Division of General Internal Medicine

Alternative Medicine Resources

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Alternative Medicine

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Main menu choices have pop-up menus which list the extensive resources found on this site. For example, the NCCAM Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Citation Index (CCI) consists of approximately 180,000 bibliographic citations dated from 1963 through 1999.

Clinical Trials Database
The U.S. National Institutes of Health, through its National Library of Medicine, has developed ClinicalTrials.gov to provide patients, family members and members of the public current information about clinical research studies. Eventually the database will be a database containing clinical trials both privately and publicly funded that are being conducted nationwide. It links to the biomedical literature through PubMed.

FACT (Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies)
An evidence-based approach from the Department of Complementary Medicine, University of Exeter, editor-in-chief E. Ernst. Describes the FACT Quarterly Journal.

Website on Ineffective Complementary Medicine Practices
(This is www.quackwatch.com but don't let the name mislead you).

Resources from the University of Pittsburgh

• The Alternative Medicine Homepage

• University of Pittsburgh Alternative Medicine Home Page
  A list of various research articles concerning alternative medicine complied by the staff of the Falk Library of Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.

• Other Alternative Medicine Resources
  Large List of Internet Resources.

Health World Online - Alternative and Complimentary Medicine Center
Website aimed at the consumer which describes various unconventional therapies.

Emory University Health Sciences Center Library
Another list of websites concerning alternative medicine.

McMaster University Health Sciences Library - Alternative Medicine Resources Page
Long and useful annotated list of links to general and specific resources on Alternative Medicine maintained by Tom Flemming.

Cochrance Database of Systematic Reviews
An international network of reviews of randomized controlled clinical trials.

The University of Texas Center for Alternative Medicine Research
The center is dedicated to investigating the effectiveness of alternative and complimentary therapies used for cancer prevention and control.

UC Davis - Center for Complimentary & Alternative Research in Asthma
Provides information on alternate thearpies for the treatment of asthma and allergies focusing on acupuncture and herbal therapies.

Resources from the Columbia University Medical Center

• Rosenthal Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

• Columbia University Medical Center Fact Sheets
  The center is dedicated to investigating the effectiveness of alternative and complimentary therapies used for cancer prevention and control.

• Women's Health Information Resources
  A categorized and annotated listing of women's health resources on the WWW. Includes academic centers, government sites, electronic journals, and other research resources. Sites have been selected either for their uniqueness as an information resource or because they provide links to many more resources. Promotional and commercial sites have been excluded unless they provide significant neutral information resources.

Frequently Asked Questions On Complementary Medicine
HealthNet has captured the questions your patients are asking! List of frequently asked questions.

Alternative Health News Online
Welcome to what the authors hope are the most helpful alternative, complementary and preventive health-news pages on the Internet. Their goal is to provide to bring you a number of techniques and approaches that appear to be worth your time to investigate and to discuss with your physician or health-care provider.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine National Certification Commission
Its mission is to promote nationally recognized standards of competency and safety in acupuncture, Chinese herbology and Oriental bodywork therapy for the purpose of protecting the public.

Acupuncture/NIH Consensus Statement
Very good site with summary statement on the research on acupuncture.

Cancer Wellness
Your guide to integrated cancer care from the Cornerstone/Bardmoor Cancer Centers.

Dr. Andrew Weil's Site

Prayer

A Test of the Healing Power Of Prayer
>From the October 12th, 1998 issue of Time Magazine.

Herbs and Herbal Medicine

Columbia University Medical Center Botanical Medicine Information Resources
A categorized listing of most of the main Botanical Medicine sites on the WWW. These sites are exceptionally informative and often beautifully illustrated. It is important to scroll down the page as the list is quite lengthy.

Herb Research Foundation
The Herb Research Foundation (HRF) is a nonprofit research and educational organization focusing on herbs and medicinal plants. Their resources include:

• Over 150,000 scientific articles in our library.
• Up to date information on thousands of herbs.
• Thorough files on traditional use of herbs, plus historical information.
• An international network of scientists, educators, lawyers and consultants, plus business leaders in the fields of natural product cultivation and production, importing, manufacturing, distributing, marketing and retailing.

The Herbal Materia Medica link provides information about uses, chemical composition, and research article references of various herbs. There is also other information about herbal remedies at this site.

American Herbalist Guild
The American Herbalists Guild was founded in 1989 as a non-profit, educational organization to represent the goals and voices of herbalists. It is the only peer-review organization for professional herbalists specializing in the medicinal use of plants.

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS)

USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Database
Several useful resources (plant, chemical and activity databases) and a mini-course in medical botany by James A. Duke, Ethnobotanist.

FDA Special Nutritionals Adverse Event Monitoring System

FDA Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition
Current Regulations Regarding Dietary Supplements and Herbs.

FDA MedWatch
The FDA Medical Products Reporting Program for Monitoring Herbal and Other Adverse Reactions.

American Botanical Council
The group that translated the German Commission E monographs.

General Complimentary Medicine References

Herb Gardens, Medicinal
University of Washington Medicinal Herb Garden.

Please send any comments or additional sites that you have found worthwhile to Bonnie Tesch, MD at btesch@mcw.edu. We are thankful for input and comments but are unable to respond to each submission.