Beware of illegally marketed treatments: Oman Diabetes Association

Muscat: Oman Diabetes Association has warned diabetic patients not to use herbs and alternative treatment without verifying the scientific evidence or laboratory results that confirm its benefits.

"From time to time, videos are shared on social media, whether in the form of short lectures, interviews with a specialist, or promotional advertisements related to herbs, natural remedies or alternative treatment," the Association said in a statement.

These visual materials show the properties of herbs or alternative treatment methods in a form similar to what we might call metaphorically “magic cure”, as it mentions its unparalleled benefits in treating a large number of diseases without mentioning any detailed scientific information that supports these claims.

With regard to what is mentioned in such visual materials about the possibility of treating diabetes in general and in particular patients who use insulin, the Oman Diabetes Association advises diabetic patients and their families to inquire about the existence of scientific evidence or laboratory results confirmed by official authorities or published research that supports the claims of the benefits of these substances in the treatment of diabetes and to discuss them with the attending physician before making a decision to use them, in order to avoid harm that may be inflicted with the patient.

The association also calls on the official authorities concerned with granting licenses for such activities the need to establish regulations that contain scientific basis and rules governing the promotion of such products and impose penalties for the party that publishes misleading information that is not based on scientific and experimental evidence.