Herbal Medication Resources

The following sources offer information about herbal medications, vitamins, and nutritional supplements:

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. Comprehensive, literature-based reviews of more than 1,000 herbal products and supplements. Cost for either web access or the book version of the database is $92 per year. If you order the book and web access for one year, the cost is $132. Web: www.naturaldatabase.com.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. CAM Citation Index. Web: www.nccam.nih.gov/nccam/databases.html. Literature citations, with abstracts, of all aspects of alternative medicine are included — no cost.

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. IBIDS Database. Web: ods.od.nih.gov/databases/ibids.html. Literature citations, with abstracts, of dietary supplements including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals. This is a free database.

American Botanical Council. Web: www.herbalgram.org. A nonprofit educational organization that offers on-line herbal monographs as well as books, software, video, and audiotapes. Also includes listing of herbal education programs and referrals to government resources.

Herb Research Foundation. Web: www.herbs.org. The site of this nonprofit, educational and research organization includes a Q&A column, a list of recommended books, a hotline service for calls on herbal questions, a custom herbal research services and information packets on common herbs.

The Natural Pharmacist. Web: tnp.healthgate.com/about.html. This site offers a database of current, evidence-based information on more than 440 herbs and supplements, 325 health conditions, and 1,000 drug-herb and drug-supplement interactions. A section for health professionals contains clinical monographs and drug interactions geared toward the health practitioner.