What's the alternative?

Whilst complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) have existed for thousands of years, it is only comparatively recently that people in this country have started to take it more seriously. Why?

According to a survey published in JAMA last year, the reasons are poorly understood, but of the 1025 questioned, users of alternative health care were no more dissatisfied with conventional care than non-users. However, differences between the two groups were found, for example, those who used CAM tended to be better educated and to have a more holistic orientation towards health ie they believed in the importance of body, mind and spirit. Users were also likely to report poorer health than non-users, and to have had some type of transformational experience that had significantly changed their world view.

Interesting, but as Professor Edzard Ernst, Director of the Department of Complementary Medicine at Exeter University, so rationally argues, just because a medication is derived from 'natural' products, does not necessarily mean that it is safe. And just as doctors have a responsibility to prescribe 'manufactured' medication based on evidence to support its safety and efficacy, so too must doctors be armed with evidence to support the use of CAM, if they are to advise patients about these treatments and refer them to alternative practitioners.

It may come as a surprise to some, but considerable research in the area of CAM has already been undertaken. Disappointingly, the evidence is, for the most part, not wholly convincing. We still need more and better studies, and GPs need access to better information on the therapeutic scope of each CAM discipline, the qualifications of practitioners and the levels of skill to which they are trained for practice.

Theses are goals worth pursuing, not only to help us decide whether CAM can significantly help in the fight against disease and suffering, and thus be worthy of complementing conventional medicine, but perhaps too, it will make good economic sense by reducing demand for expensive pharmaceutical medications.

By Harriett Ainley, Editor