05/29/06 For The Facts on 'Natural' Remedies, Go Online

• We Americans now spend an estimated $20 billion a year on dietary supplements and so-called “natural” remedies, many of us blissfully -– even willfully -– ignorant of the actual medicinal value, or utter lack thereof, in of these products. It’s not entirely our fault that we buy this stuff so blindly. In 1994, Congress limited the power of the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate supplements and herbal medicines, which now are allowed to get -- and stay -– on the market unless clear evidence of harm is found.

04/22/03 - Meditation and the Brain ....?

• For decades, open-minded Westerners - patients and doctors alike - have been touting the medical benefits of meditation, an ancient Eastern practice that comes in hundreds if not thousands of different flavors but consists basically of quieting the mind through moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness.

03/27/01 - Drug Hunters Can't See Rainforest For The Medicines

• In the rain forest, Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica ---- Carlos Bettancurt cuts the motor and we glide soundlessly toward the bank of the Parismina lagoon, part of the vast network of rivers and canals that crisscross this wildlife sanctuary. We are not hunting on this sweltering January afternoon for the elusive jaguar that prowl this nature preserve, nor for the huge crocodiles we spotted earlier along the riverbank, but for something more modest, though potentially more useful – medicinal plants, which grow in abundance in this rainforest, as they do all over the world in similar habitats.

02/15/00 - The saga of soy.  Consumers believe soy is good food, and research shows they're partly right

• Americans have fallen in love with the humble soybean. Convinced that in its many incarnations - tofu, soy milk, dietary supplements - soy can prevent everything from heart disease to hot flashes to cancer, consumers have sent soy sales soaring. In the 12 months ending in October 1999, supermarket sales of soy foods were up 45 percent over the previous year, to nearly $419 million, according to Spins, a San Francisco market research company.

01/10/00.1 - Special report: St. John's Wort: Less than meets the eye

• We thought it would be easy. After all, we had just two seemingly simple questions: Does St. John's wort, the popular herbal adtidepressant on which Americans spend $250 million a year, work - at least on rat brain cells in a test tube? And do the product labels accurately reflect what's inside the tablets? The path toward answers proved tortuous indeed

01/10/00.2 - Go the medical route if herb doesn't relieve depression

• So, you're depressed. Given that the Globe's analysis showed that, at least in lab tests, there is considerable variation among St. John's wort brands, should you take it at all?

01/10/00.3 - How the Globe did its testing

• Here's how we tested some of the leading brands of St. John's wort, the popular herbal antidepressant. We went to a CVS store in Cambridge, Mass., and bought the following products: CVS' house brand; Natrol; NatureMade; Nature's Resource; Quanterra; and YourLife. In addition, we obtained a bottle of Herbalife, which is sold privately through distributors.

01/10/00.4 - FDA loosens reins

• The US Food and Drug Administration once had the power to force manufacturers of over-the-counter dietary supplements, including herbal remedies, to prove those products were safe, if the agency felt such a pre-market review was warranted.

11/29/99 - Trendy pill should be taken with a grain of salt

• She's a young woman from the South Shore, finally able both to work and to study for an advanced degree. But for years, she's been plagued by severe depression that stems, she says, from physical abuse she suffered as a child, and from sexual abuse when she was 17.

10/04/99 - Herbal prostate drug goes mainstream

• If you're male and you live long enough, there's virtually no escaping the indignities and agonies of an enlarged prostate. In young men, this gland, which surrounds the urethra (the tube through which urine passes) and is the size of a chestnut, secretes part of the seminal fluid that nourishes sperm and speeds it on its way.

11/16/98 - Meditating helps, but how is a mystery

• The idea of standing stark naked in a little booth soaking up UV light three times a week doesn't seem all that bad as medical treatments go, especially since it can help ameliorate psoriasis, an itchy, scaly, disfiguring skin disease. But many people do find the experience stressful, which is why meditation guru Jon Kabat-Zinn wanted to see if calming the mind during treatments might speed healing of the body.

10/26/98 - Herbal hazards taken alone or with prescription drugs, some of these innocent-sounding `natural' remedies can be dangerous

• If your doctor suggested that you take two different sleeping pills that have never been tested in combination, would you do it? If she recommended an energy-booster, but you couldn't tell from the label what was in the bottle, would you take that?

09/14/98 -  New therapy for trauma is doubted

• Eleven years ago, Francine Shapiro, was strolling through a park in Los Gatos, Calif., thinking dark thoughts. Suddenly, her eyes started darting back and forth, a spontaneous burst of what scientists call saccadic movement, much like the rapid eye movements that occur during dreams.

08/10/98 - Ginkgo stock is continues to rise

• Like many others at midlife or beyond, Wendy Fink, a health educator in her 50s, was appalled at the way her memory kept conking out. ``I was having trouble getting words,'' says Fink, who lives in Royalston. ``I was feeling very stressed about this.'' So she tried ginkgo, an herbal memory-booster that's getting new respect in mainstream medicine, albeit for genuine dementia, not run-of-the-mill ``senior moments.''

06/15/98 - Kava root is hot herb for anxiety

• Traditionally, whenever the people of the South Pacific islands wanted to welcome a visitor or provide a social lubricant for communal rituals, they drank a potent potion made from the roots of an intoxicating pepper plant, kava kava. The jaw-breaking job of turning the tough root of the piper methysticum into homemade brew fell to young virgins -- male or female, depending on the island -- who spent hours chewing the root, then spitting out the masticated mush into a communal pot, where it was left

06/23/97 - Chiropractic makes gains vs. skeptics

• Arthur Borneman, a 74-year-old Quincy man, had a pain in the neck. He tried painkillers, months of therapy at a rehab hospital, massage, exercise, even a dental specialist in case the problem was jaw pain. To his surprise, the dentist urged him to see a chiropractor, but Borneman said he ``had no faith in chiropractors.''

• Karin Taylor, 58, a tax accountant in Toronto, was stumped. She had a good marriage, two ``wonderful kids,'' and a job she loved. ``I had no reason whatsoever to feel depressed,'' she says. ``Yet there it was.''

04/07/97 - People, and pets, touting arthritis remedy

• Dr. Margaret Slater, a veterinarian and epidemiologist at Texas A & M University, gives the stuff to all her loved ones, two-footed and four-footed, who suffer from arthritis. ``My dog, my horse, my mother and her dog are all benefiting from it,'' she says with a chuckle.

03/17/97 - The rush is now on to Echinacea

• The Cheyenne used it for sore gums, the Comanche's, for toothaches and sore throats. Other Native Americans kept it on hand for snakebites or syphilis. Modern Americans seem to love the stuff, too, even if we can't pronounce it. In fact, Echinacea -- that's eck-in-EH-shia -- is now the top selling herbal remedy in health food stores, though garlic and ginseng claim top honors in overall sales.

02/03/97 - Ginseng $350 million for not much

• Ginseng has become the tonic of choice for tired Americans. Thinking it will make us better athletes or reduce our stress or just get us through the night shift, we now spend $350-to-$400 million a year on the stuff, making ginseng second only to garlic as the nation's most sought-after herbal remedy.

04/01/96 - Trying everything, more and more cancer patients seek out ancient Chinese remedies to augment modern medicine

• For Ingrid Schorr, 36, an actor and writer who lives in Arlington, the bomb dropped last September: a totally unexpected diagnosis of breast cancer. The diagnosis was traumatic enough, she says, but she also felt ``desperate and sad'' about having to undergo chemotherapy. She knew it would leave her weak and drained.

02/19/96 - In medical laboratories, garlic is coming up roses

• Garlic, the "stinking rose" beloved by gourmets and health gurus for nearly 4,000 years now, is finally getting respect from the mainstream medical establishment. First mentioned in 1550 B.C. in an Egyptian medical papyrus, then given a whiff of credibility in 1858, when Louis Pasteur discovered that its juice kills bacteria, garlic is now one of the hottest phytochemicals -- plant compounds -- in medical research.