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Take 2 Soy & Call Me in the A.M.; Study Finds Feverish Market for Herbal Remedies

Posted on: Thursday, 13 January 2005, 21:00 CST

Move over Prozac, Lipitor and antibiotics.

Such herbal remedies as St. John's Wort, garlic oil capsules and cherry bark syrup are replacing drugs at a skyrocketing rate, but researchers say they aren't certain the supplements are safe or effective.

More than one in three adult Americans have used at least one form of complementary or alternative medicine, according to a study done by Harvard Medical School researchers.

The biggest change the study found was a 50 percent jump in the use of herbal supplements.

"They are widely used," said Hilary Tindle, the lead author of the study, to be published this week in the Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine journal.

"But what we don't have yet and need more of is rigorous scientific studies to determine if these therapies are effective, if they're safe and if they're cost-effective."

Researchers compared two national surveys done in 1997 and 2002. The study is the largest recent comparison of complementary and alternative medicine.

It also found that the practice of yoga jumped 40 percent.

Yoga reduces stress, releases tension and is a "wonderful workout," said Baron Baptiste, founder of the Baptiste Power Yoga Institutes in Boston and Cambridge.

Researchers found alternative therapy use is highest among white women, ages 40 to 64, who make more than $65,000 annually.

"There has been a huge shift, I think primarily because there are so many bad side effects from different drugs," said Beverly Long, owner of Nature's Medicine Chest, a mail-order company in Braintree.

Many menopausal women are looking for natural alternatives to hormonal replacement drugs, Long said. And with flu season here, some people are opting for such "natural antibiotics" as Golden Seal.

More people are turning to herbal remedies because they've been used for thousands of years and have a safe history, said Elizabeth Stagl, a licensed nutritionist and co-owner of Cambridge Naturals.

"They are natural substances which are not foreign to the body," Stagl said.

Carla Bouwmeester, an attending pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital, works with chemotherapy patients, many of whom have tried herbal supplements.

"Some people claim they have wonderful benefits and others find no benefits," said Bouwmeester, who noted herbal supplements aren't regulated by the Federal Drug Administration.

"People think that because they are natural, they are safe, but that's not necessarily true," Bouwmeester. She said said patients should check with a doctor or pharmacist before taking the supplements.

Source: Boston Herald

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