One of my former coworkers used to keep a bottle of echniacea in a desk drawer. The second anyone in the vicinity sneezed, he'd pop a capsule in his mouth, and then generously offer one to any takers.

He swore by the stuff, much the same way that a friend's sister swears that Hoodia helps her stay skinny and my retired neighbor tells me that ginkgo biloba helps his wife remember to turn off the oven. (Curiously, he mentioned this while standing next to the purple coneflowers -- aka echniacea -- growing in my front yard.)

Anyway, I thought about these folks -- and their folk wisdom -- while reading an article on Time.com about America's growing faith in herbal mediciations. As their popularity surges, the medical community grows increasingly concerned about remedies because we know so little about their potential benefits or hazards.

According to a new study conducted at the University of Iowa and published in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, more Americans than ever now take herbal supplements, jumping up an astonishing 83 percent in the past decade.

The concerns revolve around the fact that roughly 20 percent of the population are counting on an herbal remedy to treat a specific ailment. More often than not, they aren't effective.

More problematic, of course, is the chance that herbal remedies could cause harm or lasting damage. Negative side effects cited in the study range from nausea to liver and kidney damage. Supplements have been tainted with unwanted chemicals or metals. Consumers risk of unpredictable interactions with prescription or over the counter drugs. And then there's the issue about how to effectively regulate this $22 billion industry

Recently, there have been efforts to provide us with facts and information about herbal remedies, such as Consumer Reports' Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, But the question remains: Is the available data based on reliable clinical trials?

For whatever reason, I haven't personally experimented with a lot of the supplements out there. But I do keep a stash of Airborne around, in case I feel a cold coming on.

I don't know what's in the stuff or if it works. All I know is that a sales clerk at a natural foods store raved about it, and told me: If I take all of it, as directed, I'll be able to fend off the unwanted bug.

So does it actually have curative powers? Or is it just snake oil? I have no idea. But as long as it's safe, I'm happy with a placebo. Sometimes it's comforting to have a little faith in the healing powers of a pill.