Research & Informational Websites
Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), NIH The ODS supports research and disseminates research results in the area of dietary supplements. It produces The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database, which provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published, international, and scientific literature on dietary supplements. Users can choose to search the Full IBIDS Database, a subset of Consumer Citations Only or Peer Reviewed Citations Only. Go to dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov and select “Health Information”.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) NCCAM, as part of the NIH, maintains a free website that provides health information, research, clinical trials, training opportunities and information about complementary and alternative therapies. You can subscribe on-line for a free “CAM at the NIH” quarterly newsletter.
CAM on PubMed CAM on PubMed, a database on the Web developed jointly by NCCAM and the National Library of Medicine, offers citations to (and in most cases, abstracts of) articles in scientifically based, peer- reviewed journals on complementary and alternative medicine. It contains 220,000 citations, has links to full text, and allows searchers to limit retrievals by publication type. Look for the Alerts and Advisories, treatment information, resources, links to other organizations (FDA, AHRQ, ODS etc.).
The Cochrane Library The Cochrane Library is a collection of science-based reviews from the Cochrane Collaboration, an international nonprofit organization that seeks to provide “up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health care”. Abstracts of these reviews can be read on the Web without charge.
Health Canada The Canadian government regulates natural health products in Canada licensing products with proof of safety and efficacy. This is a very helpful site that lists products licensed in Canada and has helpful monographs.
Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University Fantastic resource for learning the latest on vitamins, minerals and some herbs. Reliable, current and free to use. If you click on Micronutrient Information Center, a wealth of information is right at your fingertips. If you click under Disease Index, you can look up which supplements might be beneficial for a specific health condition.
The Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) This is my go to website for environmental information. This is the group that brings us the Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen list of foods each year based upon pesticide residue. Lots of information and tips for reducing exposure to endocrine disruptors in your skin care products, cookware, etc. Great organization.
The Number Needed to Treat (www.thennt.com) Quick summaries of evidence-based medicine. A group of physicians that have developed a framework and rating system to evaluate therapies based on their patient-important benefits and harms as well as a system to evaluate diagnostics by patient sign, symptom, lab test or study. They only use the highest quality, evidence-based studies (frequently, but not always Cochrane Reviews), and we accept no outside funding or advertisements.