St. John’s wort for depression

In treating mild to moderate depression, St. John’s wort performs as well as or better than Prozac and other antidepressant drugs, according to a recent review of 34 clinical trials that tested 3,000 subjects.

You may recall an e-Alert I sent you last spring (“Two Heads that Are No Better than One” 4/23/02) about the biased reporting of a study in which St. John’s wort was set up to fail – testing its efficacy in cases of “moderately severe major depression.” The mainstream press reported that study as a failure for St. John’s wort because the herb performed only as well as placebo. Not mentioned in any of the headlines was the fact that Zoloft (a drug specifically designed to treat major depression) performed no better than St. John’s wort in the same trial.

But that was then and this is now, and this new review of 34 trials gives us a far more accurate view of St. John’s wort as a treatment for mild to moderate cases of depression. The authors of the report (in a recent issue of Phytomedicine) also noted that only 1 to 3% of the subjects using St. John’s wort reported adverse side effects, while 20 to 50% of the subjects who used the pharmaceuticals reported problems with the drugs.

Even though this review generally shows St. John’s wort to be safe, the researchers pointed out that the herb may interact poorly with some medications such as cyclosporine (an immune system suppressor), warfarin (an anticoagulant), and birth control pills.

I couldn’t help but notice that this review of studies was ignored by the mainstream press, and barely covered at all in the medical press. Last April, when St. John’s wort was perceived to have failed in a single study, the headlines blared from every masthead. But when a comprehensive review of many studies clearly indicates that the drug giants, with their vast resources, have as yet been unable to come up with anything more effective for moderate depression than a humble, flowering herb, you barely hear a peep.

How’s this for a headline: Media coverage of St. John’s wort enough to cause mild to moderate depression?

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute