Natural Medicines Newsletter

Volume 1, Issue 25, 07/10/2009

Question

What are the top 10 most common herbs or natural medicines used by patients?

Answer

Compared to most developed nations in the world, the United States of America does not utilize natural or herbal medicines to the same degree for treatment of common illnesses.  However, this is changing as sales exceeded $4 billion annually in the US alone for these medicines.(1)   In December 2008, the National Institutes of Health (NIH): National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Center for Health Statistics (a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) surveyed 32,810 people for which their report showed that 38% of adults in the U.S. and nearly 12% of children (<17 years of age) used some form of complementary and/or alternative medicine.(2)  Of these forms of complementary and alternative medicines, natural products were ranked the greatest among these options at 17.7% and homeopathic treatments the least at 1.8% of the people sampled. 

A breakdown of the natural products used as of the report from December 2008 shows the top 10 herbal or natural medicines used by patients for the self-treatment of various illnesses are summarized in the table below.(2)        

.....To read the full answer please LOGIN or SUBSCRIBE NOW.