The Pill Book Guide to Natural Medicines: Vitamins, Minerals, Nutritional Supplements, Herbs, and Other Natural Products

A leading expert on natural medicine describes and rates more than 250 of today's most popular remedies, discussing each product's safety and effectiveness, uses, how it works, potential side effects, drug and food interactions, common dosages, andA leading expert on natural medicine describes and rates more than 250 of today's most popular remedies, discussing each product's safety and effectiveness, uses, how it works, potential side effects, drug and food interactions, common dosages, and precautions, and offers suggested therapies for more than seventy common conditions. Original. precautions, and offers suggested therapies for more than seventy common conditions. Original.

How to Use This Book

The Pill Book Guide to Natural Medicines profiles more than 275 of the most commonly used natural products available today. The entries are listed alphabetically within each of the following categories: vitamins, minerals, accessory nutrients and other natural products, herbal products, and topical preparations. If you are interested in a particular supplement and do not know to which category it belongs, please consult the Index of Natural Products at the front of the book.

Here is a brief description of each category. Particular issues related to each category are discussed in more depth at the beginning of each part. You will find it useful to read these overviews as well as the profile of the individual supplement that interests you.

Part I: Vitamins. Vitamins are essential nutrients that function along with enzymes in chemical reactions necessary for human bodily function, including energy production. Together, vitamins and enzymes work to act as catalysts in speeding up the making or breaking of chemical bonds that join molecules together.

Part II: Minerals. Minerals function, along with vitamins, as components of the body's enzymes. Minerals are also needed for proper composition of bone and blood and for the maintenance of normal cell function.

Part III: Accessory Nutrients and Other Natural Products. Accessory nutrients are food components and substances naturally produced in the body that are required for normal physiology. Other natural products include supplementary hormones, glandular preparations, amino acids, and helpful bacterial preparations such as Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Part IV: Herbal Products. These include not only crude herb preparations but also compounds composed of or derived from herbs and other medicinal plants.

Part V: Natural Ingredients Used in Topical Preparations. While Parts I-IV cover products for oral use, this part provides information on natural substances used in skin care products and topical medications.

You can also use this book to discover alternative medicines that may be helpful in treating a specific health condition. This information is contained in Part VI: Common Health Conditions. This part provides an alphabetical guide to more than sixty-five common health conditions; each entry includes both the prescription drugs and the natural medicines most often used for each condition.

Organization of the Natural Product Entries

Parts I-IV include natural products taken orally. Each product entry is organized according to the following outline:

Generic or Brand Name

The common name of the natural product is used for most entries (e.g., "vitamin C" instead of "ascorbic acid"). A supplement is listed by brand name only when a brand has established itself as a unique proprietary product.

Used For

A listing of the popular uses for each entry is given. In an effort to provide information on the effectiveness and safety of the entries, a rating system was developed based upon currently available information. The rating is based upon the level of scientific support for a particular application. The fact that a substance has not been scientifically investigated does not mean that it is without benefit. Likewise, the fact that a substance has been used for hundreds of years does not necessarily mean that it is either effective or safe. The scientific investigation of natural products is an ongoing effort, and new information is constantly validating or refuting claims about the therapeutic value of these preparations.

Here is an expanded explanation of the rating scales:

Effectiveness

A = Excellent results in multiple double-blind studies

In order to receive an A rating, the substance must have undergone a clinical trial--a study in which human subjects receive treatment. The studies with the most scientific weight are double-blind, controlled trials. In a double-blind study, neither the researchers nor the subjects know what is being given; all information is coded, and the code is not broken until the end of the trial. Double-blinding is important because researchers can give unconscious signals to test subjects if they know what the subject is receiving, and this can affect the results. In a controlled trial, at least two groups are compared.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, an inactive pill--the placebo--is given to a control group. Placebo is Latin for "I will please [you]." Placebos got their name because any treatment, even simple attention, tends to make people feel better. Overall, an average of one out of three subjects will report significant improvement from being given a placebo (usually a sugar pill), although this figure can be much lower or much higher depending upon the condition. Sometimes instead of a placebo, a substance will be compared to another active compound. For example, there have been several comparative studies of glucosamine sulfate and ibuprofen in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

The double-blind study is thought of as the gold standard. However, a good double-blind study must also have a large enough sample size (the bigger the better) to produce statistically significant results. Often a probability value (p value) is given. A p value less than 0.1 means that the probability that the results occurred by chance is less than 1 out of 100 (1 percent). A p value of less than 0.5 is generally regarded as being statistically significant. The lower the p value, the more significant the results.

When a number of small trials have provided conflicting or inconclusive results, a metanalysis can be performed in order to achieve a more statistically significant assessment.

In order for a substance to receive an effectiveness rating of A, it must have shown consistent benefit in double-blind, controlled trials or in a metanalysis.

B+ = Very good results in a small number of double-blind studies

The difference between an A and a B+ is that although there are double-blind studies showing that the substance rated as B+ is effective, these preliminary studies need to be followed up with larger, better-designed studies. Also, a substance would be given a score of B+ rather than A if the studies were poorly designed or did not produce a high degree of statistical significance.

B = Some clinical evidence of effectiveness

There are other types of clinical studies that are often conducted as preliminary studies. Sometimes, because of the lack of financing or other reasons, promising results are never followed up in better-designed studies. Examples of preliminary studies can range from a series of individual case histories to open clinical trials. In an open clinical trial, both the doctor and the subject know exactly what the subject is taking. Open trials are not as well respected in the scientific community because of the expectations of the patient and/or the physician.

B- = Some clinical evidence of effectiveness, but also some studies showing no effect

It is not uncommon for even established drugs to have some studies showing no or little effect. If the majority of the studies have been positive, the substance was given a rating of A or B+ depending upon the weight of evidence. However, if a number of preliminary studies showed positive results and a double-blind study showed little or no effect, the substance was given an effectiveness rating of B-. In the future it may be proven to be effective, but at present there is simply not enough evidence that is convincing.

C = Strong historical use or scientific rationale but no clinical trials to show effectiveness in humans

This rating is probably the most common in this book. There are numerous...