Quantification of the scientific research in the United States about popular herbal remedies referenced on PubMed.

Herbal supplements are among the most popular complementary and alternative therapies used in the US, yet many healthcare providers report having inadequate knowledge about herbs. It also has been reported that many healthcare providers want to have a better understanding of herbs so that they may recommend or discourage their use. In this report, we attempt to determine whether a significant body of research has been indexed in PubMed on the most widely used herbs in the US. These data also prove useful in determining whether the scientific community in the US is focusing investigations on herbs that are widely used domestically. In addition, many clinicians in the US use data from clinical trials performed in the US to inform their practice, so we wanted to determine whether significant clinical data on these herbs were available.