Word: wort
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...dispel the dark moods that dogged her through life, Truen Bergen tried every antidepressant imaginable. But she hated the side effects, which ranged from a sharp prickling sensation to mild hypertension. Then she heard about St. John's wort, a medicinal herb that has been used for centuries in teas and tinctures. "I figured it couldn't be any worse than the medication I was already taking," says Bergen, 49, an airline purser from San Diego, Calif. "Then, after two or three weeks, it dawned on me. I felt balanced and good. I felt happy...
...folk remedy? You bet. But St. John's wort--or Hypericum perforatum, as scientists call it--is not just another weed. It has attracted a huge following in Europe, and is now catching on in the U.S. According to Dr. Harold Bloomfield, author of Hypericum & Depression (Prelude Press; $7.95), this pretty yellow-flowered plant is nature's own antidepressant--almost as potent as the prescription drug Prozac but without Prozac's troubling side effects. St. John's wort may not work for everyone, acknowledges Bloomfield, a psychiatrist in Del Mar, Calif. "But to those for whom it does work...
Suddenly St. John's wort is hot--especially with the media. Barbara Walters spoke on ABC's 20/20 about the "simple herb that could change the lives of millions of Americans who suffer from depression," and last week the New York Times ran two stories in as many days calling St. John's wort "a gentle remedy" and "a rival to Prozac." Pills and potions containing extracts of hypericum are selling briskly in supermarkets and health-store chains from New York to California. "We are stunned and pleased," says Karl-Heinz Siewert, managing director of Lichtwer Pharma, a Berlin-based...
Still, the German experience suggests that St. John's wort is relatively harmless. "Millions of people have taken, or are now taking, hypericum," observes Jerry Cott, a Maryland-based pharmacologist, "and none of the side effects reported have been anything like those we've seen with drugs like Prozac. That's kind of exciting." Indeed, just as aspirin (whose active ingredient was first isolated from the bark of the willow tree) has spurred the development of a new generation of anti-inflammatories, so hypericum may eventually stimulate the creation of safer, more powerful, antidepressant drugs...
...Move over, Prozac. German and American researchers report the herb known as Saint-John's-wort may be effective in treating DEPRESSION--but only in mild to moderate cases...