Throughout centuries, people of various cultures have relied on what Western Medicine today calls - alternative medicine. The term alternative medicine covers a broad range of healing philosophies, approaches, and therapies. It generally describes those treatments and health care practices that are outside "conventional" Western health care. People use these treatments and therapies in a variety of ways. Some therapies stay aside of accepted Western medical theory and practice, while others, like chiropractic treatments, are now established in mainstream medicine.
             Apparently, conventional physicians deliver only about ten to thirty percent of human health care. The remaining seventy to ninety percent ranges from self-care, to care given in an organized health care system based on alternative therapies. Many cultures have folk medicine traditions that include the use of plants and plant products. In ancient cultures, people methodically collected information on herbs and developed well-defined herbal pharmaceutics. In fact, even in the first half of twentieth century much of the pharmacology of scientific medicine was derived from what we today call – unconventional medicine. Many drugs (almost one-quarter) of commonly used today are of herbal origin.
             Twenty years ago, not many physicians would have advised patients to take such things as folic acid, vitamins or minerals. Medicines like "Hizukit" and "Protek", so popular today in Israel, would not have become nations' number one anti-flue remedy. Thirty years ago, acupuncture and mind-body healing were considered taboo. Now, in clinics and hospitals around the country, non-traditional therapies are becoming more acceptable, as many studies prove them to be successful in treating some chronicle diseases, which couldn't be cured by conventional medicine.
             Does all this recent attention coming from medical personnel mean that the non-conv...