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In Western culture, alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine", or "that which has not been shown consistently to be effective."Davis, Adam Brooke. "A Few Words About Folk Medicine/" It is often opposed to evidence based medicine and encompasses therapies with a historical or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. Commonly cited examples include naturopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, Unani, Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture, and diet-based therapies, in addition to a range of other practices.Definition of Complementary medicine, MedicineNet.com It is frequently grouped with complementary medicine, which generally refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques,White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, Chapter 2, March 2002.Ernst E. Complementary medicine: Common misconceptions. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1995;88(5):244-247.Joyce CR . Placebo and complementary medicine. Lancet 1994;344(8932):1279-1281. under the umbrella term complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. Some significant researchers in alternative medicine oppose this grouping, preferring to emphasize differences of approach, but nevertheless use the term CAM, which has become standard.Elsevier Science - Interview with Edzard Ernst, editor of The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine practices are as diverse in their foundations as in their methodologies. Practices may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine, folk knowledge, spiritual beliefs, or newly conceived approaches to healing.Acharya, Deepak and Shrivastava Anshu (2008): Indigenous Herbal Medicines: Tribal Formulations and Traditional Herbal Practices, Aavishkar Publishers Distributor, Jaipur- India. ISBN 9788179102527. pp 440 Jurisdictions where alternative medical practices are sufficiently widespread may license and regulate them. The claims made by alternative medicine practitioners are generally not accepted by the medical community because evidence-based assessment of safety and efficacy is either not available or has not been performed for many of these practices. If scientific investigation establishes the safety and effectiveness of an alternative medical practice, whereupon it becomes mainstream medicine and is no longer "alternative", and will therefore become widely adopted by conventional practitioners. Because alternative techniques tend to lack evidence, some have advocated defining it as non-evidence based medicine, or not medicine at all. Some researchers state that the evidence-based approach to defining CAM is problematic because some CAM is tested, and research suggests that many mainstream medical techniques lack solid evidence.

A 1998 systematic review of studies assessing its prevalence in 13 countries concluded that about 31% of cancer patients use some form of complementary and alternative medicine. Alternative medicine varies from country to country. Edzard Ernst believes that in Austria and Germany CAM is mainly in the hands of physicians, while some estimates suggest that at least half of American alternative practitioners are physicians.Cassileth, Barrie R. Alternative and Complementary Cancer Treatments The Oncologist, Vol. 1, No. 3, 173?179, June 1996 In Germany, herbs are tightly regulated, with half prescribed by doctors and covered by health insurance based on their Commission E legislation.JAMA - Sign In Page