A new study shows that Baby Boomers use alternative medicine more than generations before or after them do. That's what researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro recently found in a study of middle-aged adults.

The study found that although older adults often have poorer health, it is middle-aged adults who are most likely to turn to complementary and alternative medicine. They also found that race and ethnic backgrounds don't matter as much as age does in whether an individual used self-care methods

Refuting the age long claims of cholesterol-lowering tendencies of garlic, a news study now shows that eating raw or supplement garlic does not lower 'bad' cholesterol levels in people whose levels were already elevated.

Garlic producers have long cited the herb as a cure to many illnesses including heart disease, cancer, infections and even mosquito bites through the presence of a sulfur-containing substance called allicin that is released when raw garlic is chopped or crushed

A recently published study by a University of Arkansas professor and graduate student suggests that the herbal supplement Echinacea, often used in the treatment of common cold, may also be responsible for an increase in bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Echinacea has been attributed with the ability to boost the body's immune system and ward off infections, particularly the common cold

According to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM), China and France will encourage cooperation in traditional medicine.

SATCM's press office told Xinhua news agency that an agreement sealing the requests of the two countries would be inked in the beginning of 2007

A new study by Canadian researchers suggests that extract from Cuban sugar cane may not be as effective in lowering cholesterol levels as observed in earlier studies. The study contradicts dozens of human and animal studies from one lab based in Cuba that had shown dramatic cholesterol-lowering effects by policosanols present in Cuban sugar cane.

Dr. Peter J. H. Jones and Dr. Amira N. Kassis from Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Functional Foods at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, conducted their research on 21 healthy men and women with high cholesterol