Several of the articles in Nature Reviews Cancer mention natural products with interesting biological effects against cancer. But — with so many of these products commercially available and so few stringent regulatory checks — how is it possible to evaluate these compounds and know how safe they are? The answers might only be a click away.
The 'About Herbs, Botanicals and Other Products' web site is the brainchild of the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, whose mission was to provide an online resource with easy access to concise, clinically relevant information about botanicals, vitamin mixtures and other related products. Each entry is researched and written by an oncology-trained pharmacist, with expertise in botanical products, or by a cancer nutrition specialist. The entries are then peer-reviewed by at least two editors or panel advisors before being posted on the web site.
The web site is designed to be used by consumers and health-care professionals, and when you search for your favourite herb or botanical the results page provides a wealth of information. This includes a clinical summary and a list of constituents (where applicable), as well as facts about the mechanisms of actions, side effects, interactions and other potential problems or benefits. The entries are updated as often as relevant news is released and reviewed at least twice a year to ensure that the data are current.
So, with such high quality information, it is hardly surprising this web site received a 2003 Sci/Tech Web Award in Medicine from the editors at Scientific American.
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Croager, E. Plant power. Nat Rev Cancer 3, 714 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1203
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1203
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