Whoever heals is right.
What is really scientific about Anthroposophy.
An honest journey from my own final medical exam, through the Swiss mountains, to several thousand clinical studies that no one ever showed me during my studies.
I studied anthroposophic medicine for two years. In one of the most renowned clinics of this approach, in Switzerland. With my own hands I gathered plants from the slopes, placed them in warm water, in ice-cold water, for seven days, and out of this came something that stayed stable for years. And to this day I still cannot explain to you molecularly what happened in those seven days. But I can show you that it happened.
There is one sentence that ran through my whole training: Whoever heals is right.
Not the one with the most beautiful theory. Not the one who quotes the most studies. Not the one who shouts "evidence-based" the loudest. But the one whose patients get better.
And I have learned that there are many more paths to that than I was taught in medical school. This article is my attempt to show you why I consider anthroposophy a medicine to be taken seriously. With studies. With numbers. And with honesty where the research is still at the beginning.
What is anthroposophic medicine, actually?
Because the word Anthroposophy trips many people up, a few clear sentences before this becomes personal.
Anthroposophic medicine grew out of the collaboration between the philosopher Rudolf Steiner and the Dutch physician Ita Wegman in the 1920s. It explicitly does not see itself as an alternative to conventional medicine, but as its extension. Every anthroposophic doctor in Germany is first a fully licensed conventional physician. They then work additionally with another lens.
The basic idea is actually very modern: the human being is not only biochemistry. The human being is body, and at the same time a being with life forces, with a soul-feeling level, and with an individual I-dimension. What today's research in psychoneuroimmunology shows, namely that thoughts and feelings measurably alter cortisol, the immune system, gene expression, Steiner already took seriously a hundred years ago: that the spiritual works in matter, and that matter in turn carries the spirit.
He called his research method spiritual science. So a science that does not only look at matter, but also at how consciousness, life processes and substance interlock. For many people that is unfamiliar at first. But it is neither religion nor sect. It is the attempt to be a blend of philosophy and natural science that takes the human being seriously in their full breadth.
In practice this looks very concrete: herbal medicine, minerals, rhythmically prepared remedies, eurythmy therapy as movement therapy, rhythmical massage, art and music therapy. Nothing remote. Things you can touch, measure and use in clinics. In Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and in more and more countries, it is today part of the recognized field of integrative medicine.
With this lens in mind, everything I am about to tell you makes more sense. And I prefer to tell it to you the way I myself came to this medicine. Because for a long time I was skeptical. Really skeptical. I do not speak as a believer. I speak as a doctor who has refuted himself.
The night when a sleep remedy shook my medicine
I was just before my final exam. Studying late, plus sport, discipline, structure. And still, in the evening, I could no longer come down. Trouble falling asleep. No more energy for meditation, no more energy for one more ritual. I just wanted to sleep.
My best friend pressed a small bottle into my hand. Calmedoron. Plant drops by Weleda. Anthroposophic. Inwardly I rolled my eyes. I took it anyway, because he is my best friend.
It worked. Quickly. Deeply. Not foggy in the morning. Simply having come to rest.
Oat. Hops. Passion flower. Valerian. Classical calming plants in mother tincture. So far, so understandable.
And then, all the way at the end: Coffea tosta, Dilution D60. Roasted coffee. In a sleep remedy.
D60 means: diluted sixty times in a one-to-ten ratio. A dilution of one to ten to the power of sixty. Mathematically, there is not a single molecule of coffee left in this bottle. The volume in which one molecule could still be expected would be larger than the entire observable universe.
And this is intentional.
I stood in my flatshare room and had two options. The first: I explain the effect as placebo and feel superior. The second: I admit to myself that I did not understand something.
I chose the second. And right after the final exam I signed up for a two-year physician training at Klinik Arlesheim in Switzerland. One of the best-known addresses of anthroposophic medicine worldwide.
What I learned there continues to change, to this day, how I work in my practice with patients.
A week in the Swiss mountains and a process I still do not fully understand
The training in Arlesheim ran over two years. Weekend seminars, block weeks, hospital observation, pharmaceutical practice, pathology, diagnostics, therapy. A full curriculum framework alongside my normal job as a doctor. In the middle of this time stood a plant week in the Swiss Alps. Seven days outside, with colleagues, botanists and pharmacists. What I am about to tell you comes from this one week. It was a single segment, but it concentrated everything.
We collected plants, picked up stones, and each day made different remedies from them. Oils. Tinctures. Decoctions. With alcohol. Without alcohol. And then came what I had never seen before.
You take freshly pressed plant juice. You place it in warm water, in the dark for the entire day. In the evening it goes into ice-cold water, one hour before and one hour after sunset.
The next morning the same game in reverse: one hour before and one hour after sunrise in the ice-cold water. After that, back into the warmth, into the dark.
This goes on for seven days. At the end a little ash is added. And what comes out is a remedy that keeps without alcohol. For years.
I cannot tell you molecularly what happens in these seven days. But I can tell you that the remedy stays stable. And this is pharmaceutically verifiable.
This process is called the Rh process in anthroposophic pharmacy, short for rhythm. It is officially documented in European pharmacy, in the Anthroposophic Pharmaceutical Codex, and the methods are defined by Ph. Eur. 1.5.1 and 1.5.2. This is not private magic. This is regulated pharmaceutical craft.
Modern pharmacy asks: which molecule? In what concentration? At which receptor? That is a good question. But it does not exhaust all the questions.
Anthroposophic pharmacy adds: in which rhythm? Under which light? At which temperature? These questions are not esoteric. Every modern crystal growth, every semiconductor manufacture, every fermentation knows them. What is taken for granted in technology, we have denied to the plant.
We live under the influence of the sun without noticing. We live under rhythms that steer our cells, and that we call circadian. The body itself produces cortisol in the morning, melatonin in the evening. Our gut, our heart, our liver beat in a daily rhythm. That a remedy prepared according to this rhythm has different properties than one tipped together in two seconds in the lab is biologically plausible, even if we cannot yet describe it fully on the molecular level.
D60 and the question pharmacology will have to ask anew
Back to the coffee in D60. By calculation: not a single molecule left. And still, it is processed this way deliberately, because anthroposophic doctors have been observing for a hundred years that in this potency it has a calming effect. The wake-inducing substance in highest dilution sets a polarity to the calming plants in mother tincture. Not a sum, but a composition.
And here is the interesting part. The pharmacology we learn in medical school is based on the lock-and-key principle. Molecules dock, receptors are activated or blocked. This explains an incredible amount. But it does not explain everything.
In the past twenty years, several research groups have shown that highly diluted aqueous solutions have measurably different physical properties than the starting water. Elia and Napoli documented this in Italy with calorimetry, conductivity, pH and galvanic cells. Roy and Tiller researched water structures. Bellavite and Marzotto placed all of this in an explanatory frame using quantum electrodynamics and so-called coherent domains.
I am not claiming we already understand all of this. I am claiming the opposite: we have not yet understood it. But we also have not yet been able to show that there is nothing there. And that is a difference that matters.
Luc Montagnier, Nobel laureate for the discovery of the HIV virus, did controversial experiments in his later years on electromagnetic signals from highly diluted DNA solutions. His work has not yet been independently replicated. It is not proof. But it is an indication that the question is not arbitrary.
And this is also how I see D60: just because I cannot yet explain an effect molecularly does not make it nonsense. And if the explanation of the anthroposophists is not enough for you, find a better one. But do not throw out herbal medicine, minerals, art therapy, eurythmy therapy and rhythmical massage as a whole, because you do not like the explanation of one part.
Several thousand studies. And nobody talks about it.
I often hear the sentence: "Anthroposophic medicine? There are no studies on that." The sentence is not just a little wrong. It is far past reality.
Because anthroposophic medicine is to a large extent built on herbal medicine, we honestly have to start with the entire surface of phytotherapy. The European Medicines Agency has so far recognized over 160 herbal monographs. Cochrane lists several hundred systematic reviews on medicinal plants. For the plants alone that form the backbone of anthroposophic pharmacy (valerian, St John's wort, hawthorn, arnica, mistletoe, calendula, oat, goldenrod, passion flower, hops and many more), several thousand clinical studies exist worldwide. That is the basis on which the whole stands. It is huge.
And within this large surface there is a second circle: studies that specifically investigate anthroposophic therapy concepts, that is, not only the plant, but the overall treatment. Here the Health Technology Assessment Report of Switzerland, one of the methodologically clean standards for such evaluations, in its latest update systematically evaluated 265 clinical studies. Of these, 38 randomized controlled trials (in the following abbreviated as RCT: participants are assigned to therapy or control groups by chance, which is methodologically considered the gold standard), 36 prospective studies, 49 retrospective controlled studies and 142 observational studies. The result, in the report's own words: predominantly positive and well tolerated.
These are the numbers. They do not mean that every treatment is proven. They mean that the accusation of "no research" is simply untrue. And that the safety of these remedies now rests on a larger data base than the safety of many medications we prescribe daily.
What the herbal medicine behind anthroposophy shows
Anthroposophic medicine is to a large extent phytotherapy, that is, herbal medicine. Often as mother tincture, often potentized, sometimes both at once in the same remedy. If you take the individual plants seriously, you are not standing in the esoterics aisle. You are standing in the library.
I am showing you nine plants that regularly appear in anthroposophic remedies, including the plants that were in my Calmedoron back then. And I am showing you how much clinical research exists on each one.
What the largest review shows
Shinjyo and colleagues 2020: meta-analysis with 60 clinical studies and 6,894 subjects. Valerian can significantly improve subjective sleep quality and reduce anxiety symptoms.
Older meta-analysis: relative risk for better sleep 1.8 (95 percent CI 1.2 to 2.9). Side effects rare and mild.
Anxiety, sleep, stress
Systematic review with nine clinical studies. The majority report significant anxiety reduction, no serious side effects. Polysomnography RCT 2020: shorter time to fall asleep, longer sleep duration.
Passiflora modulates GABAergic pathways in the brain. Mechanistically plausible, clinically documented.
The underrated friend of valerian
Contains 8-prenylnaringenin, one of the strongest phytoestrogens described to date. RCT on vasomotor complaints in menopause: significant reduction of symptoms.
In combination with valerian, hops further improve sleep parameters. Cross-over study: significant reduction of anxiety, depression and stress.
Why the green plant calms
RCT with 132 adults aged 35 to 65. After four weeks of green-oat extract: significantly better cognitive performance, better working-memory tasks, and: lower electrodermal stress response. A biomarker for sympathetic nervous system activation.
Oat acts on the autonomic nervous system. Measurably. Reproducibly.
From the meadow to the urinary tract
In Germany approved by the European Medicines Agency under well-established use for inflammations of the urinary tract. Open studies show a treatment success of 90 to 100 percent after two to four weeks.
Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, antispasmodic. Side effects in larger series under 0.3 percent.
A Phase III RCT many conventional doctors don't know
Pommier and colleagues 2004, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 254 women after breast cancer surgery. Calendula cream versus trolamine on the radiation field.
Acute radiation dermatitis grade 2 or higher: 41 percent versus 63 percent (p < 0.001). Fewer interruptions of radiation. Less pain. Calendula significantly beat trolamine here.
A plant better documented than many antidepressants
Cochrane review by Linde and colleagues 2008: 29 RCTs with 5,489 patients with mild to moderate depression. St John's wort works better than placebo and is comparable to classical antidepressants, with significantly fewer side effects.
Since then, further RCTs have been added that confirm this line. For many guidelines in Europe, St John's wort is today a first-line treatment option for mild depression. And it is a meadow plant.
When a plant helps the heart
Cochrane review by Pittler and colleagues 2008: 14 RCTs with 855 patients with chronic heart failure. Hawthorn extract added to standard therapy significantly improved maximum exercise capacity, pressure-rate product, breathlessness and fatigue.
Large SPICE study 2008: 2,681 patients with heart failure NYHA II to III, observation time two years. No overall survival benefit, but significant reduction of sudden cardiac death in the subgroup with worse left-ventricular function. Side-effect profile: harmless.
The plant that stands in every mountain house
Recent systematic reviews bundle 29 to 42 clinical studies on arnica for bruises, hematomas, postoperative swelling and muscle pain. The results are mixed, I say that openly: some studies show clear effects (for example after plastic facial surgery or after knee arthroscopy), others no difference from the placebo group.
An RCT in knee operations in 2010 showed significantly reduced blood loss and swelling versus placebo. Another in hand surgery found no effect. The research situation is open. But the plant does not disappear just because it does not show its signal in every study.
That is nine plants. Representative of dozens of others. And behind each one stand hundreds of hours of human research that flow into anthroposophic medicine.
Mistletoe, Bryophyllum, eurythmy, and the study from Arlesheim
Mistletoe (Viscum album): Evidence level 1a in the German guideline
The official S3 guideline Complementary Medicine in Oncology by the German Cancer Society, the DGHO and the German Cancer Aid, last updated in 2025, explicitly recommends subcutaneous mistletoe therapy for improving quality of life in solid tumors. Evidence level 1a, that is, the highest level of evidence a guideline can assign.
Tröger and colleagues 2013, European Journal of Cancer, RCT pancreatic cancer, 220 patients: median overall survival 4.8 months versus 2.7 months (p < 0.0001) in favor of the mistletoe group. No relevant side effects.
What this means: in oncology, you almost always pay for added months of life with quality of life. Chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy come with long lists of side effects. A therapy that nearly doubles survival in pancreatic cancer and at the same time improves quality of life, without new severe side effects, is exceptional in this weighting. Exactly this is what makes mistletoe a serious option for many oncology teams today, not a placebo trick.
AWMF guideline 032-055OLk, 2021/2025. Tröger W et al. Viscum album extract therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2013;49(18):3788–97. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2013.06.043.
Less antibiotic use in children: OR 6.33
Hamre and colleagues 2014, prospective comparative cohort with 529 children, Europe and USA. Respiratory and ear infections.
Antibiotic prescription: 5.5 percent anthroposophic versus 25.6 percent conventional. Adjusted odds ratio for non-prescription: 6.33 (95 percent CI 3.17 to 12.64) in favor of anthroposophic treatment. With comparable symptom resolution.
What this means: the child's microbiome is altered with every antibiotic dose. The WHO calls antibiotic resistance one of the largest health crises of our time. A treatment path that, with the same children and the same infections, lowers antibiotic use to one fifth, without the children doing worse, is a rare finding at this magnitude.
Hamre HJ et al. Antibiotic Use in Children with Acute Respiratory or Ear Infections. Glob Adv Health Med. 2014. PubMed 25505919.
Bryophyllum in threatened preterm labor
Bryophyllum pinnatum is a plant of anthroposophic tradition, introduced into obstetrics at the Herdecke Hospital in 1970. Today it is also used outside anthroposophic settings in Switzerland in cases of preterm labor.
Matched-pair study, 67 pregnant women: extension of pregnancy comparable to beta-agonists (6.2 versus 5.4 days), but significantly fewer side effects (34 percent versus 55 percent). Mechanistically: the plant inhibits oxytocin signaling pathways in human myometrial cells.
What this means: pregnancy is the state in which we want side effects the least, because they affect not only the mother but also the child. A plant that works as well as the pharmaceutical standard in preterm labor, but with markedly fewer side effects for mother and child, is a real gain. Exactly for this reason it has long since established itself beyond the anthroposophic scene.
Plangger N et al. Intravenous tocolysis with Bryophyllum pinnatum is better tolerated than beta-agonist application. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2006. PubMed 16051414.
And then this study, which I cannot get out of my head
In Switzerland and in Germany there are clinics where community-acquired pneumonia is treated anthroposophically in selected patients, without antibiotics. In a retrospective case series from Heidenheim, 18 patients including risk class IV and one patient in risk class V were treated this way.
Result: body temperature, CRP (p = 0.03) and leukocytes significantly reduced. No significant differences in morbidity and mortality compared to the conventionally antibiotic-treated group. Hospital stay two to three days longer.
What this means: this is not a large randomized study. This is a small case series. But it is a signal that should not be ignored. If a whole pneumonia in selected patients can be brought to the same outcome even without antibiotics, that is an observation that has to be taken seriously. Especially in a time when antibiotic-resistant germs are becoming a global threat, every treatment path that does not depend on antibiotics becomes precious.
Gründemann C et al. Inpatient Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonias with Integrative Medicine. Forsch Komplementmed. 2013. PMC3674684.
Depression: when words are no longer enough
Hamre and colleagues, BMC Psychiatry 2006, 97 adult patients with chronic depression, four-year cohort in Germany. Therapy through art, eurythmy therapy, rhythmical massage and anthroposophic medication.
Depression score CES-D: from 34.77 down to 19.55 after twelve months. SF-36 mental component: from 26.11 to 39.15. Improvements held for over four years.
What this means: chronic depression is one of the heaviest illnesses of our time, and many people swing back and forth between SSRIs, psychotherapy and starting again. That a multi-layered therapy of art, movement, touch and plant medication nearly halves the depression scores in chronically ill patients, and that this effect remains stable across four years, is a very strong signal for a path that addresses several levels of the human being at once.
Hamre HJ et al. Anthroposophic therapy for chronic depression: a four-year prospective cohort study. BMC Psychiatry. 2006;6:57.
Eurythmy therapy: movement as medication
Eurythmy therapy is movement therapy according to anthroposophic principles, in which vowels, consonants and inner gestures are translated into conscious bodily movement. The YES trial 2021 compared it in a three-arm randomized study with yoga and standard physiotherapy in chronic back pain.
Physical limitation: comparably reduced in all three groups. But: SF-12 mental component significantly better in the eurythmy group.
What this means: physiotherapy is a good, established method. Yoga is today almost a national pastime. That a smaller, less known movement method from the anthroposophic spectrum shows an advantage over both in the psychological dimension suggests that the way we move means more than only strengthening and stretching. Movement can open up emotional space. This is measurable.
Rapp R et al. Yoga, Eurythmy Therapy and Standard Physiotherapy (YES-Trial) for Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain. J Pain. 2021.
Rhythmical massage in menstrual pain
Three-arm RCT 2019, women with primary dysmenorrhea, comparing rhythmical massage according to Ita Wegman and Hauschka versus heart-rate-variability biofeedback versus standard care. Treatment over three months.
Primary endpoint pain intensity: significant reduction in the massage group versus control after three months. In a laboratory study in 2015 with 118 healthy adults, a single rhythmical massage improved subjective well-being after the Trier Social Stress Test, even if the cortisol drop was not significant.
What this means: menstrual pain is very often treated with ibuprofen or hormonal contraception. Both have their effect, both have their side effects. That a touch therapy can significantly improve the same primary endpoint is more than a feel-good offer. It shows that the body responds with measurably less pain to a calm, rhythmic, attentive contact. And for a medicine that has almost forgotten touch, this is a valuable hint.
Gündling PW et al. Efficacy of rhythmical massage in comparison to heart rate variability biofeedback in patients with dysmenorrhea. Complement Ther Med. 2019. PubMed 30670280.
Rudolf Steiner: a human being, not a saint, not a devil
I will not skip the difficult question. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, left behind a body of work in his lectures and writings of about 89,000 pages. Among these are passages that today can be read as racist or discriminatory. This is not an invention of his opponents. This is a fact.
And because that is so, an independent Dutch commission under the chairmanship of the jurist Dr. Th. A. van Baarda systematically examined the entire body of work over two years on behalf of the Anthroposophical Society. The final report from 2000, which you can read online, is impressive in its clarity.
No racial doctrine. No intent to insult. But: 16 individual statements that a person today could no longer make publicly without coming into conflict with Dutch anti-discrimination law. That is less than 0.02 percent of his work. But they are there. And to deny them would be dishonest.
The commission also concluded that there is no racism in Waldorf schools or in anthroposophic education. This matches the assessment of the Dutch school inspectorate.
For me this means: Steiner was a human being. An enormously productive, visionary, provocative, sometimes erring human being. He is not the new Jesus. He is also not a prophet on whose every word I hang. He said things I do not subscribe to. And he thought things that to this day inspire medicine, agriculture and pedagogy worldwide.
To throw out his entire work because 16 of 89,000 pages are problematic would be scientifically and humanly dishonest. I would never treat a colleague that way. I do not treat Steiner that way either. And I do not expect that of you. I expect that you form your own opinion, after you have seen both sides.
What this can mean for your treatment
In my practice in Berlin I do not work purely anthroposophically. I work from a toolbox that contains Functional Medicine, Clinical Psychoneuroimmunology, Toxicology, Lifestyle Medicine, Genetics, and yes, also Anthroposophic Medicine. One lens alone makes nobody healthy. The combination often does.
If I suggest an anthroposophic remedy to you, it is for one of three reasons:
Because the study situation is good
Mistletoe in cancer, Bryophyllum in obstetrics, calendula after radiation, the Calmedoron plants for sleep-onset trouble. These are not my opinions. These are data.
Because the tolerability is extremely good
The EvaMed pharmacovigilance with over 44,000 patients shows that anthroposophic medicines are usually very well tolerated. Especially in children and pregnant women, where many conventional options come with side effects.
Because the classical tools have been used up
When sleep, nutrition, movement and all conventional options no longer suffice, anthroposophic remedies are for me a serious additional layer. Not as a replacement. As a complement.
What you may take with you
Three invitations to leave this article with
- Be your own compass. Whether conventional medicine, anthroposophy, naturopathy or any other direction: no ideology can replace how something feels and works in you yourself. Look calmly at what makes you calmer, more awake, clearer, more alive. Your body and your feeling are a very fine research instrument. You may trust them. No study in the world replaces how it feels in you.
- Try a plant once before reaching for the big medication. Valerian, hops, passion flower and oat alone have together several dozen RCTs behind them and a very friendly side-effect profile. If you sleep badly, it is a completely normal, well-researched step to try a plant blend. Not an experiment on the open heart.
- If you are in cancer treatment, calmly ask about mistletoe. The S3 guideline of the German Cancer Society explicitly recommends it for improving quality of life in solid tumors. You do not have to travel to Arlesheim to talk about it. It is a perfectly normal question to your oncologist.
What still moves me about anthroposophic medicine has little to do with ideology. It is the simple beauty of how it looks at the world. A single plant growing in a monastery garden can, through potentization, reach many thousands of people. One gram of dried mistletoe yields enough ampoules for whole practices. A single Bryophyllum leaf, processed correctly, ends up in dozens of obstetric wards. If you let this thought sink in, it warms the heart: a garden can supply a whole city, when we understand the plant correctly.
This is not only therapeutically interesting. It is also ecologically beautiful. A medicine that creates so much effect from so little raw material fits into a world in which we want to learn to handle resources more wisely. It is friendly to the earth. It is friendly to the people. And it is friendly to the doctor who prescribes it, because it rarely hurts anyone.
If you are now asking yourself whether this is something for you, the answer is very simple: look at it calmly. Try what feels coherent. Leave out what feels foreign. I do not have to convince you. The best medicine is the one in which you find yourself as a whole person again. And the path there goes through your own perception, not through other people's convictions. This is perhaps the most peaceful approach I know: to take yourself as compass, and at the same time to stay curious about what the world has to offer in clever ways.
If you would like to look at such a path together: below this article you will find the option to book an appointment. I look forward to the meeting.
Sources and context
Kienle GS et al. Anthroposophic Medicine: An Integrative Medical System Originating in Europe. Glob Adv Health Med. 2013;2(6):20–31. [HTA report update, 265 studies]
Hamre HJ et al. Use and Safety of Anthroposophic Medicinal Products: An Analysis of 44,662 Patients from the EvaMed Pharmacovigilance Network. Drugs Real World Outcomes. 2017. DOI: 10.1007/s40801-017-0118-5. [Pharmacovigilance, 44,662 patients]
Hamre HJ et al. Antibiotic Use in Children with Acute Respiratory or Ear Infections: Prospective Observational Comparison of Anthroposophic and Conventional Treatment. Glob Adv Health Med. 2014. PubMed 25505919. [Prospective cohort, n=529]
Gründemann C et al. Inpatient Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonias with Integrative Medicine. Forsch Komplementmed. 2013. PMC3674684. [Retrospective case series, n=18]
Tröger W et al. Viscum album [L.] extract therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer: A randomised clinical trial on overall survival. Eur J Cancer. 2013;49(18):3788–97. [RCT, n=220]
AWMF S3 Guideline Complementary Medicine in the Treatment of Oncology Patients. Registry number 032-055OL. 2021/2025. [Official guideline, mistletoe evidence level 1a]
Ostermann T et al. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Survival of Cancer Patients Treated with a Fermented Viscum album L. Extract (Iscador). Complement Med Res. 2020;27(4):260–271. [Meta-analysis, HR 0.59]
Hamre HJ et al. Anthroposophic therapy for chronic depression: a four-year prospective cohort study. BMC Psychiatry. 2006;6:57. [Cohort study depression, n=97]
Rapp R et al. Yoga, Eurythmy Therapy and Standard Physiotherapy (YES-Trial) for Patients With Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain: A Three-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial. J Pain. 2021. [RCT, n=274]
Gündling PW et al. Efficacy of rhythmical massage in comparison to heart rate variability biofeedback in patients with dysmenorrhea. Complement Ther Med. 2019. PubMed 30670280. [RCT]
Steinhorst J et al. A randomised, controlled, single-blinded study on the impact of a single rhythmical massage on well-being and salivary cortisol. Complement Ther Med. 2015. [RCT, n=118]
Shinjyo N, Waddell G, Green J. Valerian Root in Treating Sleep Problems and Associated Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Evid Based Integr Med. 2020. [Meta-analysis valerian, k=60, n=6,894]
Janda K et al. Passiflora incarnata in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3894. [Systematic review passion flower]
Erkkola R et al. The effect of Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) on early menopausal symptoms and hot flashes: A randomized placebo-controlled trial. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2016. [RCT hops menopause]
Kennedy DO et al. Acute and Chronic Effects of Green Oat (Avena sativa) Extract on Cognitive Function and Mood during a Laboratory Stressor in Healthy Adults. Nutrients. 2020. [RCT oat, n=132]
European Medicines Agency. Assessment report on Solidago virgaurea L., herba. [EMA well-established use]
Pommier P et al. Phase III Randomized Trial of Calendula Officinalis Compared With Trolamine for the Prevention of Acute Dermatitis During Irradiation for Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2004;22(8):1447–53. [Phase III RCT, n=254]
Linde K et al. St John's wort for major depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2008;(4):CD000448. [Cochrane review, k=29, n=5,489]
Pittler MH, Guo R, Ernst E. Hawthorn extract for treating chronic heart failure. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2008;(1):CD005312. [Cochrane review, k=14, n=855]
Holubarsch CJF et al. The efficacy and safety of Crataegus extract WS 1442 in patients with heart failure: the SPICE trial. Eur J Heart Fail. 2008;10(12):1255–63. [SPICE, n=2,681]
Smith AG et al. Arnica montana in post-surgical pain, swelling and bruising: A systematic review. Complement Ther Med. 2021. [Systematic review arnica]
Plangger N et al. Intravenous tocolysis with Bryophyllum pinnatum is better tolerated than beta-agonist application. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2006. [Matched-pair study]
Elia V, Napoli E, Germano R. The "Memory of Water": an almost deciphered enigma. Homeopathy. 2007;96(3):163–9. [Physicochemical basic research]
Bellavite P, Marzotto M. Explaining Homeopathy with Quantum Electrodynamics. Homeopathy. 2019. PubMed 30901775. [Theory work on high dilution]
Van Baarda TA et al. Anthroposofie en het vraagstuk van de rassen. Eindrapport der onderzoekscommissie. Anthroposophical Society Netherlands. 2000. [Van Baarda commission report]
Context: a part of these studies rests on cohort designs, smaller case series and meta-analyses of mixed quality. I mark this deliberately. The strength of anthroposophic medicine lies in the breadth of evidence across many domains. The weakness lies in the fact that some central studies (such as the Swiss pneumonia case series) are small and not randomized. Both belong to the truth. I make this distinction transparent so that you can decide for yourself how strongly to weight the statements.