Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Allergy-Immunology: More Information is Needed

When this topic was more formally introduced to our subspecialty by means of presentations at our national annual meetings under an educational grant from the National Institutes of Health- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2002 (American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology) and 2009 (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology), most of our clinical leadership were skeptical as to its validity and concerned that it may potentially further the development of a new “clinical ecology” movement that lacked scientific proof.9 Our specialty needs to see more high-quality positive (and negative) studies published to be able to properly integrate and assess the potential uses and adverse effects of CAM therapies in patients with asthma, allergic, and immunologic diseases.10 1 World Health Organization.2 M. Land, J. Wang, Complementary and alternative medicine use among allergy practices: results of a nationwide survey of allergists, J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract, 2017, 95-98 3 L. Bielory, K. Lupoli, Herbal interventions in asthma and allergy, J Asthma, Vol. 36, 1999, 1-65 4 Food and Drug Administration, Over-the-counter asthma products labeled as homeopathic: FDA statement - consumer warning about potential health risks, 2015, Available from: 5 Food and Drug Administration, Certain homeopathic teething products: FDA warning- confirmed elevated levels of belladonna, 2017, Available from: 6 Food and Drug Administration, Licorice coughing liquid OTC cough syrup by Ma Ying Long Pharmaceutical Group: CDER alert - contains unidentified morphine, 2016, Available from: 7 M.D. Seidman, R.K. Gurgel, S.Y. Lin, S.R. Schwartz, F.M. Baroody, J.R. Bonner, Clinical practice guideline: allergic rhinitis, Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, Vol. 152, 2015, S1-S43 8 C.C. Xue, A.L. Zhang, C.S. Zhang, C. DaCosta, D.F. Story, F.C. Thien, Acupuncture for seasonal allergic rhinitis: a randomized controlled trial, Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, Vol. 115, 2015, 317-324.e1 9 L. Bielory, The science of complementary and alternative medicine: the plural of anecdote is not evidence, Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, Vol. 93, 2004, S1-S4 10 L. Bielory, Replacing myth and prejudice with scientific facts about complementary and alternative medicine, Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol, Vol. 88, 2002, 249-250