When the topic of traditional Asian medicine was first mooted, we were sceptical. To a magazine based in Europe and steeped in the history of science, there is much about traditional Asian medical practice that seems mystical and pseudoscientific. Other than well known success stories — artemisinin for malaria, and arsenic trioxide for leukaemia — there seemed to be a lack of scientifically proven remedies.

Yet a bit of probing revealed what a complex story this is. Not only are big efforts underway to modernize traditional medicine in China and Japan, but Western medicine is adopting some aspects of the Eastern point of view too. In particular, modern medical practitioners are coming around to the idea that certain illnesses cannot be reduced to one isolatable, treatable cause. Rather, a fall from good health often involves many small, subtle effects that create a system-wide imbalance.

But do traditional medicines actually work? Their personalized nature makes randomized controlled trials — the gold standard for testing drugs — extremely difficult. Rarely are two formulations identical. However, as modern medicine becomes more personalized, using biological and genetic markers, it is inadvertently developing the tools to better test traditional medicines.

Although artemisinin and arsenic trioxide are the archetypal examples of successful modern medicines mined from traditional Asian medicine, they do not represent the ideal convergence of the two systems. There are unique aspects to traditional Asian medicine that could hold great promise if they are artfully investigated. The goal of science should be to rigorously test each claim and sort the medical wheat from the pseudoscientific chaff.

We acknowledge the financial support of Saishunkan Pharmaceutical Co., ltd and Kitasato University Oriental Medicine Research Center in producing this Outlook. As always, Nature takes full responsibility for all editorial content.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v480/n7378_supp/full/480S81a.html

亚洲传统医学

当第一次提出亚洲传统医学这个主题时，我们是持怀疑态度的。对于一个根在欧洲而且充满科学历史的杂志而言，亚洲传统医学看上去更像是神秘主义和伪科学。不同于著名的成功案例——青蒿素治疗疟疾，和砒霜治疗白血病——亚洲传统医学似乎是一些缺乏科学证明的救济方法。

然而一些探索正展示着这是一个多么复杂的故事。不仅中国和日本正在为传统医学的现代化付出巨大的努力，而且西方医学也吸纳了东方观点的某些方面。尤其是，现代的医师正意识到有些疾病是不能够被简单地认为是由一个孤立的、容易治疗的因素引起的。恰恰相反，健康的崩解常常是这样的：许多细微的难以捉摸的因素造成了整个系统的失衡。

但是传统药物真的有效吗？它们的个体化治疗属性使得随机控制试验——测试药物的金标准——特别难以实施。因为很少有两个方剂是完全相同的。然而，当现代医学通过生物学和基因标记变得越来越个体化时，无意中也发展了一个能够更好地检测传统药物疗效的工具。

虽然青蒿素和三氧化二砷是从亚洲传统医药中研发成功的现代药物中的典型例子，但它们并不代表着两个系统的理想交融。如果能够进行巧妙的研究，亚洲传统医学中的一些独特之处将大有前景。而科学的目标，正是要严格地检测每一个声称有效的治疗方法，并从伪科学的外壳中开采出具有医疗价值的精华。

文章翻译转载自:医学思维导图http://kan.weibo.com/con/3517033225233251