What is it
The amber teething necklace is claimed
to help infants with the pain of teething. Now the first thing I
noticed about this, is that you're putting a string of choking
hazards around your child's neck. To me, this doesn't seem like a
safe alternative. As a parent I can sympathize with wanting to
relieve the pain in your children, or even to have a few moments of
quiet. Like most alternative medicine, I was not able to find a lot
of science, or trials testing the efficacy of this, well actually
none at all. As usual I found a lot of anecdotal evidence and post
hoc fallacies. That being said, that alone does not mean it's
entirely bunk.
WARNING: THIS PRODUCT POSES A CHOKING RISK. THIS ALSO POSES A STRANGULATION RISK WHEN WORN AROUND THE NECK
Let's explore how this is said to
work. The best explanation I can find is that the amber releases
succinic acid and that is absorbed into the skin. There are a few
other more wild explanations like it's bio-interactive, or that it
aligns chakras, or that it has homeopathic qualities. So lets ignore
the explanations that we know aren't possible and look at the one
plausible explanation. There are three assumptions being made in the
claims for this product. All of these assumptions need to be true for
this product to work the way it is described.
- Amber releases succinic acid
- Succinic acid is an effective pain reliever
- Succinic acid can be absorbed through the skin
Does it work
Lets look at assumption 1. Amber does
contain succinic acid, however getting it out of the amber requires a
lot of processing. Amber is fossilized tree resin, that has been
compressed, heated and cooled over hundreds of thousands to millions
of years. The idea that it can release anything on contact with skin,
after it has been pushed and polished for so long does not seem
logical to me. The process of getting succinic acid out of the amber
involves crushing it into powder and then distilling it. Looking at
all the information available, while amber does contain succinic acid,
I don't believe it's going to give it up just from skin contact.
On to assumption 2. Succinic acid is
used as an additive in the food on industry to control the acidity of
products. There are reports that it has been used in the past (before
modern testing) as a topical pain reliever. There is no evidence
today that I could find that shows it is an effective pain reliever.
Now assumption 3. Succinic acid, once
extracted from the amber, is a solid salt like substance. While it
could be possible to absorb it through the skin, this substance is
known as a skin irritant. It is not considered a dangerous substance.
When we look at it being a skin irritant, it would seem likely that
if assumption 1 was correct we would see a skin irritation where the
beads were worn.
Conclusion
After looking at all the evidence and
claims for this product, I would highly recommend not using it. This
product poses a serious choking and strangulation hazard to infants.
There is also no evidence to support that this relieves the pain in
any way. As there has been no scientific trials conducted on this,
most likely due to the high risk and no plausible method of it
working, I can not say 100% that this will not work. All logical and
reasonable examination of this points to this as being ineffective.
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