Natural Health Products   

General

Herbal-Drug Interactions

Websites:

Databases

• About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)
• All Herbs and Supplements (MedlinePlus)
• CAMline (University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy)
• Complementary and Alternative Health (Public Health Agency of Canada)
  
• Dietary Supplements Labels Database (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
• Drugs and Supplements (Mayo Clinic)
• Health Topics A-Z (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicines)
• Herbmed (Alternative Medicine Foundation)
• PubMed Dietary Supplement Subset (National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements)
•  Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database - $
• Natural Standard - $

Products

• Licensed Natural Health Products Database (LNHPD) (Health Canada)
• Single Ingredient Monographs for Natural Health Products (Health Canada)
• Natural Health Products Exempted Products Database (Health Canada)

Evaluating Natural Health Product Information

• Jurgens T, Whelan AM, Macdonald M, Lord L. Development and evaluation of an instrument for the critical appraisal of randomized controlled trials of natural products. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009 Apr 23;9(1):11.
• Tips for the Savvy Supplement User: Making Informed Decisions and Evaluating Information (FDA - Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition)
• Evaluating Health Information (MedlinePlus)
• Quackwatch
• Stay Safe Using Natural Remedies Campaign (MHRA)

          Portals/Links

• American Botanical Council
• Complementary/Alternative Therapies Website (British Columbia Cancer Agency)
• Herb Research Foundation  
• Herbal Medicine (MedlinePlus)   
• Herbal Medicine (New York Online Access to Health)   
• HerbaLinks (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, Division of Drug Information Service)  
  

• Dietary Supplements (FDA - Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition)
• Natural Health Products Directorate (Health Canada)
• About Natural Health Product Regulation in Canada (Health Canada)

Journals/Newsletters:

• BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine - $ 
• Journal of the American Botanical Council (Herbalgram)
• Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine - $

Recommended texts & electronic resources are linked to publishers' or book sellers' websites for further ordering information:

•  Dietary Supplements (Mason, 3rd ed. 2007)
• Fundamentals of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (Micozzi, 3rd ed. 2006) - $
• Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions (Brinker, 3rd ed. 2001) - $
• Herbal Companion to AHFS DI - $
• Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals: A Handbook for Practice on a Scientific Basis (Wichtl, 3rd ed. 2004) - $
• Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs (Blumenthal et al/American Botanical Council) - $
•   Herbal Medicines (Barnes et al. 3rd ed. 2007) - $
•   Herbal Products: Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology (Tracy & Kingston, 2nd ed. 2007) - $
• Herbal Supplements: Efficacy, toxicity, interactions with western drugs and effects on clinical laboratory tests (Dasgupta et al)
• Herbs: Everyday Reference for Health Professionals (Chandler/CPhA, 2000) - $
• Leung's Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics (Khan & Abourashed, 3rd ed. 2009) - $
•  Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference (36th ed. 2009) - $
• Mosby's Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach (Freeman, 3rd ed. 2009) - $
• PDR for Herbal Medicines (Gruenwald et al. 4th ed. 2007) - $ 
• Professional's Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicines (Fetrow & Avila, 3rd ed. 2003) - $
• Rational Phytotherapy: A Reference Guide for Physicians and Pharmacists (Schulz & Blumenthal, 5th ed. 2004) - $
•  Review of Natural Products (DerMarderosian et al/Facts and Comparisons, 5th ed. 2008) - $
• The Complete Natural Medicine Guide to the 50 Most Common Medicinal Herbs (Boon & Smith, 2nd ed. 2004) - $ 
•  The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine (Longe, 2004) - $
  

links to electronic resources accessible online for Dal-affiliated persons

Please use this PubMed dynamic search as a shortcut to finding journal articles on plant-derived NHPs. The dynamic search incorporates the following MeSH or MeSH/subheading combinations; some of them are explosions (groups of MeSH): Herbal Medicine - Phytotherapy - Plant Preparations/therapeutic use - Plants/therapeutic use.

What you can do with this PubMed dynamic search:  Click on the hyperlink above and the search will be performed in PubMed, currently retrieving more than 54,000 citations to journal articles (on June 11, 2010).  Go to the MeSH Database and choose a disease/condition in which you are interested – e.g. Prostatic Hyperplasia; perform the search.  More than 15, 000 citations were retrieved (on June 11, 2010).   Combine this search with your NHPs dynamic search; over 400 citations were retrieved (on June 11, 2010).

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Herbal-Drug Interactions   

Websites:

• Drug Interaction Checker (DrugDigest)
• Herbal-Drug Interaction Chart (PDF) (RxFiles)
• InteractionsGuide: Herb, Nutrient and Drug Interactions Web Application - $
•  Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database - $

Recommended texts & electronic resources are linked to publishers' or book sellers' websites for further ordering information:

• A tool for rapid identification of potential herbal medicine-drug interactions (CPJ, 2009)
• Drug Interaction Facts (Tatro, 2010) - $
• Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions (Brinker, 3rd ed. 2001) - $
• Herb-Drug Interactions Handbook (Herr, 3rd ed. 2005) - $
• Herb, Nutrient and Drug Interactions Textbook: Clinical Implications and Therapeutic Strategies (Stargrove et al. 2007) - $
• InteractionsGuide: Herb, Nutrient and Drug Interactions Web Application - $
•  Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database - $
•  Stockley's Herbal Medicines Interactions - $

 links to electronic resources accessible online for Dal-affiliated persons