Issue: 60 Page: 10-11
What You Didn't Know about www.HerbalGram.org
by Wayne Silverman
HerbalGram. 2003; 60:10-11 American Botanical Council
So you thought beautiful issues of HerbalGram were all
you got with membership in ABC. But wait! There’s more!
ABC has incorporated an extensive collection of educational
resources into its website, <www.herbalgram.org>,
for all levels of users. Recent visitors have expressed surprise at the depth,
flexibility, uniqueness, and usefulness of these electronic resources. Among them
are five unique databases, a variety of e-versions of booklets and pamphlets,
news and press releases, and much more. Many questions at any level in herbal
medicine may be answered on the ABC website.
Nonmembers have access to some of ABC’s general resources
as well as samples from the databases. ABC has learned that many of its members
are not taking advantage of these valuable resources. If you have misplaced your
membership information and need your private username and password, call ABC at
800/373-7105, or email ABC <the Membership Department>.
Many ABC members regularly use these Internet-based research
and education tools, and report to ABC that our resources are all they need to
answer their questions and help with their research. Consumers, patients, members
of the media, and healthcare practitioners have reported success in finding answers
to most of their questions about safety, dosage, clinical studies, and interactions.
Researchers, academics, and government employees have reported success in directing
them to the research reviews and clinical studies they need in their work. Members
of industry are finding that ABC’s resources are useful in building their
files to assist in substantiating product claims, providing sales staff and customers
with therapeutic and health information, and generally helping them access key
information quickly and economically.
There are five password-protected databases. All ABC members
have access to the first three of the five databases described in this article
and the other two databases are available to those who join at the Academic level
and higher.
• HerbalGram
Online – HerbalGram, ABC’s journal, has been published since
1983. The searchable database, available to all ABC members, contains HerbalGram
archives back to 1990. The table of contents of the most current issue, with links
to article text, is always posted on the HerbalGram Online homepage. Visitors
may use the flexible search engine or search for articles based on departments,
authors, or issue-by-issue. For example, to see what HerbalGram has written
on Legal and Regulatory issues, select "Departments" and then "Legal
and Regulatory" and the screen will display the titles of all of the articles
published in this general department, arranged from newest to oldest, which may
then be opened. Searching for words or phrases is very flexible using the "all
words," "any words," or "exact phrase" criteria. Search
results are displayed in the order of the frequency of the occurrence of the search
word or phrase.
• Commission
E
Online —— In 1998, ABC published the now-famous Complete German
Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines. Commission
E, the governmental body in Germany that evaluated the safety and efficacy of
herbal medicines, produced 380 monographs in German to be used as product inserts.
The book, which translated these monographs into English, was named by Doody’s
Publishing, a medical book-ranking service, as the second leading medical book
of 1998. This online version of the entire book, available to all members, provides
all of the English monographs, and permits easy navigation through the many cross-references
and indices. For example, to see what herbs were approved for use in Germany by
Commission E for "sore throat," select "Approved Herbs Uses and
Indications" index, then "Respiratory," and then "sore throat."
Sixteen herb monographs are listed for this indication; and the viewer may read
them all.
• Expanded
Commission E Online – In 2000, ABC published Herbal Medicine: Expanded
Commission E Monographs, which focuses on 107 of the most popular herbs from
the 380 monographs in the previous book and provides "expanded" information
on each herb. This new information includes detailed overviews, clinical research,
references, and expanded sections in dosage, administration, pharmacology, and
chemistry. The online version permits ABC members to select any herb and quickly
jump to the section of their choice.
• HerbClip™
Online – HerbClip has been a paper-based service of ABC for more
than 10 years. ABC searches for seminal articles on herbal medicine in the popular
and scientific literature from around the world (English language only with some
occasional translations from some foreign language journals). ABC selects those
that are most important, creates a one- to two-page critical review of the article
which provides a summary of the original article, links to other topics, and,
at times, criticism of the original article. Sponsor members receive a packet
in the mail twice a month consisting of 12 critical reviews and the original article
when possible. The Online version displays the 12 critical reviews from the most
current "mailing" and has a powerful and flexible search engine built
in. For example, to search for information on "diabetes," search results
would point to HerbClip reviews of articles where this was the main topic, or
all HerbClips that mention the word.
• HerbMedPro™
– This database is an herbal link to PubMed™, the online
medical database at the National Library of Medicine, and other public domain
databases. This database was developed and is updated by the Alternative Medicine
Foundation (AMF) . ABC is grateful for the cooperative
relationship with AMF. HerbMedPro is an interactive, electronic herbal database
that provides hyperlinked access to the clinical and scientific data underlying
the use of herbs for health. It is an evidence-based information resource for
healthcare professionals, researchers, industry, and general public. Once an herb
is selected, the user sees the studies displayed in six categories and sub-categories.
When a sub-category is selected, HerbMedPro displays a short description of each
study. These descriptions are usually one or two sentences long and are much easier
to use to obtain a quick understanding of the scope and results of an article
than reading the published abstract. By selecting a specific study, users are
linked to the full citation and abstract from the specific database on which the
abstract resides (e.g., PubMed). This program is for users who need deeper and
higher levels of evidence in their work.
All visitors to ABC’s website have access to the following
electronic resources:
• Botanical
Booklet Series – A collection of 15 "e-booklets" each covering
a single herb with a thumbnail photo. The reading level is moderate and the sections
include history, safety, use, cautions, and other topics. In their printed versions,
these booklets are eight pages each and are available in sets, in large quantity
for "third party literature," or for resale or giveaways in retail stores
or other educational uses.
• Herb
Reference Guide – A therapeutic illustrated summary of 26 common herbs.
The five "bullet" points covered are: dosage, uses, contraindications,
side effects, and interactions.
• Common
Herbs – A brief summary of 29 common herbs with illustrations, written
in consumer-friendly language, includes the use of each herb and what scientific
studies have revealed. This is also available as a full-color pamphlet in large
quantity for free distribution. More than 5 million of these brochures have been
distributed by ABC and its members.
• News
Archive – All press releases from ABC and letters written by ABC to the
editors of various newspapers, magazines, and journals are archived here.
• HerbalGram
Online Samples – This section of HerbalGram contains sample articles
from almost every department. In addition, viewers may select the "Department"
index on the HerbalGram page to access the entire archive of the following
departments: ABC News, Market Reports, Book Reviews, Dear Reader, and In Memoriam.
Overall, hundreds of articles are open to all visitors, who may use the search
engine to garner all of the resulting citations.
• Educational
Links – Hundreds of links to other commercial and non-commercial websites
are available and are indexed in sections.
• HerbClip™
Online Samples – Dozens of samples are available to all viewers in the
HerbClip section of the website and new samples are added every two weeks. All
visitors are able to use the search engine and receive all of the citations of
the search result.
Many herbal questions may be answered at ,
whether the visitor is a member or not. ABC encourages members to fully acquaint
themselves with their benefits and the existing resources. ABC staff members are
available by email or phone to answer questions about using the system. This may
be the resource you have been looking for but did not realize was already at your
fingertips!
–Wayne Silverman, PhD
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