Alternative medicine use continues to rise in
people of all ages.15 Between 1990 and 1997, the
percentage of the U.S. population that had used an
herbal medicine increased almost five-fold (from
2.5% to 12.1%).16 In 2007, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control, 18 percent of adults
and four percent of children used natural herbal
products.17 Consumers are turning to these
products to treat a variety of ailments, from
relatively benign conditions such as acne and male
pattern baldness, to more serious disorders such as
cancer, heart disease, and depression. Why do
these products hold such appeal? Proposed reasons
include their wide distribution and ready availability,
their lower cost and purported efficacy advantage
over conventional medications (e.g., “fasteracting”),
and the widely-held but misguided
perception that they are always inherently safe.18