EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks. ...more

November 1, 2009

Sam Silverman is co-captain of his high school football team - a safety accustomed to bruising collisions. But that's nothing compared with the abuse he gets for being a vegetarian. ...more

January 12, 2009

Shawna Needham is willing to travel all the way from Ruskin to Palm Harbor twice a week to have her 4-year-old son, Ryken, cared for by a local chiropractor who uses an alternative approach to treating autism and its related ailments. ...more

November 29, 2008

Imagine 28 superfine pins sticking out of your hip while a technician attaches low-voltage clips to stimulate them. ...more

October 22, 2008

Imagine 28 superfine pins sticking out of your hip while a technician attaches low-voltage clips to stimulate them. ...more

October 15, 2008

My wife of 33 years reminds me almost on a daily basis of all the things I do not do. I am not referring to the responsibilities involving housework, shopping, temple visits or social life. I'm talking about her advice about my health: how I do not drink enough water, how I do not take enough antioxidants, how I find excuses not to go to yoga classes, how I do not eat enough organic stuff, etc. Never mind that I went through rigorous medical training for 13 years and have been practicing medicine for another 27 years and have received national awards for preaching prevention. She has all the answers for all my problems - tiredness, aches and pains, allergies and losing hair. I can imagine the pressures other people must be under from friends, families, claims and commercials to lead a "natural, safe and organic life." ...more

October 5, 2008

The largest alternative medicine study the government has ever launched has stopped enrolling people while officials investigate whether participants were fully informed of the risks and are being adequately protected, The Associated Press has learned. ...more

September 26, 2008

It sounds far-fetched - sticking needles in women to help them become pregnant - but a scientific review suggests that acupuncture might improve the odds of conceiving if done right before or after embryos are placed in the womb. ...more

February 8, 2008