Longwood Herbal Task Force: Websites, Books and Other Resouces

Websites, Books and
Other Resources
compiled by Paula Gardiner, MD

Websites | Databases | Journals and Monographs | Books

WEBSITES

Federally Sponsored Websites: FDA MEDWATCH Monitoring program for reporting adverse effects. 1-800-FDA-1088.

FDA Dietary Supplements Page

Food and Nutrition Information Center of the USDA. Publications and links about herbs and dietary supplements.

HealthFinder From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Excellent search engine.

NIH CancerNet National Cancer Institute.

NIH Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Includes Medline-based CAM citation index.

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Has excellent information on herbal supplements that is up to date

CAM on PubMed at The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
CAM on PubMed is the product of collaboration between the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and NCCAM, which facilitates literature searches on a variety of CAM therapies, approaches, and systems. It contains 220,000 citations, has links to full text, and allows searchers to limit retrievals by publication type.

National Center For Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Research Centers

MedlinePlus - Alternative Medicine
Extensive directory of CAM sites organized using the same alternative medicine medical subject headings used by the National Library of Medicine

Information on Herbs and Dietary Supplements: Agricultural Research Service: Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Database
Must know plant's scientific name for ethnobotanical search. Focus is on specific use, but doses not included.

Alternative Medicine Foundation: HerbMed
An excellent resource for information on specific herbs, with direct links to PubMed.

American Botanical Council
A nonprofit research and educational organization. Site contains general information about hers and ABC publications.

CancerSource
Sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Provides free-access to selected evidence based monographs from Natural Standard on a wide variety of CAM therapies.

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (UNC School of Pharmacy)

Herb Research Foundation
Monographs obtained through "Greenpapers", with listing (often incomplete) of primary sources. Also, a clearinghouse for herb research articles.

Internet Directory for Botany
Extensive list of links for ethnobotany and herbal medicine.

British Medical Journal Systematic reviews on herbal medicine.

Medical Herbalism
Thorough list of links about herbal medicine.

Monographs by UNC pharmacy students
Topic include herbs and some dietary supplements.

Consumer Labs
In lieu of the FDA ensuring the quality of herbs and dietary supplements, ConsumerLab.com provides independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals evaluate the quality of various health and nutrition products. Product brands that pass ConsumerLab’s testing are eligible for their seal of approval. There is no evaluation of product efficacy.

Steven Foster Group Herbal Information Resources with limitied references.

World Health Organization - Publications on Herbal Medicine.

University of Texas Center for Alternative Medicine Research in Cancer (UT-CAM)
Reviews of herbs, dietary supplements and other alternative therapies used by cancer patients.
Information on General Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Center for Holistic Pediatric Education and Research at Children's Hospital, Boston
CAM research site for pediatrics; sponsor of Longwood Herbal Task Force.

Holistic Kids - Pediatric Integrative Medicine Education Project
Provides information for parents and providers on complementary and alternative medicine for children, exploring common problems, therapies, practitioners, and resources. Affilliated with the Longwood Herbal Task Force and the Center for Holistic Pediatric Education and Reasearch.

McMaster University Health Care Information Resources.

New York Online Access to Health (NOAH) Contains an extensive list of links; well organized site.

Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

University of Pittsburgh - The Alternative Medicine Home page.

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DATABASES

Herbal Information and Abstracts: AGRICOLA National Agricultural Library
Over 3.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles, theses, patents, software, and technical reports related to agriculture from 1979 to the present

BIOSIS
The world's largest collection of abstracts and bibliographic references to biological and medical literature. (Subscription)

Boston Healing Landscape Project Examines cultural, religious, and spiritual forms of complementary and alternative medicine, encouraging clinicians to work with multiple approaches to healing. Offers images of Botanicas and herbs in the Boston area.

Cochraine database of Systematic Reviews
Now has clinical research reviews on CAM topics including herbal medicine
(Subscription)

IBIDS - International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplement.
Government run database on scientific literature on dietary supplements.

MEDLINE
From the National Library of Medicine; scientific abstracts and bibliographic references (Free)

MEDLINEplus Herbal Medicine

NAPRALERT Natural Products Alert
Bibliographic and factual data on natural products. (Subscription)

Natural Medicine Database
One of the best subscription databases on herbs, in monograph form. (Subscription)

International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS)
IBIDS is produced by the Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH, along with the Food and Nutrition Information Center, National Agricultural Library, USDA. The database contains bibliographic records, including abstracts, on the topic of dietary supplements, which includes vitamins, minerals, and herbal and botanical supplements.

Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Database Sponsored by USDA. Must know plant genus for search (Free)
Toxicology Information: FDA MEDWATCH. A government sponsored site to report adverse effects. 1-800-FDA-1088.

IBIDS - International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplement . On line resources for drug herb interactions and adverse reports (both free and for fee resources)

TOXLINE and TOXNET, from the National Library of Medicine (Free)

Toxicology Information Resource Center.
TIRC is an information center offering direct access to international scientific and technical databases (Fee for service).

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JOURNALS & MONOGRAPHS: AltMedex form Micromedex
Helpfull well referenced monographs on herbal supplements and CAM topics. (Subscription)

American Botanical Council (ABC)
This non-profit educational and research organization developed monographs on 26 herbs detailing therapeutic use, safety, and dosage, complete with references. (Subscription)

American Herbal Pharmacopoeia
Peer-reviewed monographs on 12 herbal medicines covering such topics as history, commercial sources, therapeutics, and safety. (Subscription)

European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP) Established in June 1989 as an organization of European phytotherapy associations, ESCOP has now published 60 monographs on common herbal medicines. (Subscription)

Prescribers Letter. Therapeutic Research Center: Herbal monographs. Email: mail@pletter.com 209-472-2240 CME credits available.

Review of Natural Products.
(800) 223-0554. Formerly the Lawrence Review of Natural Products, these monographs provide footnoted information for several hundred herbal medicines under such headings as botany, chemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology. (Subscription)

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BOOKS: Blumenthal, M. ed. The Compete German Commission E Monographs. American Botanical Council, 1998

Blumenthal, M., A. Goldberg and J. Brinckmann, eds. Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs. Integrative Medicine Communications, 2000

Bradley, PR, ed. British Herbal Compendium, Volume 1. British Herbal Medicine Association, 1992

Bratman,Steven Mosbys Handbook of Herbal Supplements and their Therapeutics Uses. Mosby 2003

Brinker, F. Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions. Eclectic Medical Publications, 3rd ed.2001
Fugh-Berman, Adriane. The 5-Minute Herb and Dietary Supplement Consult. Lippincott, 2003. Easy to use, quick look-up format. Greuenwald, J. et al., eds PDR for Herbal Medicines, 2nd edition. Medical Economics Company, 2000 Kemper, K. The Holistic Pediatrician. Harper Collins, 1996 McCaleb, R.S. et al. The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs: Your Complete Guide to the Leading Medicinal Plants. Prima Publishers, 2000 McGuffin M. et al., eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. CRC Press, 1997 Miller, L.G. and W.J. Murray, eds. Herbal Medicinals: A Clinician's Guide. Pharmaceutical Products Press, 1998 Newall, C.A., L.a. Anderson and J.D. Phillipson, Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996 Peirce, A. The American Pharmaceutical Association Practical Guide to Natural Medicines. William Morrow & Company, 1999 Robbers, J.E. and Tyler, V.E. Tyler's Herbs of Choice: The Therapeutic Use of Phytomedicinals. The Haworth Herbal Press, 1999 Rotblatt, M, Evidenced Based Herbal Medicine, 2001 Schulz, V., R. Hansel and V.E. Tyler. Rational Phytotherapy: A Physicians' Guide to Herbal Medicine. Springer-Verlag, 4th ed., 2001 Werbach, M.R. Botanical Influences on Illness, 2nd edition. Third Line Press, 2000

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