With the rising use of herbal products in the United States health care providers are confronted with the need to educate the public about the risks and benefits pertaining to their use, however, at the present basic information about herbal product use is unavailable. The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence of use of herbal products among adults in a large metropolitan area, and to assess attitudes and beliefs related to their use. A mailed survey was conducted based on the Dillman method. To obtain a representative sample, 752 adults residing in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Metropolitan area were randomly drawn from Minnesota driver's license lists. Of the sampled individuals, 172 were found to be non-eligible due to change of address or death. Of the 580 eligible individuals 376 returned a completed survey, resulting in a response rate of 64.8%. Respondents were asked whether they had used any herbal product in the past 12 months. Overall, 61.2% reported using an herbal product. When asked about use of specific herbs, products reported to be used in the past 12 months by more than 10% of the respondents were ginseng (30.9%), echinacea (27.8%), garlic (25.2%), and ginkgo biloba (21.0%), St. John's wort (17.8%), ginger (17.3%) and ephedra (12.0%). More than one-fourth of the respondents reported drinking herbal tea for medicinal purposes. When asked whether they had used an herbal product to promote weight loss 13.6% reported that they had.
Learning Objectives: The participant in this session will be able to discuss the prevalence of use and characteristics of herbal product users in the Minneapolis/ St Paul metropolitan area
Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Herbal Medicine
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.