Rules to follow before advising patients on dietary supplements/alternative medicine: Part II

Five rules for health care professionals to follow when patients inquire about complementary/alternative medicine are outlined. Suggestions include having health care professionals direct patients toward more objective medical articles such as reviews and editorials and to encourage patients to bring various advertisements and claims made by certain companies to the clinic so that health care professionals can analyze their overall merit. The Food and Drug Administration should be contacted by any health professional who has observed a negative or positive reaction with any dietary supplement. Health care professionals should read several alternative magazines and journals to better understand what patients are reading. Finally, patients should be assured that data gathering on some of these alternatives are being collected at a rapid pace that should promote a better understanding of the benefits and detriments of certain supplements.