What is often meant my “alternative medicine”? Does it work? Supporters of alternative medicine often claim that it has benefits over “conventional” medicine—that it avoids overprescribing of drugs, is more “natural”, avoids conflicts of interest that exist in the pharmaceutical industry, is safer, and more holistic. Are these claims true? Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceLiteracyChannel/ Twitter page: https://twitter.com/SciLiteracyChan Error on screen at 4:08: I said "evidence of safety", but the text on screen says "evidence of efficacy -- the text should also say "evidence of safety". Sources: 2:28: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17095-herbal-supplements-helpful-or-harmful 2:48: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr095.pdf 4:06: https://www.medpagetoday.com/columns/at-large/31494 4:26: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/life-after-a-heart-attack/lifestyle-changes-for-heart-attack-prevention 5:36: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2012.02945.x 5:49: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/110/1/121/4064136 6:00: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14670313