NCCAM, ODS Fund Five Botanical Research Centers

BETHESDA, Md.--The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), two components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (www.nih.gov), jointly issued five-year financial research grants to five dietary supplement research centers for the study of botanical products. In response to the growing consumer market for and swirling controversy surrounding many herbal products, the two agencies are backing these centers for research into the safety, effectiveness and mechanism of action of various botanicals.

Each research center has its own partner institutions, principal investigators and unique research focus:

Botanical Center for Age-Related Diseases--Led by Connie Weaver, Ph.D., with help from Purdue University, West Lafayette; Rutgers University, New Brunswick; and University of Alabama, Birmingham. The center will investigate polyphenols, from such products as soy and kudzu, and their effects on the diseases and conditions of aging, including osteoporosis, cognitive decline and cataracts.

Botanical Dietary Supplements for Womens Health--Led by Norman Farnsworth, Ph.D., with assistance from the University of Illinois, Chicago. This center will conduct trials on herbs and womens health issues, such as menopause, with an emphasis on standardization, metabolism and toxicity of certain botanicals, including black cohosh.

Botanicals and Metabolic Syndrome--Headed by Willam Cefalu, M.D., with support from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; and the Center of Agriculture and the Environment, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Researchers will study extracts of Russian tarragon, Shilianhua (native Chinese herb) and grapeseed and how they influence molecular and cellular processes associated with metabolic syndrome issues, including obesity, Type II diabetes and advanced heart disease.

MSKCC Research Center for Botanical Immunomodulators-- Headed by Barrie Cassileth, Ph.D., and Philip Livingston, M.D., and backed by a partnership of memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York; Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York; Rockefeller University, New York; and the Institute of Chinese Medicine, Chinese University, Hong Kong. The center will investigate the treatment of cancer and infectious disease by certain herbs, including echinacea, astragalus, turmeric, maitake and a traditional Chinese formula.

Wake Forest and Harvard Center for Botanical Lipids--Piloted by Floyd Chilton, Ph.D., and backed by Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem; and Harvard University, Cambridge. Researchers will study polyunsaturated fats as botanical oils and their anti-inflammatory actions against development and progression of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis and asthma.

These five centers will continue to fulfill the goal of [NIHs] initiative to foster interdisciplinary collaborative research, in order to identify potential health benefits and to develop a systematic evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of botanicals, particularly those available as dietary supplements, said Paul Coates, Ph.D., director of ODS.