Natural Products Research Program

Natural products are all around us. They are in the beverages we drink, the cosmetics and shampoos we put on our bodies, the medicines that protect our health and the spices and flavorings in our foods. "Natural products" can be defined as any purified or semi-purified organic metabolite(s) produced by organisms, including fungi, bacteria, plants, animals and marine organisms.

Ever-expanding consumer and patient interest in integrative health care - health care that blends conventional biomedical care with alternative therapies to treat the whole person - has catalyzed interest in natural medicines that are derived primarily from plants (botanical medicines or phytomedicines) for disease prevention and health maintenance.

Consistent with its role in developing innovative research, curricula and therapeutic protocols in the field of integrative medicine, the Center is developing a comprehensive Natural Products Research Program (NPRP) to scientifically investigate natural products in plants and if possible, validate the clinical use of many well-known natural medicines.

Led by Center faculty in collaboration with other U of M schools and colleges, the NPRP will encompass study of natural medicines in four primary areas: botanicals (phytotherapy), mushrooms (mycotherapy), aromatherapy (essential oils) and nutraceutical therapy (vitamins and other dietary supplements).

The primary goals of the NPRP are to:

• Develop and implement well-designed, scientifically rigorous clinical investigations of botanical medicines and dietary supplements to determine their safety and use in treating illnesses

• Conduct pre-clinical research on lesser known or under-investigated medicinal plants, aimed identifying and evaluating their medicinal properties and possible modern-day application.

In 2004, the Center for Spirituality and Healing, and Bastyr University, submitted a grant to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to study medicinal mushrooms and their use in the treatment and prevention of cancer.  Upon approval of the grant, the Center for Spirituality & Healing was named a Developmental Center for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

To learn more about the NPRP or how you can support this program, call 612-624-1121.