics are not that expensive,” agreed Misty Dawn Kelly, inventory manager at Gloria’s Good Health (Decatur, AL). “It’s not like taking prescription drugs that are way up there in cost.”

Side Effect-Free
But cost is just one of the many benefits of stocking homeopathics, even as the cold and flu season slinks away this month.

“Homeopathy is one of the safest forms of medicine, with few if any side effects,” said Matt Warnock, president of RidgeCrest Herbals, Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT), noting that it is applicable to almost any condition, even those experienced by infants like colic and teething, for which conventional methods might be too dangerous. “It works with the body by triggering a natural healing reaction, rather than just hammering on the symptoms in a purely mechanical way,” he said.

Further, as Roberts explained, homeopathic medicines do not interact with other medications, so those who are on prescription or over the counter drugs can safely use it. “Many people are also becoming aware of the dangers of most pharmaceuticals and their damage to the liver and kidneys,” she added.
In fact, people might turn to homeopathy because they are sick and tired of being sick and tired, Householder quipped. “Consider the common medical treatment for a sinus infection—an antibiotic prescription,” she said. “The antibiotic suppresses the immune system, alters the natural flora of the intestine and could cause an individual to suffer from an allergic reaction such as hives.” These dangers are not a concern with homeopathics, however, since they are non-suppressing and do not cause reactions.

The risks associated with conventional pharmaceuticals aside, natural products retailers with an array of safe remedies to choose from might point shoppers in the direction of homeopathics, in particular, if the shopper is pregnant or shopping for a young child.

“You shouldn’t give a mother an herbal remedy for kids,” advised Boisvert. “So if someone is looking for something natural, the only thing they’re going to find in the health food store is homeopathics—for cough and cold especially.”

And for shoppers looking for alternatives, retailers can assure them that homeopathics are not the same as herbals—a common misconception about the category. “Homeopathics must be manufactured in accordance with the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States—the homeopathic equivalent to the USP for pharmaceuticals,” explained Householder. “All homeopathic medicine must be registered with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Homeopathy functions under all the same laws and guidelines as pharmaceuticals, yet homeopathy has no side effects and no drug interactions.”

Durkin suggested cross merchandising homeopathics with other treatments so that customers can quickly identify medicines needed to relieve their symptoms and perhaps increase exposure to homeopathics. He also pointed out that because of last year’s FDA advisory against common wintertime OTC medicines for children under the age of six, retailers can fulfill a niche for children of these ages by offering homeopathic cough, cold and flu medicines—which do not contain any of the ingredients under question by the FDA.

“The panel examined risks and benefits of cough suppressants, decongestants and antihistamines in children, and decided it was uncomfortable that the benefits of these ingredients for children were estimated based on using a fraction of the doses shown to benefit adults,” he explained, adding that homeopathics, unlike other medicines, are not body-mass dependent, so they are especially applicable to children.

The Cure for The Common Misconception
Yet with all the benefits associated with homeopathy, a common manufacturer challenge is that the consumer (even the natural products consumer) is not as educated about the category as he or she may be about other natural remedies. Even today, as homeopathics continue to grow in numbers offered and dollars sold, the category seems to boast more misconceptions than most. Indeed, from minor to distressing, the rumors seem to fly when it comes to this category.

According to Warnock, even homeopathy’s scientific grounding is questioned. “Homeopathy has been criticized because the extreme dilutions often mean that not a single molecule of the original starting material remains in the administered dose,” he said. “Critics claim that these tiny or nonexistent doses cannot possibly have any effect, and automatically attribute any successes with homeopathy to the placebo effect.”

Yet, the placebo effect cannot explain the success homeopathy has experienced among animals, children and unconscious patients, where the placebo effect can have no effect at all, Warnock continued, explaining that though newcomers to the category might be intimidated by treatments by the names of arsenicum album, they needn’t be. Remedies based on cyanide, lead, mercury, arsenic and other poisonous substances contain less of these toxins than filtered drinking water, he said.

And though these misconceptions are certainly dangerous to the very basis of homeopathy, many more perhaps less serious (yet no less damaging) untruths exist. From the idea that caffeine or mint might neutralize remedies, to the belief that remedies cannot be combined together, to the fear that tablets can be rendered ineffective when touched all plague the homeopathic manufacturer and retailer.
“Homeopathy is very forgiving,” explained Roberts, with a nod to these bogus claims. “For the vast majority of people, this strictness is not mandatory for a homeopathic to be effective.”

Yet, despite the rampant misconceptions that exist today, manufacturers maintain that the category is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, and the right kind of education is trickling down to the consumer. “Ten years ago people would ask me if homeopathy is witchcraft,” said Boisvert. “Not anymore.”
Thanks to retail education efforts, shoppers are starting to take notice of this category, and forget the fears of decades past. For retailers, Warnock recommends an explanation of what homeopathy is, the principles it is founded on and the successes one can have with it.

“Many health food store customers have heard of homeopathy, or even used it, but often don’t really understand the principles involved,” he said. “The Law of Similars is counter-intuitive to newcomers, since it is the exact opposite of what would usually be used in conventional medicine—helping customers to understand these principles is very important.”

“People just don’t understand what it is and how they’re made and what they’re for,” agreed Kelley, who added that misconceptions are rampant among shoppers in her store. “But once you explain to them that homeopathics are safe, people tend to use them more than they would herbs. Once they learn about it, they’re more likely to buy a homeopathic over other treatments.”

The Appeal of Ease
In order to appeal to the newcomers to homeopathy, manufacturers are making sure that the treatments’ packaging is simple and highlights the products’ ease of not only use, but also selection. “Some people believe that homeopathy is hard to use or sell,” said Roberts. “The strange Latin names of single remedies can intimidate customers.”

To alleviate this burden, Newton Homeopathics simplifies the selection process for homeopathic newcomers. For example, the Newton Warts complex is suitable for all types of warts—this way, the customer does not need to know which individual remedy is effective for a particular type of wart. The company’s Headache complex is effective for all types of headaches from migraines to sinus and stress headaches. “The Newton complexes have been put together based on thousands of clinical experiences so the work of picking and combining remedies has been done for the consumer,” she added.

Washington Homeopathic Products’ (Berkeley Springs, WV) treatments are labeled by symptom, as well, to eliminate confusion. “This way, it’s easy for the consumer, especially someone who isn’t feeling too well, to find what they need,” explained Householder.

The full Washington Homeopathic Products line consists of over 1,700 individual remedies, 72 combination remedies, ointments, oils, dilutions and remedy kids. From Dry Eyes, Bronchitis and Acute Earache to Hives, Motion Sickness and Insomnia, the company offers a wide array of clearly labeled, categorized treatments.

Pflueger USA (Berkeley Springs, WV) offers a 55-piece product line of German homeopathic combination formulas. “The European practitioners commonly prescribe two or three remedies to address a symptom set,” explained Householder. “Pflueger USA has applied this treatment concept by grouping products into ten different Treatment Triads for a more comprehensive approach to healing.”
For example, the company’s Motion Sickness Triad comes with its Travel Sickness, Relax and Stomach Aid formulas. On the other hand, Sinus Symptoms Triad comes with Sinus-Aid, Immuno-Support and Headache & Migraine treatments. “This takes the guesswork out of product selection,” Householder said.

Further, because homeopathic remedies are regulated as drugs (and not as dietary supplements) by the US Food and Drug Administration, they are labeled for specific conditions and can make claims on labels the way that conventional over the counter treatments can—something reassuring for newcomers to the category. For retailers, this means that guiding any customer in purchasing the right product becomes simplified as well, and can be strengthened by taking advantage of advice and literature offered by manufacturers.

“The best thing a retailer can do to learn more about homeopathic products is to use them,” advised Householder. “The biggest sales pitch is a personal story.” VR