What did ama reveal about complementary and alternative medicine?

There are roles: Complementary, alternative and other such remedies all have a role to play in medical care. However, it is important to have all of the facts about a disease before just using one approach. Steve jobs used alternative treatment for his pancreatic cancer, when he probably should have gone with tried therapies first. It is a great "back-up" but it is not a substitute.

Proven vs unproven: By definition, "alternative" is different than modern western medicine. Generally any drug, herb, treatment, or procedure that stands up to rigorous scientific scrutiny is included in modern medicine. The problem is that many alternative practices, herbs etc do not stand up to scientific scrutiny and cannot be shown to work. They therefore remain "alternative". Be careful and watch your wallet.