Whether it is the economy or a desire to live a more natural lifestyle, more consumers are spending their money on alternative and complementary medicines, which worries some medical experts, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
They refer to the July study from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine that found 40 percent of adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine to treat a variety of conditions, spending about $33.9 billion on these practices in 2007, accounting for about 11.2 percent of the public's total out-of-pocket health expenditures. Self-care, at $22 billion, accounted for the majority of spending, mostly on nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products. The most popular supplements were fish oil, glucosamine, echinacea and flaxseed.
Some medical experts are concerned with this new trend because many alternative therapies are unproven and untested, according to the article. They note echinacea, ginko biloba and shark cartilage were shown to be ineffective in recent studies. They say the only proven alternative medicines to date have been ginger for chemotherapy-induced nausea and limited uses for acupuncture, yoga, massage and relaxation techniques.
This leads some medical experts to think consumers are wasting their time and money on something that will not provide health benefits and may even bring health problems. They note FDA does not approve herbs and supplements prior to release on the market and FDA has identified concerns with some dietary supplements that are mislabeled.
However, alternative medicine advocates say while the practices may not all be proven, they are not likely to cause harm. The quote Dr. Mimi Guarneri, medical director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, CA as saying it’s unreasonable to study alternative therapies as extensively as mainstream medicines, such as surgery, because the risks are minimal.