Michael Flatley has credited it with curing him of a mystery virus and DJ Carey says it relieved him of stress. But leading medical experts have dismissed an "energy therapy treatment" practised by Michael O'Doherty in Co Clare as "biologically implausible".
O'Doherty claims to be able to manipulate energy fields around the body and has taught the technique to dozens of others who have set up similar clinics around the country.
Practitioners of plexus bio-energy claim they have "cured" thousands of people from illnesses as diverse as eczema and cancer since the treatment was introduced to Ireland by O'Doherty in 1988.
The therapy has received widespread media coverage in recent months since Flatley praised it for reviving his dancing career following a debilitating illness. Much of the coverage has been uncritical.
Sarah Newman, a judge on Dragons' Den and the girlfriend of DJ Carey, has also endorsed the therapy arguing it could be used to combat stress caused by the recession and re-energise people. She has signed up to promote a book and DVD based on the therapy at seminars around the country.
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But Professor Edzard Ernst, the UK's first professor of complementary medicine, said it was "worrying" that O'Doherty had yet to produce clinical trial data after more than 20 years treating patients.
"In the absence of such data, I would advise scepticism," he said. "All [energy healing treatments] have one thing in common - a lack of peer-reviewed data. I suspect they don't do clinical trials because they fear what the results might be."
O'Doherty, who charges 260 for his standard four-day therapy programme, said only those who had been to his clinic could judge his treatment and pointed to testimonials by clients on his website.
"The only endorsement I need is from the hundreds of people contacting me for an appointment every week," he said. "I am too busy helping people to worry about trials."
Ernst, author of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine, said testimonials are "not worth the paper they are written on". "It would be easy to set up a trial. If it sounds bonkers, it probably is bonkers," he said.
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O'Doherty claims cancerous tumours have disappeared from a number of his patients. He dismissed criticism of his methods from the "medical establishment". "The medical and pharmaceutical industry profit from sickness, not good health," he said.
Colin Bradley, Professor of General Practice at University College Cork, said he was concerned by the focus on children and references to cancer sufferers on O'Doherty's website. He said: "Someone in a vulnerable state could seek treatment first from an alternative therapist instead of benefiting from early medical intervention."
O'Doherty said he never recommends patients refrain from seeking conventional medical treatment but said medicine is losing the fight against disease.
Newman said she slept better and felt calmer after being treated by O'Doherty. "The therapy has a scientific basis and I've met dozens of people who he has cured," she said.
Dr James Reilly, Fine Gael spokesman on health, said the therapy sounded 'too good to be true' and called for complementary medicine to be regulated.