Background: The homeopathic materia medica contains hundreds of thousands of observations collected
over the course of centuries. It includes both clinical observations of potentized
medicines and also observations of the actions of potentized medicines on healthy
subjects (provings). This study was undertaken to determine the degree to which observations
within the materia medica could be correlated with the physiological mechanisms for
thyroid inhibiting substances in their undiluted state.
Method: Four of the most specific symptoms for iodine deficiency were selected to describe
the hypothyroid state. Symptom representation for the four selected symptoms within
the homeopathic materia medica was compared for two halogen inhibitors, for three
substances which influence thyroid hormone target tissues, for six substances known
or suspected to increase thyroid stimulating hormone or decrease thyroid hormone levels,
and for eleven substances not known to inhibit thyroid activity. To avoid knowledge
bias, only those compilations of materia medica whose publication dates preceded the
discoveries of crucial aspects of thyroid physiology were used as source materials
for investigation.
Result: Homeopathic medicines derived from 11 substances with mechanisms for inhibition of
thyroid activity were more likely to exhibit selected symptoms than the medicines
derived from the 11 substances without known physiological mechanisms for thyroid
inhibition. The difference between groups was analyzed via the Mann-Whitney non-parametric
U test and was statistically significant to p < 0.01. After observations obtained from provings alone were removed from analysis,
the difference between groups of clinical symptoms remained significant to p < 0.01. Only the two halogen inhibitors of iodine (bromine and fluoric acid) and
one influencer of thyroid hormone target tissue (calcium carbonate) were significantly
goitrogenic.
Conclusion: With respect to thyroid inhibition, there is a significant correlation between observations
recorded within the homeopathic materia medica and the purported physiological mechanisms
for the corresponding undiluted substances.
Keywords: Thyroid, hypothyroidism, homeopathy, materia medica
