From a Sleepy Eye boy and his family seeking “natural” cancer treatments to tens of millions of Americans spending billions of dollars on supplements and homeopathic remedies, alternative medicine is a hot topic.

And for most Americans, a confusing one.

No wonder. The advertising used with dietary supplements and homeopathic remedies is filled with claims of improving health with products made from “natural” ingredients. Add to that countless Web sites glorifying the products and attesting to their wonders, and it’s no wonder many people turn to them instead of traditional medicine.

Luckily, a large majority of the products, while probably ineffective, at least do little or no harm.

Or, you might lose your sense of smell, become permanently damaged or even die.

Last week the Food and Drug Administration warned people to stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel after they linked it to 130 people who have lost their ability to smell.

It’s the latest potential case in a long line of natural products seriously harming people. In recent years numerous “wonder pills” offering easy weight loss have been pulled because of serious side effects. Many of the pills used the now-banned ephedrine. Last year, Minnesota Vikings players took a diuretic that contained an unlisted ingredient that can increase users’ risk of heat stroke — a frightening prospect in light of player Korey Stringer’s tragic heat stroke death in Mankato in 2001.

So why are so many potentially dangerous products allowed on the shelves? Because they have virtually no regulation.

Federal law gives a pass to homeopathic remedies — those that contain highly diluted drugs made from natural ingredients — as well as to dietary supplements. The manufacturers don’t have to prove their product provides any benefit, they don’t have to prove it’s safe, they don’t have to test it, they don’t even have to list all the ingredients.

Only after a product harms someone can the FDA step in to order it pulled.

For consumers, that’s a frightening prospect. By using many of the products, they are making themselves scientific test cases.

An Associated Press investigation found that many of the ingredients in homeopathic medicines are derived from diseased tissues or formulated from powerful poisons like strychnine or snake venom.

For many of the remedies, the only active ingredient — which doesn’t have to be listed — is alcohol. The only therapeutic benefit users are getting is a buzz.

It’s clear regulations of homeopathic remedies and dietary supplements need to be tightened up. It’s also likely that with the major problems facing the nation, it won’t be a topic to soon rise to the top of the pile in Congress.

But consumers can at least protect themselves and their families. There is no magic way to drop weight or end a cold — at least not any that have been proven and tested as safe.