What is alternative health?

Answer 1

Alternative health is the use of health care that is considered "alternative" to "mainline" health care that relies heavily on pharmaceutical drugs.

Here is more information about alternative health care:

• Alternative and complementary health care approaches have rapidly grown in popularity.
• The reasons for growth of complementary and alternative health care approaches are a result of increased knowledge of both "conventional" and alternative health care, and demand from consumers, though the benefits of alternative health care are often not recognized by government agencies and is usually, if not always, not covered by health insurance.
• There is a diverse range of alternative health care products and services that offer prevention and management for specific conditions and maintenance of health. Some are modifying the diet to eat healthier foods, use of supplements and herbs for general health and specific conditions, and many more.
• Alternative health care is most often not regulated by authorities and professional associations.
• Though more and more people are turning to alternative health care, there are still many skeptics due to limited scientific evidence (studies) of their success.
• Some complementary and alternative health care approaches can interfere with conventional medical management and treatment. It is important to inform medical practitioners if you are using other treatments.
• Individuals need the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions regarding their health and the use of both "conventional" and alternative health care approaches.
• The internet provides sites for all health care approaches, but one has to be careful to sort out the misinformation from the reliable information.