The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [1] is a government website that provides information on the safety and effectiveness of different treatments such as homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, etc.

You can email a question about a complementary therapy to the NCCAM Clearinghouse [2] in English or Spanish. Their staff researches your question using government databases of scientific and medical literature and sends the results to you. This service is free of charge! They also have a link to a live online chat with a health information specialist.

CAM on PubMed [3] is a free online database where you can find scientific studies on the use of complementary therapies for various conditions.

Medline Plus [4] offers health information from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and other trusted sources. A recent valuable addition is extensive information on herbal medicines from the Natural Standard database. Search on a particular therapy and get a wealth of online resources.

The goal of the Bandolier Press [5] website from Oxford University is to provide summaries of “the best evidence available about complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) for sufferers and professionals.” Their site provides easy-to-read summaries of research studies on a variety of interesting topics.

The National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements [6] provides a wealth of information on dietary supplements including their use and safety, informed decision-making, background about claims and labeling, databases and research resources, etc.

The Food and Drug Administration [7] provides up-to-date information from the federal government on dietary supplements including current alerts or warnings, safety information, adverse event reporting, consumer education, and general information.

The National Cancer Institute [8] offers invaluable information for cancer patients and families, including information on complementary and alternative medicine (look under Cancer Topics).

The BBC’s website on complementary medicine [9] offers interesting articles on a wide variety of topics to help you become more informed about different therapies and find out how to play an active part in your own health.

WholeHealthMD [10] has a variety of easy-to-use ways to find information on complementary therapies. You can click on Healing Centers to search for information by diagnosis or condition, or click on Reference Library to look up specific therapies.

MayoClinic.com [11] has a section on complementary and alternative medicine, including information on how to assess evidence. Look under the Live Well section.

The Life Science Foundation [12] focuses on human health and well-being through complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), new understandings of life through the activities of 21st century science, and the acquisition of information, knowledge, and wisdom through intuition.