More Americans than ever are becoming connoisseurs--and purchasers--of alternative medical therapies, even preferring to see alternative practitioners over their primary care doctors, according to a survey and several accompanying studies in today's Journal of the American Medical Assn.

(David M.) Eisenberg's telephone survey of 2,055 adults updates his 1990 survey that showed that about one-third of Americans used one or more alternative treatments, including acupuncture, megavitamins, herbs or chiropractic. His current estimate of 60 million adult users of alternative therapies is significantly higher than many previous estimates.

Eisenberg's findings echo those reported by The Times in a four-part series on alternative medicine earlier this year. Eisenberg also found that Western U.S. residents, women, Caucasians and college-educated individuals are more favorably inclined toward alternative therapies.