One of the broad categories of Contemporary Alternative Medicine (CAM) includes the use of natural products including herbal medicines (aka botanicals), dietary supplements (vitamins and minerals for example) and probiotics (live bacteria that boost the natural populations found in the digestive tract). Lets explore these three in turn.
Herbal medicines
The use of plants and plant extracts for the treatment of ailments has a history that goes back many thousands of years. Although many pharmaceuticals used in conventional medicines rely on herbal medicines, here the focus is often to identify a single active ingredient as these can be better quantified (and patented). In alternative medicine, herbalists take the approach that the various chemicals present in many herbs and plants should be allowed to interact together synergistically in order to improve the therapeutic effect. Common examples of plants used as medicine include aloe vera (to help skin healing), echinacea (to mange the severity of the common cold), garlic (for yeast infections and to lower cholesterol), ginger (to manage vomiting), green tea (the list of health benefits associated with green tea is a long one) and oregano (as an antimicrobial). But there are many many others which we will cover in more detail.
Dietary supplements and probiotics
Modern diets do not always provide sufficient quantities of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fiber, proteins or fatty acids that are necessary for our health. Stress, travel and illness can also negatively impact our diet. That’s where dietary supplements come into play and recent years have seen an explosive rise in their use – so much so that taking a multivitamin can not really be considered an “alternative medicine.”
Probiotics however are normally defined as a CAM product and come in the form of both foods (such as live yogurt) or as dietary supplements. If you want to learn more about how to choose the best probiotic for your needs have a look at the guidance provided over at whatisthebestprobiotic.com Remember that not all probiotics are of a high quality and may not contain the large quantities of Colony Forming Units that are needed to confer a health benefit. Note also that in the US dietary supplements do not undergo the same levels of regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as pharmaceutical or some over the counter drugs are subject to.
Resources:
See tips for the supplements user published by the FDA
See more on contemporary and alternative healing practices over at CAM