ALSO: International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Amid the growing popularity of herbs, vitamins, hormones and protein powders, the National Institutes of Health has launched an Internet database to provide scientific information on dietary supplements.

NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements said the free site will help health experts and the public find creditable information from "published, international, scientific literature."

"This will allow consumers to go to one source to find scientific information on dietary supplements," said Bernadette Marriott, director of the Office of Dietary Supplements. "Much of what may be available may not have scientific references attached to it."

The database, linked off NIH's Internet site, soon will allow users to search for bibliographic information with scientific and common key words for various dietary supplements. Citations are being collected now.

"I think there's enough information out about dietary supplements that are coming from all different areas that it would be nice to have something that has more of a scientific basis to it -- rather than rumor or folklore," said Irv Wainer, director of the Georgetown University Bioanalytical Center.