 |
 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Health agency to study herbal depression cure ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON (October 2, 1997 3:16 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - Three U.S. health research agencies said on Thursday they were launching a clinical trial to look at whether a popular herb, St. John's wort, was useful against depression. European studies have indicated the plant can be useful but no U.S. studies have been done. Three agencies of the U.S. National Institutes of Health -- the Office of Alternative Medicine, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Office of Dietary Supplements -- said they would test 336 people with clinical depression. Over eight weeks, a third would get St. John's wort, a third would get a specific serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI - the standard drug treatment for depression) and a third would get a placebo containing nothing. "The study will give us definitive answers about whether St. John's wort works for clinical depression," Steven Hyman, director of the NIMH, said in a statement. St. John's wort, also known by its botanical name Hypericum, is often prescribed for depression in Germany. A 1996 study in the British Medical Journal indicated it had effects in cases of mild to moderate depression. Copyright 1997 Nando.net <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/100297/health10_16429_noframes.html> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]