sugar pill


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

sugar pill

Medspeak
A colloquial term most commonly used by mainstream health professionals for a placebo (which often contains lactose), regardless of whether or not it contains sugar.  

Popular health
A lay term for any oral agent used to control diabetes.
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
They need to compare drug products against other drugs that treat the same indication rather than comparing a drug against a sugar pill.
The FDA exposed: an interview with Dr. David Graham, the Vioxx[R] whistleblower: reprinted with permission
Actually, that useless sugar pill wasn't so useless; it demonstrated, and we are enthusiastic believers in, the power of the mind and spirit to transform lives and improve health.
The science of placebo effect
If something makes me feel better I don't mind if it's a sugar pill or medicine as long as it works and doesn't harm me.
The power of PLACEBO; Why your doc may have given you 'pretend'' medicine to trick you back to good health..
Homeopathic medicines are sugar pills on which water has been dropped.
The medicine that contains nothing at all
60 mg of Cymbalta once daily, 120 mg once daily or sugar pill for nine weeks.
LILLY (ELI) & COMPANY - LLY - Data Suggests Cymbalta(R) GAD APA
The response mechanism is not well understood, but the patient's belief that the sugar pill or sham surgery is going to help him somehow triggers an inborn healing response.
Placebos: accept no substitutes: work better, and less dangerous than pharmaceuticals
The sunny opener Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town and jagged sugar pill Pulled Up still hit like shiny bolts from the blue.
BUY IT: HEAD TURNERS; TALKING HEADS
But isoflavones from red clover failed to cut the frequency of hot flashes any more than a sugar pill in a study of 246 menopausal women who were experiencing at least 35 hot flashes a week.
News flash
Patients randomly received either the fish oil capsules or a sugar pill in addition to the anti-depressant medication they were taking.
Omega 3 fatty acids. (Raw Material Research)
About 43 per cent of women who took the placebo, or sugar pill, also said they were helped.
Viagra fails to arouse interest in women
Around 3300 showing the first signs of narrowing of the arteries will be given either aspirin or a dummy sugar pill once a day for five years.
Scots trials to see if aspirin can save lives
And since a woman's sex drive has more to do with the brain than the genitalia, use of Viagra probably works no better than a sugar pill.
Dear Valentine: What Happened to My Sex Drive? Miami Ob/Gyn, Dr. Randy Fink, Says It's All about the Mind!

Medical browser ?
Full browser ?