Alternative Medicine Gains Huge Following

What will the neighbors say? Probably nothing if the subject being discussed is health supplements and whether alternative or complementary medicine works.

“Far more people than you’d think put their faith in out-of-the-mainstream therapies,” says Jon Adams, who heads the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Sydney’s University of Technology, where he’s a professor of public health.

“But doing so is often hidden, even with treatments used successfully for many centuries,” Adams told Newsmax Health. “People fear others will ridicule them. They’re embarrassed.

“Why? Well, this area is highly under-researched. Additional studies must be done. We need more evidence because evidence is king these days, affecting people’s choices.”

One peer-reviewed study — among many co-authored by Adams — confirmed almost half (49.4 percent) of women consulted alternative-therapy practitioners at the same time as maternity-care providers for pregnancy-related conditions.

Another study, again co-authored by Adams, found that 40 percent of women with back pain consulted complementary therapy practitioners as well as their regular healthcare providers.

Adams also found rural women more likely to use alternative medicine than those in cities. In addition, the more educated a woman, the more likely she is to use alternative medicine.

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