Center explores The leader of a National Institutes of Health program to study complementary and alternative health treatments says he does not use them or generally recommend them.
science behind alternate
health remedies
The head of a federal program
studying the controversial area has
had talks with UH officials about
in setting up a local versionBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"I trust in antibiotics and vaccines," said Dr. Stephen E. Straus, first permanent director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
But he said he is enthusiastic about the opportunities for scientific research to guide public health decisions on alternative and complementary products and practices.
Straus is one of 15 NIH officials here to help Hawaii scientists develop new biomedical and behavioral research opportunities for federal funding.
He met with Dr. Edwin Cadman, University of Hawaii John A. Burns Medical School dean, to discuss development of an alternative and complementary medicine department there.
Cadman said a strategic plan for the new program will be presented in January to the Board of Regents for approval. Meanwhile, he said job descriptions have been sent out on the Web for a director and research leader, and the medical school is seeking program grants.
Straus will speak on "The Science Underlying Complementary and Alternative Medicine" in a public meeting starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Jefferson Hall, East-West Center.
A career NIH researcher who investigates infectious diseases and immunology, Straus said his center's goal is to look for scientific evidence to determine if popular alternative and complementary remedies do any good.
"It is a very perplexing area," he said Tuesday in a talk to the Honolulu Rotary Club. "It represents what may be the most controversial aspect in health care today."
Patients and health-care professionals often do not talk to one another about alternative therapies, he said, yet consumers are paying about $30 billion annually for such products and practices.
"One of the difficult responsibilities is to sort out the wisdom in traditional practices," he said, noting the opportunities for such studies here because of Hawaii's "incredible diversity."
Straus' center is working with other NIH institutes and centers on trials looking at St. John's wort for depression, acupuncture and glucosaminecondroitin sulfate for osteoarthritis, gingko for dementia and shark cartilage for lung cancer.
The largest and most rigorous trial so far is on acupuncture to manage pain. Major studies also are planned to investigate alternative therapies used for coronary artery disease and various types of cancer.
Researchers will examine mind-body interventions, manipulative and body-based methods, energy therapies and botanicals such as cranberry products used to prevent urinary tract infections.