Montreal, December 15, 1997 – In a press release released last October, the US National Institutes of Health announced the first major US scientific study on the value of St. John’s Wort for fighting depression.
The study will be done with 336 patients suffering from major depression and will last three years. The people chosen will be divided into three groups who will receive for eight weeks a standardized daily dose of 900 mg ofHypericum perforatum, either a placebo or a selective serotonin inhibitor, a type of antidepressant commonly used to treat depression.
In Germany, where doctors routinely prescribe herbal remedies for a wide variety of ailments, millions of doses of St. John’s Wort are used every day. However, there is no research on the long-term effects of St. John’s Wort and published studies have used several different dosages.
In the NIH study, patients who respond positively to the effects of St. John’s Wort will be followed for an additional 18 weeks. The aim of the follow-up is to determine whether patients who have used St. John’s Wort have fewer relapses than patients who have taken a placebo.
A review of 23 clinical studies, published on August 3, 1996 by the British Medical Journal, showed that theHypericum perforatum could be helpful in mild to moderate depression. The NIH study will focus on moderate forms of depression. It will be coordinated by Jonathan Davidson, MD, of Duke University Medical Center. The first patients are expected to be followed in the spring of 1998.
For more information, NIH News Release.
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