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IDENTIFYING the active ingredients in herbs and
understanding how herbs affect the body are important research areas
for the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM).
The NCCAM is funding most of the
current research in the United States aimed at increasing scientific
knowledge about supplements—including whether they work; if so,
how they work; and how purer and more standardized products could be
developed.
Among the substances that
researchers are studying are: yeast-fermented rice, to see if it can
lower cholesterol levels in the blood; ginger and turmeric, to see
if they can reduce inflammation associated with arthritis and
asthma; chromium, to better understand its biological effects and
impact upon insulin in the body, possibly offering new pathways to
treating type-2 diabetes; and green tea, to find out if it can
prevent heart disease.
Recent NCCAM-sponsored or
co-sponsored clinical trials include: glucosamine hydrochloride and
chondroitin, a substance found in the cartilage around joints, to
find out if they relieve knee pain from osteoarthritis (chondroitin
in dietary supplements is made in the laboratory or from the
cartilage of sharks and cattle); black cohosh, to see if it reduces
hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause; echinacea, to see if it
shortens the length or lessens the severity of colds in children;
garlic, to find out if it can lower moderately high cholesterol
levels; ginkgo biloba, to determine whether it prevents or delays
decline in cognitive (thinking) function in people aged 85 or older;
and ginger, to confirm whether it eases nausea and vomiting after
cancer chemotherapy.
(Source: US National Institutes of Health)
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