Overview of complementary and alternative medicine and diabetes

People with diabetes frequently use complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) and other non‐medicine CAM therapies, often combine various CAMs , and combine CAMs with conventional care. They use CAM for a range of reasons, not necessarily to manage blood glucose. The evidence base for CAM is improving, but there is still a lack of quality evidence for many CAMs , and the combination of CAMs and conventional care. CAMs have both risks and benefits: some CAMs , like some conventional treatments, are higher risk than others. Conventional practitioners should ask about CAM use in a non‐judgemental way, document it and monitor the outcomes according to the individual's reason for using it. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.