Tool of the Week: Natural Standard

Himmelfarb Library is pleased to introduce Natural Standard as a new resource to provide high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies. Natural Standard provides professional-level information on dietary supplements (including herbs, vitamins, and minerals), functional foods, diets, complementary practices (modalities), exercises, and medical conditions.

Natural Standard uses a clear grading system to reflect the level of scientific evidence available for the use of each therapy for a specific medical condition; grades range from A where strong positive scientific evidence is available to F which indicates that strong negative scientific evidence is available.

Natural Standard provides information via a variety of articles types ranging from professional monographs which are comprehensive evidence-based systematic reviews of scientific literature, to bottom line monographs which are abbreviated reviews designed for use by patients or professionals, to flashcards which can be used for quick look-ups or as patient handouts. Natural Standard also provides several different articles which represent different ways to approach the literature:

• Foods, Herbs & Supplements articles provide information on a specific agent.
• Health & Wellness articles provide information on specific interventions including diet and exercise topics.
• Medical Conditions articles explore the evidence available for specific conditions.
• Comparative Effectiveness provide a cross-referenced snapshot of the evidence for medical conditions, arranged hierarchically by level of evidence.
• Additional sections contains articles on genomics and proteomics, environmental and global health, sports medicine, and animal health.

In addition to desktop access from on- and off-campus, Natural Standard is available as an app for handheld devices. To install Natural Standard Handheld:

• Access Natural Standard Handheld to request a serial number; note that you must register with GW email address.
• You will receive instructions for accessing or creating a Skyscape account and will then receive your serial number via email.