Consumer health basics (15)
- Palliative care: Easing the course of serious illness
- Health news: Going beyond the headlines
- Organ donation: Don't let these 10 myths confuse you
- see all in Consumer health basics
Alternative medicine (10)
- Complementary and alternative medicine: What is it?
- Alternative medicine: Evaluate claims of treatment success
- Biofeedback
- see all in Alternative medicine
Medications (5)
- Antibiotics: Misuse puts you and others at risk
- Medication errors: Cut your risk with these tips
- Buying prescription drugs online: The do's and don'ts
- see all in Medications
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Alternative medicine: Evaluate claims of treatment success
Educating yourself about alternative medicine helps you determine whether a treatment is worth exploring. These tips will help you assess the claims.
By Mayo Clinic staffAlternative medicine practices are those not typically used in conventional medicine. When alternative practices are used with conventional therapies, it's called complementary medicine. Together, these treatments are referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Complementary and alternative medicine treatments, such as herbal remedies and acupuncture, have become more popular as people seek greater control of their own health. But while they do give you more options, these treatments haven't always proved safe or effective.
When considering an alternative medicine treatment, be a savvy consumer. Be open-minded yet skeptical. Learn about the potential benefits and risks. Gather information from a variety of sources and evaluate the information carefully. Assess the credentials of alternative medicine practitioners. And be sure to talk with your conventional doctor before trying any treatment — especially if you take medications or have chronic health problems.
Avoid Internet misinformation: Check the three D's
Although the Internet offers an ideal way to discover the latest in alternative medicine treatments, it is also one of the greatest sources of misinformation. To weed out the good information from the bad, use the three D's:
- Dates. Check the creation or update date for each article. If you don't see a date, don't assume the article is recent. Older material may be outdated and not include recent findings, such as newly discovered side effects or advances in the field.
- Documentation. Check sources. Are qualified health professionals creating and reviewing the information? Is advertising clearly identified? Look for the logo from the Health on the Net (HON) Foundation, which means that the site follows HON's principles for reliability and credibility of information.
- Double-check. Visit several health sites and compare the information they offer. If you can't find supporting evidence to back up the claims of a CAM product, be skeptical. And before you follow any advice you read on the Internet, check with your conventional doctor for guidance.
Look for solid scientific studies
When researching CAM treatments, do like doctors do. Look for the high-quality clinical studies. These large, controlled and randomized trials are published in peer-reviewed journals — journals that only publish articles reviewed by independent experts. The results of these studies are more likely to be solid. Be cautious about studies in animals, laboratory studies or studies that include only a small number of people. Their results may or may not hold up when tested in larger clinical trials. Finally, remember that sound health advice is generally based on a body of research, not a single study.
Although scientific studies are the best way to evaluate whether a treatment is safe and effective, it isn't always possible to find good studies about alternative medicine practices. Keep in mind that a lack of evidence doesn't necessarily mean a treatment doesn't work — but it does mean it hasn't been proved. As always, don't hesitate to talk with your regular doctor if you have questions.
Evaluate dietary supplements: 'Natural' doesn't always mean safe
Herbal remedies, vitamins and minerals, considered dietary supplements by the Food and Drug Administration, don't undergo the same rigorous testing and regulation as over-the-counter and prescription medications. For example, manufacturers aren't required to get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements. Yet, some of these substances — including products labeled as "natural" — have drug-like effects that can be dangerous. Even some vitamins and minerals can cause problems when taken in excessive amounts. So it's important to do your homework and investigate potential benefits and side effects of dietary supplements. Play it safe with these tips:
- Talk to your doctor before taking a dietary supplement. This is especially important if you are pregnant, nursing a baby, or if you have a chronic medical condition such as diabetes or heart disease.
- Avoid drug interactions. Prescription and over-the-counter medications can interact with certain dietary supplements. For example, the anticoagulant Coumadin (a prescription medication), ginkgo (an herbal supplement) and Vitamin E can all thin the blood. Taking these products together can increase your risk of internal bleeding or other problems.
- Before surgery, tell your doctor about supplements you take. Some supplements can cause problems during surgery, such as changes in heart rate or blood pressure or increased bleeding. You may need to stop taking these supplements at least two to three weeks before your procedure.
(1 of 2)
- Tips for the savvy supplement user: Making information decisions and evaluating information. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-savvy.html. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
- Safe use of the Internet. Health on the Net Foundation. http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Patients/visitor_safeUse2.html. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
- 'Miracle' health claims: Add a dose of skepticism Federal Trade Commission in cooperation with the Food & Drug Administration. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/health/hea07.shtm. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
- Therapy (randomized trials). In: Guyatt G, et al, eds. Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2008. http://www.jamaevidence.com/content/3348434. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Dietary supplements. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/default.htm. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- CAM basics. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/overview.htm. Accessed Sept. 22, 2009.
- Selecting a CAM practitioner. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/decisions/practitioner.htm. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
