MW5106: A Survey of Research Methods

Watch the video below to learn about one of the techniques for finding natural medicine/CAM research in PubMed.  This tool works best when you know the health condition and are interested in learning about what complementary medicine research exists regarding that condition.

You can also use "complementary therapies" as a MeSH term to pull out resources that suggest possible CAM interventions for a particular condition.

NOTE:  what PubMed means by CAM (the scope note) might not mean what you mean by CAM - make sure you edit your search accordingly!

Preliminary fact-finding before you begin a search for information on herbs and other botanicals can save time and trouble. In most databases, the best searches often include the plant's common name, scientific name (genus and/or species), and unique chemical constituents (if any have been identified):

Individual plant names: Consider using the species or genus in addition to the common name(s), which can vary according to geographical location.

Plant constituents (chemical components): Consider including specific plant constituents in your search, especially for  pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic aspects. NOTE: Constituents specific to a species or its genus that have been identified as producing a bioactive or therapeutic effect make the best search terms.

   For example:

• liver diseases AND (milk thistle OR silymarin)

               health condition, common name & bioactive constituent

• inflammation AND (licorice OR glycyrrhiza OR glycyrrhetinic acid)

               health condition, common name, genus & bioactive constituent