By Sharahn D. Boykin
When second-year graduate student Michael Armani developed the skin condition eczema during his second year of college, he did what most people would do — he saw a doctor.
After applying a prescription cream called Elidel to clear it up, Armani said, he began to have reservations about the product. After doing some research, he found out the cream was suspected of causing cancer. So Armani decided to try something different — a deep liver and organ herbal detoxification treatment.
The treatment cleared up Armani’s eczema, and he said he’s been hooked on herbal treatments ever since. “Everything felt better,” he said, noting the herbal cocktail containing Red Clover, Burdock and Yellow Dock added some other pleasant effects such as enhancing his sex life.
Armani is part of the growing number of students turning to alternative medicines to treat chronic health conditions, prevent illness, and enhance physical performance.
A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that slightly more than 26 percent of students used supplements for reasons other than dietary purposes. The most frequent reasons students reported using the supplements were to improve energy, to lose weight or to burn fat.
The interest at this university in alternative medicine such as herbal treatments was strong enough that Tracy Zeeger, a wellness program coordinator in the Center for Health and Wellbeing, helped organize a workshop aimed at educating students about herbal remedies and other alternative medicine.
Zeeger got the idea after a strong student interest in acupuncture and massage, and she estimated that about 20 students attended the last workshop.
“I was looking for more innovative ideas other than traditional stress management,” Zeeger said.
The center hosted its second herbal workshop on Tuesday, and although it was not as well attended as the first, students still expressed an interest in looking to natural treatments.
Although not expressed at that meeting, many in the medical community have raised significant concern about the herbal medicine industry’s lack of Food and Drug Administration regulation. Jane Jakubczak, a health center dietitian, said the public has a false sense of security with dietary supplements.
“People think that dietary supplements are regulated because prescription medications are regulated,” Jakubczak said.
And although she considers vitamin supplements to be generally safe, she doesn’t usually recommend the use of supplements for anything else.
“My bottom line is that I would never recommend an herbal or sports supplement,” she said.
Concerns similar to Jakubczak’s have led to a different kind of interest in herbal remedies for some students here: concerns about inaccurate labeling on nutritional supplements have led students working on the Publicizing Herbal Adverse Reactions with Medications for an Improved Tomorrow Gemstone project to collaborate with the FDA on a research study involving ginseng labels.
“So far a lot of the labels have been unreliable,” said Laura Caputo, a member of the Gemstone team and a senior physiology major.
The purpose of the project is not to discourage people from using supplements, Caputo said, but to increase awareness of labeling issues.
Contact reporter Sharahn Boykin at boykindbk@gmail.com.
www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/09/21/45126d83ba18f
