According to the first-ever estimate of spending on 'alternative medicine' in the US in over a decade, a government report has revealed that such expenditure comprises more than one-tenth of the total 'out-of-pocket' dollars that Americans spend on health care each year.

The national estimate, based on the rejoinders from 23,000 adults in a health survey conducted by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), showed that in the year 2007, the out-of-pocket spending by Americans on complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) - including herbal supplements, chiropractic visits, and meditation, among others - stood at a whopping $34 billion.

The report showed that out of a majority of the nearly 38 million adults who visited alternative medicine practitioners in 2007 paid over $75 per visit for services like acupuncture, homeopathy and hypnosis therapy.

While the average spending per person per year for visit to practitioners was about $122; the average spending on CAM products was $177.

Commenting on the report's findings, National Center for CAM Director, Dr. Josephine P. Briggs, said: "We are talking about a very wide range of health practices that range from promising and sensible to potentially harmful. The bottom line is that Americans spend a lot of money on CAM products, classes, materials and practitioner visits."

Briggs added that since the CAM spending was "substantial," further research was "critically needed" into which therapies actually work!