  |
|
|
|
St John's Wort - Still a Drug© John McManamy
"...anything that can hold off a force as mighty as a depression should not be considered a mere herbal remedy."
FDA ADVISORY (Feb, 2000) Following two studies published in The Lancet and funded by the NIH, the FDA has issued a public health advisory warning of the risk of dangerous interactions with St John's Wort, an over-the-counter remedy used in the treatment of depression, and indinavir, a protease inhibitor used to treat AIDs. The advisory also warns against possible interactions with other protease inhibitors. In addition, "St. John's wort appears to be an inducer of an important metabolic pathway, cytochrome P450," the FDA notes, where many prescription drugs are metabolized. Accordingly, the advisory also warns against possible interactions between the herb and drugs used to "treat conditions such as heart disease, depression, seizures, certain cancers or to prevent conditions such as transplant rejection or pregnancy." For more details, click here. We may have had it wrong all the time. Instead of turning to chemistry to fight depression, nature may have planted the perfect remedy right outside our front doors in the form of a simple weed known as St John's wort. Its boosters are already claiming it to be as effective as the SSRI's without all the side effects (except sensitivity to sunlight), and in Germany it is the number one antidepressant. Hailed as nature's Prozac, sales in the US soared to some $400 million in 1998 and the figure is certain to go through the roof this year. Moreover, clinical studies in Europe overwhelmingly attest to its effectiveness in treating at least the mild and moderate forms of depression. But before we go rushing to our pharmacies or health food stores, there are a few things we need to know: The active ingredient is St John's wort is hypericum, extracted from the flowering tops of the plant. Because it is available in the US as an over-the-counter herbal remedy rather than as a drug (as in the case in Europe), there is virtually no government oversight. Unscrupulous suppliers market the herb as a happy pill, often with smiley faces, and leave the side-effects (most notably, sensitivity to sunlight) off the label. It gets worse: Again, owing to lack of regulation, consumers cannot be guaranteed evenness in quality or quantity from batch to batch or manufacturer to manufacturer. A 1998 "LA Times" investigative piece found wide discrepancies between the potency claimed on many labels to the actual contents inside the containers.
The copyright of the article St John's Wort - Still a Drug in Depression is owned by John McManamy. Permission to republish St John's Wort - Still a Drug in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
