Italy and China are to test traditional Chinese remedies for a range of ills including heart palpitations and breathing difficulties, officials said on Wednesday.
Two laboratories, one at Tianjin in China and one at Italy's Higher Health Institute (ISS), will also assess the efficacy of treatments like acupuncture, traditional herbal compounds, massage and breathing exercises in boosting recovery from strokes and easing the side effects of chemotherapy.
ISS President Enrico Garaci noted that up to 40% of Italians resort to alternative medicine but many of the treatments are "empirically based and not controlled by scientific testing".
"For this reason we stand ready to support China in its new, courageous and modernising approach towards traditional medicine".
The ISS on Wednesday handed out Italy's first master's degrees on integrating Western and Chinese medicine.
The 26 recipients are doctors at Rome's La Sapienza-Policlinico Umberto I teaching hospital and the Universita' Statale in Milan.
Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, is a range of traditional medical practices originating in China that developed over several thousand years.
TCM is a modern compilation of traditional Chinese medicine.
It includes theories, diagnosis and treatments such as herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage.
The martial-arts-related breath control exercises called Qijong are also associated with TCM.
TCM theory asserts that all the processes of the human body are interrelated and in constant interaction with the environment.
Signs of disharmony help the TCM practitioner to understand, treat and prevent illness and disease.
TCM theory is based on a number of philosophical frameworks including the theory of Yin-yang, the Five Elements, the human body Meridian system, Zang Fu organ theory and others.
TCM does not operate within a Western scientific paradigm but some practitioners make efforts to bring practices into a biomedical and evidence-based medicine framework.
