Are herbal supplements effective?
Botanicals have remained a primary source of traditional medicine for millennia. They have made contributions over the last centuries to the development of some of the most widely used and effective modern drugs. In the last several decades, there has been a resurgence of research in the clinical efficacy of herbs. The results of such studies often verify that the empirical observations of the past centuries were accurate. For example, recent studies on the effect of valerian have produced results that led researchers to conclude that valerian root can produce “significant improvement in sleep quality” (13) and that valerian root extract can be “recommended for the treatment of patients with mild psychophysiological insomnia” (14). But can a consumer have confidence in the claims made for the products that are available in the market? To begin with, Federal labeling law and regulations for supplements limit allowable claims to those for which a manufacturer “has substantiation that suc
