Herb matches antidepressant

A new clinical study shows that a proprietary standardized extract of St. John's wort was as effective as a common prescription antidepressant in reducing the symptoms of depression. The results were published February 11, 2005 in the British Medical Journal.

According to the double-blind trial, patients who took 900 mg per day of a St. John's wort extract had as much benefit as the pharmaceutical drug Paxil. The herb was also better tolerated by patients. The results of this trial are consistent with a larger, previously published trial in France.

An unrelated study from the National Institute of Mental Health--a component of the National Institutes of Health--has found that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplementation may be an effective treatment of midlife onset of minor and major depression. The research results were published in the February 2005 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

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