Nature's one-two punch against depression I've written before about St. John's Wort for the treatment of depression. But long before I was writing about this powerful herb to you, I was suggesting it to patients as a worthy alternative to addictive, risky antidepressant drugs. And now, in the wake of the recent antidepressant/suicide scandal, it's more important than ever to explore substitutes for prescription blues-fighters. Along those lines, and in a perfect stroke of cosmic timing, Reuters Health reported in early February that a high-grade extract of St. John's Wort (also called hypericum perforatum) is MORE EFFECTIVE at treating moderate to severe depression than at least one commonly prescribed antidepressant drug: Glaxo SmithKline's Paxil. According to the article, researchers compared the treatment of more than 250 patients between 18 and 70 years of age for six weeks. At the end of the study, fully half of the patients in the St. John's Wort extract group reported improvement in their depression, while only a third of those in the Paxil group reported any benefits at all. And needless to say, the side effects experienced by the hypericum group were much fewer and farther between than in the drug group. This finding only mirrors what other studies have shown before: That St. John's Wort works. It's also one of the few herbal treatments that has met with truly widespread mainstream acceptance - just walk into any Wal-Mart or grocery store and you're likely to run smack into a 6-foot display rack of it… There's only one problem: Not all St. John's Wort is created equal. Some kinds of supplements of this herb (and of every other herbal remedy, for that matter) are more effective than others. This is due to a couple of factors: Differences in the quality of the ingredients and differences in the "absorbability" of those ingredients. Unfortunately, there are no uniform standards of freshness, quality, bioavailability, or even recommended effective dosages in the supplement industry. And in my experience, such products run the gamut from utterly useless wastes of money to extremely effective medicine that's still a fraction of the cost of killer drugs. How do you find the good ones? A little online research helps, but good old-fashioned trial and error works, too. One rule of thumb, though: Cheap, "grocery store" vitamins and herbs tend not to be as powerful as those available through alternative medicine doctors and compounding pharmacies. To locate one of the latter, call the International Association of Compounding Pharmacists at (800)927-4227. And in more good news for drug-less depression therapy… **************************************************** February was a good month for natural depression fighting. First, St. John's Wort gets some major affirmation - and now another old favorite of mine, DHEA, gets some well-deserved kudos… According to a new study conducted by a branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, the hormone precursor DHEA (dihydroepiandrosterone) proved effective at combating so-called "mid-life onset" depression in roughly 50% of cases. Though I don't have the numbers handy, I'd bet this is at least as effective as what mainstream medicine considers "first-line" treatments: Anti-depressant drugs. The difference is that when used properly, DHEA is perfectly safe. In fact, your body produces more of this natural substance than all other hormones combined. Production typically peaks between 20 and 30 years of age, however - beyond that, your DHEA levels decline dramatically. This study marks the first time I can recall ever having heard of DHEA's effectiveness against depression, but previous research has linked the hormone to benefits against heart disease, arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and some other afflictions typical in the aging. Currently, it's widely available in health food and vitamin stores (perhaps even Wal-Mart and the corner grocery) just about everywhere. If you're feeling low, or just want to live longer, you might consider picking some up. Doing - and reviewing - what's natural, William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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