The University of Chicago, internationally renowned for its hospitals and medical research, has opened the Tang Center, whose work is slowly carving a niche for herbal medicine in the normally dismissive scientific world.

With one third of Americans using alternative therapies for ailments from hypertension to cancer, the research done at the Center could stand to change the way we look at — and regulate — herbal medicine.

The Tang Center, located in Hyde Park at U of C’s Medical Center, evaluates both benefits and risks of medicinal herbs through evidence-based research, and provides “unbiased information” to healthcare professionals and health-conscious consumers via their website.

Both physicians and consumers can benefit from the research done at the Tang Center. Dr. Chun-Su Yuan, director of the Center, stresses that “Consumers may think a herbal supplement is natural, but it still may interact with drugs or surgery.” A patient — or doctor — may not know, for example, that Ginseng stimulates the immune system and improves energy, but it can cause rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, excessive bleeding and low blood sugar levels during surgery.

Currently, there is no requirement to register dietary supplements with the FDA. In addition to changing the minds of the fifty percent of doctors who don’t believe in herbal medicine, the Tang Center’s research is working to help the reputability of herbal medicines in the scientific world.

However, to Americans who fear for their health freedom and prospective CODEX legislation — which, among other dictates, would limit the availability of herbal medicines to a prescription-only basis — this research may be a troubling step toward regulation.

Dr. Yuan says, “research done at the Tang Center will aid in the standardization and regulation of herbal medicines.” He clarifies that by standardization and regulation, he is referring to “the academic and scientific approach — not necessarily as outlined in the CODEX legislation,” which he explains is “a legal issue.”

Funding for the Center comes from the Tang Foundation — an international donor that channels resources toward healthcare and education — as well as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a federal agency within the Department of Health & Human Services, which awards $120 million in CAM grants per year.

The Tang center’s website details background, uses, phytochemistry/pharmacology, safety, and preparations/dosage for a number of herbs and botanicals they have studied and tested so far, and continues to update as research presses onward.

— Jessie Tierney for Conscious Choice Magazine (scroll down to view the article)