Library Guides: Natural Medicines (Database): Home

What is Natural Medicines?

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Natural Medicines offers quick access to comprehensive, evidence-based, peer-reviewed information on foods, herbs, supplements, and natural therapies. Database coverage includes efficacy, adverse effects, interactions, pregnancy, lactation, pharmacology, toxicology, dosing, standardization, and products tested by third-party laboratories. Patient handouts are available.

Natural Medicines was founded by healthcare providers and researchers at Therapeutic Research, publisher of the Pharmacist's Letter and Prescriber's Letter and includes:

Evidence-based monographs: Get scientific information and ratings for over 1,400 natural ingredients and alternative therapies.
Commercial Product Ratings: Detailed information and evidence-based ratings for over 90,000 dietary supplement products.
Interaction Checker: Prevent potentially dangerous drug-supplement combinations.
Effectiveness Checker: Find out what works and what doesn't for any medical condition.
Nutrient Depletion Checker: See what nutrients are depleted by drugs and when a supplement might be needed.

Also included are evidence tables and discussion(s), statistical analysis, and quality rating of available clinical trials. Grades reflect the level of available scientific data for or against the use of each therapy for a specific medical condition. This is an excellent resource to utilize in the clinical setting and can serve as a teaching tool with your patients.

Complementary & Alternative Health Resources

Looking for more information? The internet is full of opinions and it can be difficult to find authoritative information. Try one of these recommended resources if the Natural Medicines database doesn't have everything you need or if you need freely accessible information to share with your patients.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
"NCCIH is the Federal Government's lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine."
MedlinePlus
MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, it brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. MedlinePlus offers reliable, up-to-date health information, anytime, anywhere, for free. You can use MedlinePlus to learn about the latest treatments, look up information on a drug or supplement, find out the meanings of words, or view medical videos or illustrations. You can also find out about clinical trials on a disease or condition.
U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) Herbal Medicines Compendium "A freely available, online resource that provides standards for herbal ingredients used in herbal medicines. Standards are expressed primarily in monographs. A monograph contains general information including the definition of the herbal ingredient relative to the monograph title and then follows with a specification. The specification contains tests for critical quality attributes of the herbal ingredient and includes analytical test procedures and acceptance criteria for specified tests."
Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) "OCCAM enhances the activities of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the arena of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)"
The Food and Nutrition Information Center: Dietary Supplements
"FNIC is a leader in on-line global nutrition information. Located at the National Agricultural Library (NAL), the FNIC contains over 2500 links to current and reliable nutrition information."