ABC has also gained the more advanced version - HerbMedPro - from Alternative Medicine Foundation (AMF). The council hopes to "enhance" the site.
Founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal said: "Acquiring the rights to HerbMedPro will help propel ABC's nonprofit educational mission even further."
Herbals
Science for a variety of herbs such as Hoodia, rosemary and green tea has been stacking up over the past few years. Increasingly these botanicals are finding their way into more and more supplement and functional foods.
In the past, the availability of powerful online databases have been welcomed by industry and researchers alike. One example of how technology can be used to share information is the World Trade Organisation (WTO) launching a searchable database of member governments' measures for food safety requirements.
Jacqueline Wootton, president and executive director of the Alternative Medicine Foundation (AMF), will retain her position as editorial director of both databases, while ABC will assume control of the administration, financing, and marketing of the database.
HerbMedPro contains 211 herbs in the database, searchable by both common name and Latin binomial.
HerbMedPro briefly summarizes virtually all publicly available research information on each herb.
The agreement will allow more herbs to be added to the database, with more frequent updates. Special categories are also created for heath issues and for groups of people.
HerbMed was set up to provide a reliable research database about herbs.
HerbMed is available free here to the public and HerbMedPro is accessible through subscription or licensing arrangements from ABC.
