| Americans Embracing Alternative Therapies Updated 1:46 PM ET April 25, 2000 By Alan Mozes NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While alternative therapies have become more popular in the US over the past couple of decades, new survey findings indicate that 9 out 10 Americans believe that alternative medicine may help a wide variety of health conditions. The survey revealed that vitamins and herbs were by far the most common form of alternative therapy used, with over 40% reporting this was their therapy of choice. Massage was indicated by 29% of those polled as the second most common therapy, followed by aromatherapy, yoga, and homeopathic products. About 74% of women and 57% of men take vitamins on a daily basis. Women were also more likely to try alternative therapies in general than men were -- with 68% of women saying they would do so as compared with 50% of men. "We knew the majority of customers who buy the products were women but we didn't necessarily know that they also made up the majority of people who use them," said Jim Flaherty, the vice president of marketing for Puritan.com, the company that funded the survey. Puritan.com is a direct-to-consumer web and catalog company based in Bohemia, New York that markets vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutritional supplements. The survey was conducted March 23 - 26, and included more than 1,000 telephone interviews of Americans over the age of 18. Of those who said alternative therapy could help health conditions, 74% said the therapies could provide stress relief and 67% said they could combat low energy. Joint pain and arthritis, weight gain or loss, psychological and emotional disorders, muscle building and skin, nail and hair conditions were other conditions people felt could benefit from alternative therapies. Geographic location also had an impact on an individual's willingness to use alternative therapies. About 65% of those in the western US said they would try alternative therapy, as did 61% in the Northeast followed by 59% in the South and 54% in the Midwest. In an interview with Reuters Health, Flaherty noted that this was the first survey designed to identify the habits and goals of Americans who might use alternative therapies. "People vote with their dollars," he said, "but we wanted to get some basic overviews about people's use of alternative medicine. We wanted to see what the attitudes out there were about alternative therapies. And obviously a very strong part has been in the area of supplementation herbs and vitamins," he added. . |
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