Poll: 38% Have Used Herbal Supplements

Nearly four in ten Americans have personally used herbal supplements such as Echinacea, St. John's Wort, Saw Palmetto and others to try to help a medical problem or as part of their regular diet – and most who have tried them think supplements generally are effective, according to a new CBS News poll.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans have tried an herbal supplement of some kind. Six in ten (61 percent) have not.

Women are more likely than men to have tried them, and Americans between the ages of 30 and 44 are more likely to have done so.

Have You Taken Herbal Supplements
(Men)

Yes
31%
No
69%

(Women)

Yes
45%
No
55%

There are also regional differences: Americans who live in the West (44 percent) and East (42 percent) are more likely to have tried supplements than those in the south (36 percent) or Midwest (32 percent).

Do You Think Herbal Supplements Are Generally Helpful?
(All respondents)

Yes
44%
No
33%

Most women and men who have tried supplements think they are generally effective.

Most Americans -55 percent - say they have heard at least something about herbal supplements – and women are more likely than men to have heard a lot. Most men say they've heard little or nothing.

How Much Have You Heard About Herbal Supplements?
(All respondents)

A lot
20%
No
35%
Not much/Some
44%

Younger people under 30 are the most likely to have not heard much about supplements.

Interviews were conducted among 993 adults by telephone on January 13, 2007. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points.