Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine refers to healthcare practices used in place of or alongside conventional biomedicine, often grounded in natural, holistic, or traditional systems. It includes the use of medicinal plants and dietary supplements, manual and energy-based techniques, and culturally rooted therapies, and is frequen…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 12 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 68× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2641-4538 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Alternative medicine refers to healthcare practices used in place of or alongside conventional biomedicine, often grounded in natural, holistic, or traditional systems. It includes the use of medicinal plants and dietary supplements, manual and energy-based techniques, and culturally rooted therapies, and is frequently described as complementary when combined with standard care. Evaluating such approaches requires the same standards of evidence applied elsewhere, examining proposed mechanisms, safety, and measurable effects on biological and clinical outcomes. Research in this area surveys medicinal plants and their traditional uses, complementary and alternative approaches relevant to cancer prevention, and the management of conditions such as hyperuricaemia through specific techniques. A substantial body of work investigates biofield and energy-based treatments through controlled cell-line and animal-model studies, assessing effects on antioxidant activity, sleep and stress biomarkers, vital-organ-specific markers, bone health, immune modulation, and plant growth. Other studies consider the safety of natural products, including contact sensitivity to essential oils. By subjecting traditional and unconventional practices to laboratory and clinical assessment, alternative-medicine research seeks to distinguish demonstrable effects from unsupported claims, to characterise the active components and safety of plant-derived and other interventions, and to clarify where such practices may complement conventional treatment within an evidence-based framework.

Research published in this journal

12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

2018

Medicinal Plants and their Traditional Uses

Keskin CumaliCorresponding author
Mardin Artuklu University, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health, 47100 Mardin, Turkey.
Exact topic Advances in Plant Biology Cited by 47 doi:10.14302/issn.2638-4469.japb-18-2423

How this research is being cited

The 12 articles above have been cited 68 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Alternative Medicine, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Public Health International (ISSN 2641-4538).

Journal editorial board
Javad Javan-Noughabi · United Kingdom Evelyn O Talbott · United States Zainab Taha · United Arab Emirates

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.