HHS HealthBeat (February 15, 2006)

What Grandma Takes

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Older folks have been around long enough to have an idea what works for them – whether it really does nor not. A survey in rural North Carolina finds older folks often favor home remedies. Home remedies can be anything from herbal teas to liniments – and while some might have a scientifically provable effect, others might not work at all.

Researcher Joseph Grzywacz of Wake Forest University did the study. The report in the American Journal of Health Behavior was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Grzywacz reports cultural differences in use of home remedies.

"The existing data do consistently indicate higher, sometimes as much as 50 to 75 percent higher, use of home remedies among racial and ethnic minority adults." (eight seconds)

He says the reason could be that minority group members believe more strongly that home remedies work.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: August, 15 2006