June 4, 2002
More and more victims of the common cold are turning to newer, more natural remedies for subduing their suffering. But as the market for would-be cures like Echinacea and zinc booms, some scientists are calling for caution. As Alan Alda learned in "A Day with Wally Sampson," there is little scientific evidence that herbal remedies actually fight illness. What's more, while advocates applaud the wealth of "alternative" health products now available to consumers, scientists worry that current laws don't go far enough to evaluate such remedies before they're sold.
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New Legislation Opens the Door

Today, Americans spend around $17 billion a year on vitamins, herbs and botanicals, up from $8 billion just five years ago. Some 20,000 varieties of "dietary supplements" are available to alleviate ailments as diverse as memory loss, hot flashes, and, of course, the common cold. What's behind this herbal explosion?

Placebos or the real thing? Scientists use both to test the efficacy of cold remedies

Much of the market's growth can be attributed to legislation passed in 1994. Recognizing that certain vitamins and herbs had health benefits and noting a billion-dollar industry in the making, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act (DSHEA). The law defined dietary supplements as a subset of food; therefore, such products were not subject to the Food and Drug Administration's testing and approval process for drugs. Under the new law, manufacturers were given detailed guidelines on how their supplements could be marketed, which health benefits claims could be made, and which could not.

Advocates for alternative remedies cheered. The new law, they said, gave consumers access to a wider range of health products quickly and cheaply, along with better information to help them choose.

"This law was passed with an enormous amount of grassroots support. Congress was absolutely flooded with letters," says Dr. Bill Soller of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), a trade association representing manufacturers of dietary supplements in the U.S.

The enthusiasm over dietary supplements is not without merit. Calcium's role in preventing osteoporosis is well documented. Extensive research in Europe has shown that the herbal remedy St. John's wort can be effective in treating mild depression. And women trying to conceive a child are frequently instructed to take folic acid to help ward off certain birth defects.

In 1999, 61% of U.S. consumers said they took dietary supplements each month

Yet, the evidence for other widely used supplements is less convincing. Garlic, for example, is a top-selling herbal remedy for lowering blood cholesterol. In an attempt to make sense of conflicting reports on its efficacy, a team at the University of Exeter in England combined the results of 13 previous studies. They concluded that garlic lowers cholesterol levels by only about 6%, a mild benefit at best. Gingko biloba, a popular memory booster, was shown to have limited benefits for Alzheimer's patients in one widely reported 1997 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study gave no indication, however, that the supplement could increase the brainpower of already healthy individuals, nor has any reliable research since. Today, everything from juice drinks to snack foods boasts added gingko, charging a premium to consumers. According to Ronald Turner, Professor of Pediactrics and Lab Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, there needs to be more dependable research conducted on these substances across the board.

"Side effects, drug interactions, all of these areas need to be thoroughly studied. Many of our most dangerous medications come from plants," Turner argues. "The burden of proof should be on the manufacturers, but it's not. The industry is held to an entirely different standard."

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