Pig Health Myth Debunked: Homeopathy Fails to Prevent MMA

Pig Health Myth Debunked: Homeopathy Fails to Prevent MMA

Mastitis-metritis-agalactia (MMA) syndrome is a disease in sows that occurs in the first days after birth and leads to losses in piglets, primarily due to nutritional deficiency. To prevent this disease, a scientific study published in May 2024 examined the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies. Two homeopathic remedies were administered preventively to sows and their effects were compared with a control group that received a placebo solution.

The study was randomized and blinded, meaning that sows were randomly assigned to groups and neither the researchers nor the farmers knew which treatment each sow received. A total of 60 sows were examined, one group receiving the homeopathic remedies and the other a placebo.

The results showed that treatment with the homeopathic remedies had no significant effect on preventing MMA syndrome. The health of the sows, as measured by clinical signs such as vaginal discharge, elevated rectal temperature, lack of milk and behavioral changes, also did not show significant improvements with treatment. Interestingly, however, a statistically significant effect was found in the average weight gain of the piglets in the treatment group.

The conclusion of the study is that the preventive use of the studied homeopathic remedies did not show any improvement in the prevention of MMA syndrome nor in the health parameters or behavioral characteristics of the sows in this specific herd.

Important basic terms explained:

• Mastitis: Eine Entzündung der Milchdrüse, die oft durch Infektionen verursacht wird.
• Metritis: Eine Entzündung der Gebärmutter, die in der Regel nach der Geburt auftritt.
• Agalactia: Ein Mangel oder das Fehlen von Milchproduktion nach der Geburt.
• Homöopathie: Eine alternative Medizin, die auf der Idee basiert, dass ein Stoff, der bei gesunden Personen bestimmte Symptome hervorruft, in sehr kleinen Dosen diese Symptome bei kranken Personen heilen kann.
• Randomisierte Studie: Eine Studie, bei der Teilnehmer zufällig einer von zwei oder mehr Behandlungsgruppen zugewiesen werden, um den Effekt der Behandlung zu messen.
• Verblindete Studie: Eine Studie, bei der die Teilnehmer (und oft auch die Forscher) nicht wissen, welche Behandlung (ob Wirkstoff oder Placebo) sie erhalten, um subjektive Verzerrungen zu vermeiden.
• Placebo: Eine inaktive Substanz oder Behandlung, die psychologisch einem Medikament ähnelt, aber keinen pharmakologischen Effekt hat.

No significant effect of homeopathic remedies on MMA syndrome in sows

The study examined evaluated the effectiveness of prophylactically administered homeopathic remedies for the prevention of mastitis-metritis-agalactia (MMA) syndrome in pigs. MMA syndrome occurs in the first days after birth and can lead to piglet losses mainly due to malnutrition. The research aimed to investigate an alternative preventive treatment method to the traditional use of antibiotics or other pharmaceutical products.

methodology

The randomized and blinded study examined 60 sows, which were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (CL/LL) received prophylactic administration of the complex homeopathic remedies and , while the placebo group received a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution according to the same injection schedule. The clinical signs of MMA, behavioral changes and production parameters were recorded from the day of farrowing to the fifth day after birth.

Results

The treatment group showed no significant effect on the occurrence of MMA in the sows (CL/LL: 56.67% MMA-positive sows; NaCl: 53.53% MMA-positive sows). There were also no significant effects on health parameters (vaginal discharge, increased rectal temperature, lack of milk) or behavioral parameters (impaired eating behavior and general condition). Statistically significant effects were found in the treatment group for the production parameter of average weight gain.

Conclusions

Prophylaxis with homeopathic remedies showed neither an improvement in MMA prevention nor an improvement in health parameters or behavioral characteristics in the present herd of sows. This suggests that the use of these specific homeopathic remedies is not an effective preventive measure against MMA syndrome under the conditions of this study.

The full results and methodology details of the study can be found at the following link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37652040.