Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

Study finds St. John’s Wort better than Paxil^® for treating depression.

Now and then we are treated to the amusing spectacle of a traditional herbal remedy out-performing an expensive pharmaceutical product in a controlled clinical trial. Several such medicinal turnabouts have occurred in the past few years. The latest involves St. John’s Wort and paroxetine (Paxil).

Researchers in Berlin studied 251 adult outpatients with acute major depression. One group was given hypericum extract three times a day; another group was given 20 mg paroxetine once a day. The trial lasted six weeks. The (mean) depression total score decreased by 56.6% in the hypericum group and by 44.8% in the paroxetine group. Furthermore, the hypericum group reported fewer side effects.

The reason we at LifeLink think this is amusing is not because we have any ideological axes to grind about pharmaceutical vs herbal treatments. In the long run, we recognize that the future lies with substances (drugs) that are designed rather than found in nature. Design will, in the end, triumph over serendipity when it comes to finding effective substances for treating disease, reversing aging, or making other alterations in our bodies. But we are not there yet. For now, we rely on a hodge-podge of clumsily designed pharmaceuticals and marginally effective natural substances. But the pharmaceuticals are often outrageously expensive; to justify such high prices, drug companies must promote their products as examples of sophisticated technology. So it is amusing to see such a supposedly sophisticated drug (Paxil) receive its ‘come-uppance’ from an herbal product that has been in use for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Note: The active ingredients in hypericum are hypericin and hyperforin. In the abstract of the article, the Berlin researchers reported administering “900 mg/day hypericum extract WS 5570 three times a day”. In the full article, the dosage was more clearly stated as one 300mg tablet (containing 3-6% hyperforin and 0.12-0.28% hypericin) three times per day. After two weeks’ treatment, dosages were doubled for nonresponding patients in both arms of the study.

Link to news reports:

Herb ‘as good as depression drug’

John’s wort extract as effective as drug for severe depression

Link to abstract of research report:

Acute treatment of moderate to severe depression with hypericum extract WS 5570 (St John’s wort): randomised controlled double blind non-inferiority trial versus paroxetine.

Link to the full article (PDF, 109KB):

Acute treatment of moderate to severe depression with hypericum extract WS 5570 (St John’s wort): randomised controlled double blind non-inferiority trial versus paroxetine.

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LifeLink carries St. Johns Wort Extract (Hypericin) in 900 mcg capsules and in 2.5 mg capsules.