A Web site now offers individuals what it calls an independent method for evaluating and comparing alternative, herbal and homeopathic medicines.

User-based health Web site RateADrug.com has added treatment evaluation and statistical-comparison tools for alternative medicines and herbal supplements. Consumers will now be able to assess the safety and effectiveness of supplements and traditional ayurvedic, Chinese, and homeopathic medicines, as well as herbal remedies, vitamins and minerals, in addition to prescription drugs. Ayone trying to decide on the best treatment for a particular condition can use the site to make a personal evaluation of current prescriptions and complementary medications, and to look at how well other users rate both those and similar treatments.

Americans spend an estimated $34 billion a year on alternative therapies, roughly 11% percent of their out-of-pocket health expenses. However, most of the data used for making complementary treatment decisions come from manufacturers or distributors. While the prescription-drug industry has faced serious questions about the objectivity and integrity of the scientific data used to approve or prescribe conventional drugs, unregulated alternative therapies pose an equally important challenge. RateADrug offers what it calls an unbiased and highly systematic way for users to evaluate their own experiences with medications and compare them with crowd-sourced input from other users. The company says its long-term goal will be to provide a comprehensive source of unbiased, user-based treatment data for all types of medications that will complement existing sources of health information.

"RateADrug users can directly compare real-world safety and effectiveness data of both prescription and
alternative therapies to discover which treatment might be best for their specific condition," says Mark Deuitch, RateADrug's founder. "They can also e-mail their own evaluations of their current treatments to their doctor to initiate more-productive office visits. RateADrug's new complementary therapy evaluations will enable doctors to understand patients' goals with supplements and avoid potentially dangerous interactions."

Furthermore, Deuitch says,"It is highly likely that the Obama healthcare-reform plan will include an alternative-medicine component, given the popularity and economic advantages of preventive and complementary medicine. Going forward, the need for a more systematic approach to finding out what actually works and what doesn't will be very important."

RateADrug offers user evaluations and ratings for popular alternative medications, including calcium, vitamin B, Zicam, valerian, echinacea, melatonin, cat's-claw, saw palmetto, ginkgo, dong quai, yin chiao, milk thistle, ginseng, astragalus, St. John's Wort, goldenseal, turmeric and more than 1,000 other popular herbs and supplements.

A full list of alternative therapy reports is available at http://www.rateadrug.com/Supplements.aspx.