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Some patients and doctors swear by the healing power of herbs and other plants, but their chemical complexity makes them notoriously difficult to study.

Some headway is being made, however, as WSJ’s In The Lab column reports. New research suggests a four-herb combination long used in traditional Chinese medicine helps curb some side effects of chemotherapy.

The recent news that a counterfeit cancer drug, Avastin, was found in the U.S. has renewed fears about the integrity of our drug supply. It’s also rekindled concerns about Internet pharmacies selling prescription medicines to patients looking for lower prices.

Should we be so worried? Yes and no, at least according to one study.

By Anjali Athavaley and Peter Loftus

One of the biggest heart-medicine events of the year kicks off Saturday in Chicago. Updates on new devices, drugs and techniques will be discussed during hundreds of sessions at the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference, which runs through Tuesday. Here’s a look at some highlights to watch out for:

Scientists are gathering evidence that sexual frustration drives males to drink.

Yeah, we know: Any trip to a nearby watering hole provides plenty such evidence. But the findings from an experiment on fruit flies, published today in the journal Science, furnished more than just confirmation. They also suggest a reason why.

Here’s what’s making health news this morning:

The Season’s Public Enemies (WSJ): Trees are releasing pollen unusually early this year following a mild winter across much of the U.S., leading allergists to predict a longer and more intense allergy season for millions of people.

For several years, Medicare’s Hospital Compare initiative has published quality measures for hospitals. While the data are intended to help patients make better decisions, some experts have noted that the public nature of the information might also help spur lower-performing hospitals to shape up, improving the quality of care.

One of the arguments for health information technology is that it will lower the cost of care. For example, if physicians could only get easy access to patients’ prior lab and imaging tests, they would be less likely to order up possibly redundant new ones.

A new study suggests that people who take sleeping pills are more likely to die within a couple of years than those who don’t, though it doesn’t prove that the pills caused people to die before they otherwise would have — and outside experts say patients shouldn’t panic and toss their medications.

The study is published in BMJ Open, an open-access online journal. (Here’s its open peer-review policy.)

Six-packs of beer come cheap, but the cost of underage drinking can add up.

An analysis by researchers at the Mayo Clinic estimates hospitalization charges alone for incidents related to underage drinking at $755 million in 2008.

That covers an estimated 39,619 admissions for conditions such as alcohol intoxication, withdrawal, abuse and dependence, and alcohol-induced mood problems, says Terry Schneekloth, an author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Mayo.

FDA Approves Eye Drug: The FDA approved Merck’s Zioptan to treat intraocular pressure in people with the most common form of glaucoma, known as open-angle glaucoma, the WSJ reports. Zioptan will be priced at $97 for a 30-day supply, the paper says.