OUT OF THE CLOSET: 50-PLUS CROWD USING MORE ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE THAN PREVIOUSLY RECORDED BY PHYSICIANS

"It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back," once said a young, rambunctious Mick Jagger.

Now the 63-year-old is on a more holistic path, like many adults aged 50 + who are coming out of the closet in droves about their use of complementary and alternative medicine.

This coming just after a partnership forged last Spring with the NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to measure alternative medicine use among the 50+ crowd, and to implement further educational projects for seniors on the benefits of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Truth be told, more than half were already using it; going for alternative practitioners for treatments and spending thousands on supplements.

Of those interviewed, a whopping 63 % stated use of an integrative approach of holistic health and Western medicine, with the most reported use to their physicians among those aged 50 to 59.

AARP reports indicate a push by the organization to open communication with their primary care physicians and specialists about their use of complementary and alternative medicine.

Of those interviewed, more than two-thirds said they never reported their use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine to their physicians because "the physician never asked."