Newest Developments for St. John's Wort
Monday October 13, 2008
In an earlier article written about St. John's Wort, studies showed that while St. John's Wort was successful in treating mild-to-moderate depression, it was not more effective than the placebo in treating severe depression. Well, you guessed it, those findings have now been countered in the latest study on the natural herb. In "St. John’s Wort Helps Some Patients with Major Depression," lead reviewer Klaus Linde of the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at Technical University in Munich, Germany, found that St. John's Wort was more effective than both placebo and antidepressants in treating severe depression. What makes this study even more interesting, though, is location. Of all the places this study has been conducted, Germany is the country that had the best results with regard to effectiveness as opposed to 28 other countries. Why this is the case, is unclear. Linde adds, "In principle, we can say that hypericum extracts work in German-speaking countries, but we are less certain for other countries." Another interesting tidbit to add is, German doctors have already been prescribing St. John's Wort as their standard treatment of medication for depression for years. Currently, the herb is unregulated, so it is found in varying qualities and content. What is known, though, is that in the study, between 500 and 1,200 mg were used.
Comments
I know that some of the best studies on herbal and alternative remedies have been coming out of Germany for several years. Their medical research system is the best in the world. I believe they showed higher marks in this study because they are doing them right, picking hypericum that is potent, and are very stringent with their samples.
jh
bodanutrition
I wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with the make-up of the tested substance. The US is notorious for using synthetic-created vitamins, etc. in their testing (i.e. Vit E studies) and then coming out with “we’ve proved it doesn’t work better than a placebo…”
Whereas other studies done with the naturally derived substance, proves opposite. Doesn’t Germany routinely use the natural substance in its testing?
Americans (says the American) just can’t get it through their heads that we cannot just “create” something and it is the same. There is too much we do not know about substances. Like the superman movie with Richard Pryor, we try to create green kryptonite and get red because we leave out what we cannot identify and think if we “name it” the same, it IS the same.
US studies are also generally funded by the pharmaceutical industry (sometimes hidden several layers back) and are generally set up to “disprove” the theory. One also has to actually read the study and not the sound-bite about what the study says, because the two are often not at all the same in today’s MSM.
I agree that almost all US studies are through pharmaceuticals, but I also need to stress that there is a lack of understanding on the fact that, as a plant, and a natural substance, St. John’s Wort and its potency, is affected by how it is grown, soil structure, wind, rain, etc….just like any other plant. Take a hot pepper for instance. The capesin (what makes it hot) can vary so much due to environment. This is one reason why we need to start standardizing plant extracts in this country…
anne
organiccoupons
re:
“This is one reason why we need to start standardizing plant extracts in this country…”
just as long as the FDA isn’t dictating the standardization …