title: Shopping for nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine on the Internet: how much money might cancer patients be spending online?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  How much money might cancer patients be spending on-line for nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine therapies? This question is relevant because over $34 billion per year is spent on complementary and alternative medicine in the United States, and the Internet has facilitated the acquisition of such therapies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We therefore conducted a "patient simulation exercise" in which the Internet was surfed for nutrition-based therapies, which were touted as therapeutic or palliative in the cancer setting. Monthly costs for each agent were calculated. Agents with clinical evidence of efficacy were excluded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A search of 2,500 Web sites and related pages revealed a total of 16 different products. The monthly cost of each ranged from to $4.33 to $263.00. The median cost of a single agent was $27.00 per month.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study emphasizes the need for health care providers to undertake with cancer patients a comprehensive discussion of therapeutic options--including those relevant to nutrition-based complementary and alternative medicine. A compassionate discussion of patients' out-of-pocket costs should be an integral part of that discussion and should be emphasized as an important dimension of patient education efforts.
authors.affiliation: University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Mohammad Anas
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alsawaf
authors.forename: Aminah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jatoi
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003132:Commerce; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000178:diet therapy*; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D014481:United States