Monday, March 31, 2014

Discovering An Herbal Legend



There is an herbal legend that supposed to work on the human brain. It’s the herbal medicine St. John's wort. It is documented to have been in use for centuries as folk and herbal remedies.

Today in the western world, it is a super star herb. In Europe, it is widely used to treat mild-to-moderate depression. In the United States, it is one of the top-selling botanical products.


The National Institutes of Health jumped in to conduct a clinical trial. The goal is to determine the effectiveness of treating adults who have major depression with St. Johns wort. They push the line a little here. Major depression is not mild-to-moderate depression, it is clinical grade, that means severe.


The study included 340 people diagnosed with major depression.

1.    One-third of the people took the herbal medicine,

2.    One-third took an SSRI, and

3.    One-third took a placebo, or "sugar pill."


The people who took the sugar pill did not know what they were taking. They might be led to think that they were taking the real herb. The study found that St. John's wort was no more effective than the placebo in treating major depression. 


The question remains: Is St. John's wort effective in treating mild or minor depression? A study is currently put in progress to look into this.

TO BE CONTINUED....

2 comments:

  1. Seems that it only work on mild condition, more like a supplement than a treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most beautiful flower in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete

About the Author: Susan is a fervent writer based out of Massachusetts. Her writing focus on health and beauty. Susan Summer writes with indepth experience on mental health, nutrition, beauty, real estate, and Asia travel. Susan writes to bring new ideas to her readers. She knows that words have the power to change the world and how we see it.

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