Word: herbals
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This blossoming market for all things herbal has attracted growing interest from everyone from Ann Landers (who recommends herbs as an alternative to Viagra) and Larry King (whose radio ads credit ginseng for his youthful, uh, glow) to professors of medicine and Wall Street investors. Just last week the Journal of the American Medical Association (J.A.M.A.) released an issue devoted entirely to studies of herbs and so-called alternative remedies (see accompanying story). Among the eye-opening findings: Americans today make more visits to nontraditional physicians, including naturopaths who claim expertise in herbs and other natural therapies, than to their...
Perhaps a third of Americans have tried an herbal remedy, and that number is expected to grow sharply now that giant pharmaceutical companies with huge ad budgets and vast distribution channels are charging into the field. Trusted brands like Bayer's One-A-Day and well-known companies such as Warner-Lambert (Sudafed, Benadryl and Listerine) and the Whitehall-Robins Healthcare unit of American Home Products (Centrum, Advil, Robitussin) all launched brightly packaged lines of herbal remedies this fall. SmithKline Beecham (Tagamet HB, Contac, NicoDerm CQ) test marketed herbs in four U.S. cities last summer. The entry of these brands...
...That herbal preparations seem--and are marketed as--"natural," as distinct from synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, adds to their appeal. "A lot of people feel comforted by taking something they regard as a natural substance," says Dr. Sidney Bogardus, who directs Yale's Geriatric Assessment Clinic. "Of course, the substances in an herb are chemicals just as they are in medicine made by pharmaceutical companies. But it seems more gentle and safe, and people are reassured by that...
...woman's distress points up the danger of taking herbs without considering the side effects or gauging other risks. Yet many physicians have received little training in nutrition or herbal medicine. In Los Angeles, neuropsychiatrist Dr. Ronald Lawrence runs the Council on Natural Nutrition and teaches at UCLA, where he is deluged by questions from doctors seeking information about herbs. "I can't keep up with the phone calls," he says...
...medical profession is gradually and sometimes grudgingly learning the benefits and pitfalls of nutritional supplements. More than 50% of U.S. medical schools now offer courses in unconventional medicine such as homeopathy (a system that uses highly diluted remedies) and acupuncture. Says Dr. Woodson Merrell, who has taught nutrition and herbal medicine to practicing physicians at Columbia University: "The point is that this is not alternative but complementary medicine...