New Iowa Center To Study Botanicals
Self-heal (prunella)
© Alternative Nature Herbals
St. John's wort, echinacea, and a plant called self-heal (prunella) are more than colorful additions to the summer herb garden. Each has a history of use in herbal medicine and is an ingredient in dietary supplements.
A new research center in Iowa, cofunded by NCCAM and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, will zoom in closer on these botanicals to better understand the compounds in them, their chemical profiles, and their potential to fight viruses and inflammation. In recent years, scientists have identified inflammation as a factor in a number of chronic diseases, such as heart disease.
The new center, announced on May 3, 2007, is headed by Diane Birt, Ph.D., distinguished professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University (ISU). It will bring together teams from a variety of disciplines at ISU, the University of Iowa, and Yale University. The Iowa center joins five others funded by NIH and focused on botanicals. For descriptions of all research centers funded or cofunded by NCCAM, go to http://nccam.nih.gov/training/centers/descriptions.htm.
