Do you tell your doctor about any of your alternative medicines or treatments?

Two-thirds of  Americans 50 or over aren't even mentioning it to their physicians, despite concerns among health experts that people are mixing potentially dangerous combos of prescription drugs, herbs and dietary supplements, a new survey indicates.

Since nearly three-fourths of the people in the survey by the AARP take one or more prescription medication and more than half take over-the-counter products, the findings underscore the need for patients and doctors to talk about all therapies, said one high-ranking health official.

"An open dialogue between consumers and their physicians is critical to ensuring safe and appropriate integrated care," said Dr. Margaret A. Chesney, deputy director of the federal government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,  which helped with the survey. 

Women more likely to talk to docs

This year, Americans will spend about $20 billion on supplements alone for various conditions, from depression to weight loss. Nearly four in 10 Americans have used herbal supplements such as Echinacea, St. John's Wort, Saw Palmetto and others to help with medical problems or as part of their regular diets - and most think supplements generally are effective, according to a CBS News poll.

Despite the growing use of complementary and alternative medicine, the AARP survey of  1,559 people 50 or older showed 69 percent who use the techniques don't talk to their doctors about them. The survey also found that women were more likely than men to talk about CAM use with their doctors.

According to the findings: 

•  42 percent of the people didn't talk about their CAM use because their doctors didn't ask them;
 
•  30 percent didn't know they should;

•  19 percent said there wasn't enough time during their office visits.

But when they did talk with their doctors:

•  67 percent talked about the effectiveness of such therapies and drugs;

•  60 percent discussed how a complementary and alternative therapy might interact with other medications and treatments;

•  60 percent got advice on whether to use a complementary therapy or alternative medicine;

•  57 percent discussed the safety of a complementary therapy.

'Buyer's beware market'

The survey comes on the heels  of a new book that fires the latest salvo in the war between some health experts and the dietary supplement industry - a war which ultimately leaves consumers to decide for themselves.

In Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in Americas Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry, Dan Hurley, a science and medical writer, contends that hundreds of research projects show little proof that dietary supplements work or if they're safe.

"It's a buyer's beware market," Hurley said in an essay in the New York Times.  
In the essay, which is based on his book, Hurley said the American Association of Poison Control Centers fielded more than 1.6 million reports of adverse reactions to such products between 1983 and 2005, including more than 250,000 that required hospitalization and 230 deaths, Hunley said.

His book became the source of a recent investigation by CBS News on dietary supplements.

'Not credible'

Hurley's comments raised the hackles of  supplement fans and groups representing the $21 billion supplement industry. 

 "The book cannot be considered a credible, scientific work," said Steve Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition in Washington, D.C., an industry trade group. "This is an assortment of extreme anecdotes that exploit rare and tragic misfortunes in an agenda-driven attempt to sell books."

Mister contends Hurley relies on "personal opinion and isolated incidents to falsely imply that these cases represent the experience of the more than 150 million Americans who take safe, beneficial dietary supplements as part of their healthy lifestyle choices.

"He either has an appalling lack of understanding about even the most fundamental aspects of dietary supplements or purposely chooses to mislead consumers in order to draw his conclusions.

For more information

•  National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

•  Alternative Medicine and  Herbs and Supplements

•  Council for Responsible Nutrition

•  Natural Products Association

•  Five Steps to Choosing Safe Nutritional Supplements

Source: U.S. National Institutes of Health

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