"Bill of Health"-Alternative Medicine Options
Thursday, June 22, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: These days more and more people are looking outside the mainstream for help with some of their medical problems. That`s where complementary and alternative medicine comes in. As Jeff Yastine reports in tonight`s "bill of health" report, the field is booming, and now drawing the attention of Federal researchers.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Some people call it holistic medicine; others, alternative or complementary medicine and it covers everything from acupuncture to herbal supplements, hypnotherapy and more. Now, its results are still subject to debate and investigation, but that hasn`t stopped nearly half of all Americans from having used some form of alternative medicine in the past year and in the process, have spent more than $27 billion.
LARRY SHERMAN, HOLISTIC MEDICINE LECTURER: What I do and what other people do, in holistic medicine is help people to heal themselves.
YASTINE: People like Larry Sherman are believers in the power of alternative medicine. He lectures often on its benefits at gatherings like this one.
SHERMAN: I think more people are prone to using holistic medicine now. But still a lot of people -- there`s a saying -- seeing is believing and this is something that you can`t see; it`s something that you have to do. You have to plant seeds in your head just the way you plant seeds in a garden.
YASTINE: That garden is big enough that the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, has a budget of more than $100 million, funded by the Federal government. The center was created by Congress in 1998. The mission: to study the effects of outside-the mainstream treatments, like acupuncture.
RICHARD NAHIN, SR. ADVISOR, NCCAM: Very few of these have been studied in any detail. It`s only been in the last 10 years or so that a very systematic approach has been taken to studying these using the most scientific rigorous methods. A good example is acupuncture. We`re beginning to understand if acupuncture works, what it might work for, and how it might work.
YASTINE: Practitioners like Brian Sheen say the ongoing Federal research has helped bring more mainstream acceptance to complementary and alternative medicine and he says the growth of the Internet is also boosting awareness.
BRIAN SHEEN, DIRECTOR, THE QUANTUM HEALING CENTER: Because now, it`s no longer I have to wait to go to the authority to get my answer when I have my doctors appointment. I got a question, I can go online and there are doctors out there; there are so many resources that I can get direct knowledge. I can talk to the chat rooms of people who`ve been dealing with this problem. And so there`s this information source on the Internet that didn`t exist before.
YASTINE: One thing emphasized over and over to us - the research on the safety and effectiveness of many therapies is still ongoing and no one should use any alternative therapy without consulting their personal physician first. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, "Bill of Health."
