Two components of NIH, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) announced a five-year, $6 million grant for establishing a research center in Ames, Iowa, to study echinacea and St. John’s wort.
The new center joins five other existing centers. Together, these centers are expected to move NIH into exciting scientific areas relating to dietary supplements used by millions of people in the United States and around the world. The other centers, created to study the effectiveness, safety and biological action of various botanicals, are located at the University of Arizona, Tucson, (phytomedicine); the University of California, Los Angeles, (red yeast rice, green tea extract, St. John’s wort); the University of Illinois, Chicago, (black cohosh and red clover); the University of Missouri, Columbia, (phytoestrogens and polyphenols); and Purdue University and the University of Alabama, Birmingham, (polyphenols, catechins and soy isoflavones).