This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Related letters  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Complementary and Alternative Medicine  • Statistics and Research Methods  • Drug Therapy  • Drug Therapy, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 137 words of the full text and any section headings.

In Reply: Dr Stoney and colleagues highlight the additional challenge of assessing and ensuring the composition, integrity, and stability of botanical preparations during clinical trials. Researchers in this area should become familiar with the policies and programs established by the NCCAM and ODS to ensure the potency, purity, and consistency of biologically active agents used in CAM research.

Although these processes add further complexity and cost to studies, the value of rigorous CAM research lies not only in producing scientifically valid and reproducible results but also in establishing an evidence base for appropriate use, dosage, and interactions with other biologically active products (including medications). Consumers of CAM, however, should be aware that commercially available botanicals and dietary supplements are neither subject to such scrutiny nor held to the same Food and Drug Administration regulatory standards as drugs.^1-2

Eugenia Chan, MD, MPH
eugenia.chan@childrens.harvard.edu
Division of Developmental Medicine
Children's Hospital Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

1. What's in the bottle? an introduction to dietary supplements. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Web site. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/bottle. Accessed July 23, 2008.2. Herbal supplements: consider safety, too. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Web site. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/supplement-safety. Accessed July 23, 2008.

Letters Section Editor: Robert M. Golub, MD, Senior Editor.

JAMA. 2008;300(17):1996.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Quality of Efficacy Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Eugenia Chan
JAMA. 2008;299(22):2685-2686.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED LETTERS

Integrity of Active Components of Botanical Products Used in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Catherine M. Stoney, Paul Coates, and Josephine P. Briggs
JAMA. 2008;300(17):1995.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Integrity of Active Components of Botanical Products Used in Complementary and Alternative Medicine—Reply
Wendy Weber and Jon McClellan
JAMA. 2008;300(17):1995.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT