The use of black cohosh to treat symptoms of menopause.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. In general, the quality of the evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of most CAM therapies is poor. To provide better care and foster an improved doctor-patient relationship, physicians should become informed about CAM, be able to provide educated advice to their patients, and help them integrate any CAM therapies shown to be safe and effective into their health care. SRM will strive to educate and inform, emphasizing the scientific evidence--or lack of it--when evaluating the safety and efficacy of CAM therapies. The appearance of articles on CAM in SRM should not necessarily be seen as an endorsement of the practice or therapy. CAM therapies should be subjected to the same scientific scrutiny as traditional medicines, while recognizing that existing standards for judging treatments can be vulnerable.