At the beginning of October, the recruitment of future naturopaths is in full swing. Installed in front of her screen, Melody Molins, director and founder of the Hildegardian Institute, is hosting a Web seminar for her future students. For thirty minutes, she praises the merits of her school, the only one in France to master the precepts of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century German abbess elevated to the rank of Doctor of the Church in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
“Today, people are more and more interested in the Hildegarde products and method. It also gives very good results on digestive and cardiac issues, stress management and even joint problems. our training, you will be able to stand out from other professionals in practice and set up in practice in a few months”, assures the director.
Among future students, the well-rehearsed discourse hits the mark, despite the high cost of training (up to 14,000 euros for the formula in one or two years comprising 1,600 hours of lessons). Because naturopathy has become in a few years, a very competitive sector. The only French Federation of Naturopathic Schools (Fena), which brings together eight schools, recognizes at the last count 6,000 approved naturopaths. And their number would have increased by 20 to 25% per year over the past ten years. “There are far too many, says a long-established professional. Many people want to get started, but then many of them struggle. And since the sector is not regulated, there are drifts”. According to this practitioner, many “unscrupulous” schools now offer rapid but not very serious training and “nor is there anything preventing certain naturopaths from exercising their profession in a completely personal way by providing, for example, only vegan advice, for ideology”.
Read health predispositions in the iris
Sohan Tricoire knows the problem well. This former naturopath practiced for five years – without being able to do without the RSA – before putting an end to her activity and denouncing the dubious practices she witnessed. “People especially know Thierry Casasnovas or Irène Grosjean whose methods have been widely denounced, but behind these figureheads, there are plenty of more discreet naturopaths, who also pose problems. Followers of so-called integrative medicine, they highlight their complementary role to conventional medicine. But let’s not kid ourselves, their vision of health remains very similar to that of the most criticized naturopaths”.
And it is not a hazard. Even within the programs of the most recognized training schools, non-scientific or even esoteric elements abound. The European College of Traditional Holistic Naturopathy (Cenatho), although approved by the Fena, thus integrates into its program courses on Chinese energy or aromatherapy, disciplines relating to pseudo-medicine. In other well-established establishments, future practitioners can train in gemmotherapy, a therapeutic practice based on the use of buds, but which has never been proven, or magnetotherapy, which claims to be able to heal with the help of magnets…
“Certain teachings particularly struck me, starting with iridology”, testifies Sohan Tricoire. The practice, which has its roots in the sighting of an injured owl by a young boy more than a century ago, claims to infer health predispositions in the colored part of a person’s eyes. “It’s akin to charlatanism. It’s a bit like reading the lines of the hand. The worst thing is that this discipline is part of the program of all schools recognized by Fena”, gets carried away Mathieu Repiquet , member of the NoFakeMed anti-false medicine collective. Some naturopaths even make diagnoses using this method. Not only can this not be good, but it is also illegal since the principle of diagnosis is reserved for doctors”, specifies the scientist.
In the field, naturopaths prefer to speak of “vitality assessments”. “They play on words. But to my knowledge, no conviction has ever been pronounced for this reason. Probably for lack of control”, deplores Mathieu Repiquet. Still marked by his experience as a naturopathic student, Sohan Tricoire remembers teachings in “morphopsychology”, a discipline “which claims to be able to determine personality traits and where predispositions in terms of health from the observation of personality traits ‘a face”. And other more smoky theories associating the shape of vegetables with the effect they can have on the body: “Walnuts, for example, look like gray matter. It would therefore be beneficial for the brain!”
Combination of more or less scientific methods
Despite its very questionable foundations, naturopathy nevertheless brings happiness to many clients. On the Internet, testimonials of people freed from stomach aches, chronic ailments, and even more serious illnesses, abound. “I had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and had been prescribed lifelong treatment, at the same time I went to see a naturopath and following his advice, lifestyle, diet… six months later the disease had disappeared”, is still surprised Sylvie *, a former naturopath. Like her, many people enter the profession after recovery or improvement in their state of health.
“Some people really see their situation improve by following a naturopath, confirms Sohan Tricoire, but this improvement can be put down to a better lifestyle, dietary advice or a placebo effect”. Whatever the naturopaths say, with their often simplistic speeches. “On plants, for example, certain studies show specific effects of such compounds on such types of people with such symptoms, but in the mouths of certain defenders of alternative treatments, this discourse quickly turns into a general prescription. However, we cannot cure everything with plants”, summarizes Mathieu Repiquet. For the specialists of these alternative medicines, it is this amalgamation in the use of more or less robust methods on the scientific level which participates in making naturopathy so vague in its definition and its risks. “Of course, herbal medicine can be effective, but we cannot deduce that everything that is natural is necessarily good for your health”, confirms the doctor of pharmacy and specialist in natural substances, Xavier Cachet.
Finally, there is a real risk of seeing these practitioners provide ill-advised advice or guidance. Because these professionals are not always able to identify certain contraindications, or to correctly do the preventive work that is the responsibility of the doctor.
ANSES alerts
During our investigation, a naturopath, for example, recommended that we apply a lavender cream – a remedy from the famous recipes of Hildegarde de Bingen – after radiotherapy sessions intended to treat breast cancer, thus contradicting the opinion of doctors that the application of any product – especially greasy – risked increasing burns.
Our research also led us to the website of Herbolistique, a natural products laboratory working with many naturopaths. We found there bottles of green walnut shell intended to fight against intestinal worms, to apply three days before and after the full moon or even supplements supposed to control sugar or prevent diabetes. “The use of these products is in no way based on science. There is no valid publication evaluating on the one hand the effectiveness on this or that disease and on the other hand no study on the absence toxicity. Why? Because these products are not drugs. They therefore do not need marketing authorization”, is moved by an endocrinologist to whom we have submitted some references taken from the website. The National Health and Food Safety Agency (ANSES) regularly issues alerts following adverse effects occurring after the use of essential oils or food supplements. In June, the agency warned of cases of hepatitis after the consumption of food supplements containing Turmeric.
But that in no way dampens the craze for naturopathy. This sometimes forces doctors to adapt. “There are so many people who consume this type of product that we can no longer afford to brush off the phenomenon with a disdainful tone, the doctor-patient relationship would take a hit. Now it is strongly recommended to practice ‘ shared medical decision’ which consists of listening to the patient, checking that there is no dangerous substance in his supplement, and asking him if it makes him feel good. If so, I tell him to continue “, underlines a health professional.
Regulate training
To show that they are aware of possible abuses, the main schools of naturopaths have drafted charters in which they undertake not to harm clients. But for Mathieu Repiquet, that is not enough. The lack of control, the close ties between certain naturopaths and laboratories supplying food supplements, the promotion of these practices on the Doctolib meeting platform, or even the facade speeches of certain establishments which advocate seriousness when their executives sometimes pour into esotericism plead for regulation. “Associations of naturopaths such as OMNES recognize several difficulties and abuses. They also suffer from them. They have no difficulty in making their self-criticism”, assures Arthur Thirion, general manager of Doctolib France, who has just led with his teams wide consultation to identify problems.
“Our profession still lacks organization, recognizes Charlotte Jacquet, a popular naturopath, who regularly leads conferences on this subject. Today the question arises of the regulation of our activity but also of training”. A call heard by the Fena which ensures work on future programs. The federation recognizes that practices based on beliefs cannot coexist with naturopathy, but does not reject iridology. Not sure that’s enough to defuse the controversy.