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Americans Turning to Alternative Medicine
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 The survey also uncovered continued use of the herbal remedy kava kava, a potentially troubling finding.
"It is sometimes associated with liver disease, and several countries have removed it from the shelf and the FDA has issued an advisory warning," Nahin said. "The public makes the assumption that because something is natural that it is safe. A number of studies have shown that natural products can be unsafe when used inappropriately or when used with pharmaceutical drugs."
Although this particular study did not look at the effectiveness of alternative therapies, officials at NCCAM and the CDC are hoping the survey results will help guide future research efforts.
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"This is a very important public health issue," Strauss said. "We have conventional treatments that are proven to be safe and effective and people are making individual decisions to neglect those therapies at some point. And there are concerns that we have about those choices. Our goal is to provide better evidence as to whether products are safe and effective as claimed."
More information
Visit the NCCAM for the survey results (nccam.nih.gov ) and for general health information (nccam.nih.gov ) on alternative therapies. Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3
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Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 5/27/2004
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SOURCES: May 27, 2004, teleconference with Stephen E. Straus, M.D., director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), and Richard L. Nahin, Ph.D., senior advisor for scientific coordination and outreach, NCCAM; Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults
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