While some scientific evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of some CAM therapies, for most there are key questions that are yet to be answered through well-designed scientific studies-questions such as whether the therapies are safe, how they work, and whether they work for the diseases or medical conditions for which they are used.

NCCAM is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on CAM. NCCAM supports research on CAM therapies to determine if they work, how they work, whether they are effective, and who might benefit most from the use of specific therapies.

Yes, there can be risks, as with any medical therapy. These risks depend upon the specific CAM treatment. The following are general suggestions to help you learn about or minimize the risks.

• Tell your health care providers about any complementary and alternative practices you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care. For example, herbal: A plant or part of a plant used for its flavor, scent, or potential therapeutic properties. Includes flowers, leaves, bark, fruit, seeds, stems, and roots. or botanical: A plant or part of a plant used for its flavor, scent, or potential therapeutic properties. Includes flowers, leaves, bark, fruit, seeds, stems, and roots. products and other dietary supplements may interact with medications (prescription or non-prescription). They may also have negative, even dangerous, effects on their own. Research has shown that the herb St. John’s wort, which is used by some people to treat depression, may cause certain drugs to become less effective. And kava, an herb that has been used for insomnia, stress, and anxiety, has been linked to liver damage.
• If you have more than one health care provider, let all of them know about the CAM and conventional therapies you are using. This will help each provider make sure that all aspects of your health care work together.
• Take charge of your health by being an informed consumer. Find out what the scientific evidence is about any treatment’s safety and whether it works.

If you decide to use a CAM treatment that would be given by a practitioner, choose the practitioner carefully to help minimize any possible risks.

It is important to learn what scientific studies have discovered about the therapy in which you are interested. It is not a good idea to use a CAM therapy simply because of something you have seen in an advertisement or on a Web site or because someone has told you that it worked for them.

Understanding a treatment’s risks, potential benefits, and scientific evidence is critical to your health and safety. Scientific research on many CAM therapies is relatively new, so this kind of information may not be available for every therapy. However, many studies on CAM treatments are under way, including those that NCCAM supports, and our knowledge and understanding of CAM is increasing all the time. Here are some ways to find scientifically based information:

• Talk to your health care practitioner(s). Tell them about the therapy you are considering and ask any questions you may have about safety, effectiveness, or interactions with medications (prescription or non-prescription). They may know about the therapy and be able to advise you on its safety and use. If your practitioner cannot answer your questions, he may be able to refer you to someone who can. Your practitioner may also be able to help you interpret the results of scientific articles you have found.
• Use the Internet to search medical libraries and databases for information. One database called CAM on PubMed, developed by NCCAM and the National Library of Medicine, gives citations or abstracts (brief summaries) of the results of scientific studies on CAM. In some cases, it provides links to publishers’ Web sites where you may be able to view or obtain the full articles. The articles cited in CAM on PubMed are peer-reviewed-that is, other scientists in the same field have reviewed the article, the data, and the conclusions, and judged them to be accurate and important to the field. Another database, International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements, is useful for searching the scientific literature on dietary supplements.
• If you do not have access to the Internet, contact the NCCAM Clearinghouse. The staff is available to discuss your needs with you and assist you in searching the peer-reviewed medical and scientific literature.
• Visit your local library or a medical library to see if there are books or publications that contain scientific articles discussing CAM in general or the treatment in which you are interested. Thousands of articles on health issues and CAM are published in books and scientific journals every year. A reference librarian can help you search for those on the therapy that interests you.

Questions to ask when evaluating Web site information:

• Who runs the site? Is it Government, a university, or a reputable medical or health-related association? Is it sponsored by a manufacturer of products, drugs, etc.? It should be easy to identify the sponsor.
• What is the purpose of the site? Is it to educate the public or to sell a product? The purpose should be clearly stated.
• What is the basis of the information? Is it based on scientific evidence with clear references? Advice and opinions should be clearly set apart from the science.
• How current is the information? Is it reviewed and updated frequently?

For more tips on evaluating information on the Web, read NCCAM’s “10 Things To Know About Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web.”

Our thanks to the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the above information.

CAM stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by their allied health professionals such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine, and alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. Conventional medicine is medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. Some health care providers practice both CAM and conventional medicine.

The list of what is considered to be CAM changes continually, as those therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care and as new approaches to health care emerge. For more about these terms, see the NCCAM fact sheet “What Is CAM?“

Each treatment needs to be considered on its own. However, here are some issues to think about when considering a CAM therapy.

• Many consumers believe that “natural” means the same thing as “safe.” This is not necessarily true. For example, think of mushrooms that grow in the wild: some are safe to eat, while others are poisonous.
• Individuals respond differently to treatments. How a person might respond to a CAM treatment depends on many things, including the person’s state of health, how the treatment is used, or the person’s belief in the treatment.
• For a CAM product that is sold over the counter (without a prescription), such as a dietary supplement. A product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements, safety can also depend on a number of things:
• The components or ingredients that make up the product.
• Where the components or ingredients come from.
• The quality of the manufacturing process (for example, how well the manufacturer is able to avoid contamination).

The manufacturer of a dietary supplement is responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the product before it is sold. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot require testing of dietary supplements prior to marketing. However, while manufacturers are prohibited from selling dangerous products, the FDA can remove a product from the marketplace if the product is dangerous to the health of Americans. Furthermore, if in the labeling or marketing of a dietary supplement a claim is made that the product can diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease, such as “cures cancer,” the product is said to be an unapproved new drug and is, therefore, being sold illegally. Such claims must have scientific proof.
For CAM therapies that are administered by a practitioner, the training, skill, and experience of the practitioner affect safety. However, in spite of careful and skilled practice, all treatments–whether CAM or conventional–can have risks.