St. John’s Wort Product Review

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Description

St. John’s Wort is a plant with yellow flowers, leaves and stems whose medicinal uses were first recorded in ancient Greece. It has long been a happy alternative for those reluctant to pop pills for depression and has also been used for anxiety and sleep disorders.

St. John’s Wort does not cause euphoria and, like regular antidepressants, is unlikely to elevate mood in people who aren’t truly depressed.

The vast majority of double blind placebo-controlled studies have found that St. John’s Wort extracts are as effective as standard antidepressant drugs (including antidepressants in the SSRI (Prozac) family) as a treatment for mild to moderate cases of major depression. Not surprisingly, those taking the herb supplement also showed significantly fewer negative side effects compared to those taking the prescription drug.

Benefits

One study involving menopausal women with depression found that a combination of St. John’s Wort and black cohosh extracts improved both menopause symptoms and mood. St. John’s Wort is also sometimes tried for other conditions in which standard antidepressants might be recommended, such as anxiety, attention deficit disorder, PMS, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), chronic pain, insomnia, neuropathic pain, obsessive compulsive disorder, social phobia, and quitting smoking.

Using St. John’s Wort extract might be justified, but products on the market vary considerably.

Virtually all studies of St. John’s Wort have used extracts rather than whole herb and most St. John’s Wort products are standardized to their content of a substance called hypericin, Hypericin act on chemical messengers in the nervous system that regulate mood. While hypericin may not be the most important constituent, products with standardized hypericin content have proven to be effective in human studies.

Contents

Four St. John’s Wort supplements failed testing by an independent lab due to contamination with cadmium. The following products exceeded these limits of 0.1 mcg of cadmium:

• Nature’s Sunshine Concentrated St. John’s Wort
• Standard Process St. John’s Wort — IMT
• Solaray St. John’s Wort (also contaminated with lead)
• Nature’s Answer Super St. John’s Wort

Three products contained less of the St. John’s Wort compounds than one would expect:

• FreeLife Depeze
• L.A. Naturals St. John’s Wort

The following St. John’s Wort products have been approved and recommended safe for consumption:

• CVS Pharmacy St. John’s Wort, 300 mg (1 capsule, 3 per day)
• Kira St. John’s Wort (1 tablet, 3 per day)
• Nature’s Bounty Double Strength St. John’s Wort, 300 mg (1 capsule, 3 per day)
• Nature’s Way Perika St. John’s Wort (1 tablet, 3 per day)
• New Chapter St. John’s SC27(1 softgel, 1 per day)
• Rite Aid St. John’s Wort(1 tablet, 1 per day)
• Vitamin Shoppe St. John’s Wort Extract (2 vegetarian capsules, 2 to 4 per day)

The herbal extract St John’s Wort now has more than just cheerful converts to testify to its mood-lifting powers. But, St. John’s Wort is only one of many natural treatments for severe depression.

A diet of select foods high in omega-3 fatty acids offers good, strong nutrition normally lacking in the American diet, and also aids in treating depression much more effectively than prescription drugs. You can eliminate depression through phototherapy or by eating flax seeds, walnuts, fish oils and molasses.

In practically every case, it is quite appropriate to ditch the drugs with the supervision of a qualified health professional, and instead shift your lifestyle to become healthier.

If you still find yourself clinically depressed and in want of a quick fix, reach for St. John’s Wort instead of antidepressant prescription drugs.

Warning

Note: It is well known that any antidepressant, when taken without a mood stabilizer, can set off a manic or hypomanic episode. Some people never exhibit mania at all until treated for depression with a triggering drug. Since St. John’s Wort acts as an antidepressant, researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Michigan have issued warnings regarding St. John’s Wart as a possible triggering substance. Published case reports have documented several cases of sudden onset of mania in bipolar patients who were using the herbal supplement.

For a number of reasons, then, the bottom line with St. John’s Wort for persons with manic-depressive illness should be “Better safe than sorry.” If you or someone you love who is bipolar insists on using this supplement, use extreme caution, notify your physician or psychiatrist, and be on the lookout for any complications.

When buying a St. John’s wort supplement, be sure to look at the label to find out if the product is made from an extract or whole herb (i.e., dried, powdered herb). Most of the St. John’s wort preparations found effective in human trials were extracts standardized to contain approximately 0.3% hypericin, and taken in a dose of 300 mg three times daily.  Whole herb is usually taken at a dose of 2 to 4 grams per day and should contain 0.1% to 0.15% hypericin. Products containing whole herb tend to have higher concentrations of heavy metals than extracts, as some contaminants may be removed during the extraction process.

What St. John’s Wort supplement has worked for you ?  Don’t be afraid to share warts and all!