ABSTRACT Mankind has known the medicinal use of plants and herbs, like garlic and ginkgo, for

over 5000 years. With the advent of modern medicine, the second half of the last century saw much research and usage of natural medicines even in the western world. Today, there is widespread interest in the use of natural medicines/complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in dealing with disease prevention and/or treatment, with the area of otolaryngology being no exception. This talk will touch on the prevalence of the use of nutraceuticals/CAM in selected parts of the world, the reasons given by patients for using them, and how effective they think the natural medicines are. It will cover the more established and emergent nutraceuticals, based on scientific studies, in the common fields of otolaryngology, namely: rhinitis, sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, vertigo, sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss, and head and neck oncology.