Mark Blumenthal, editor of HerbalGram, contends that evidence-based medicine on natural therapies is being distorted in the popular media. Several negative studies have been widely publicized as proof that herbs in general do not work. In actuality, there have been a good number of systematic reviews lately (which are much more revealing than a single study) that have supported the safety and effectiveness of various herbal therapies. These include reports on ginseng, St. John’s wort, garlic, echinacea, hawthorn berry and saw palmento. True evidence-based medicine should be applied without prejudice or financial incentives from pharmaceutical company influence. We have a way to go.
See Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (subscription required), March/April 2009, p. 14-15.
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