Experts have assessed the alleged effects of treatments offered by the Norwegian spa centers. They are critical to the claims made by the centers.
Newspaper VG asked several Norwegian spa to submit lists of ingredients and documentation on the effectiveness of various treatments. This was then examined by experts.
– There are lots of exaggerated descriptions and claims and things that obviously have nothing to do with science, technical director in NOMA, Steinar Madsen, says. He believes that it is practically impossible to get real, lasting changes in the body and health by the means of a spa treatment.
Ola Lillenes is the information officer at the National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the University of Tromso. He is concerned that people with real health problems may believe that spa treatments can help them to recover.
– If you have a health problem which your doctor have been unable to give you the cure or solution for, there is a certain possibility that you will pursue solutions to that problem elsewhere. As a pain patient you will probably be extra wary of signal phrases as “palliative” and antiinflammatory, he said.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
