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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending
9/3/08. You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.
Click here for a picture
of the impressive QualityCounts.com control center. Just thought I'd put
that out because I get calls from people that think I'm in a big office
building.
Walking Boosts Brainpower - WebMD, 9/2/08 - "Those
in the exercise group scored higher on
cognitive tests and had better delayed recall. For example, they could more
accurately remember a list of words after a certain amount of time had passed
than those in the other group ... Unlike medication, which was found to have no
significant effect on mild cognitive impairment at 36 months, physical activity
has the advantage of health benefits that are not confined to
cognitive function alone, as suggested by
findings on depression, quality of life, falls, cardiovascular function, and
disability"
Add-On
Therapy Improves Depressive Symptoms In Bipolar Disorder - Science Daily,
9/2/08 - "sought to evaluate whether
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an over-the-counter
supplement that increases brain glutathione,
might help alleviate depressive symptoms ...
Glutathione is the brain’s primary antioxidant defense, and there is evidence of
increased oxidative stress in bipolar
disorder. Therefore, we studied the potential benefit of NAC treatment in
bipolar disorder and found that it impressively remedied residual depressive
symptoms" - See
n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com .
B-vitamin Deficiency May Cause Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Science
Daily, 9/2/08 - "Mice fed a diet deficient in folate and
vitamins B12 and B6 demonstrated significant
deficits in spatial learning and memory compared
with normal mice"
Superior Effectiveness and Tolerability of Escitalopram Over Paroxetine in
Long-Term Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 9/2/08 -
"escitalopram
resulted in a significantly greater reduction in the MADRS score from baseline
compared with paroxetine, with a
mean difference of 2.0 points ... Escitalopram-treated patients showed a greater
overall response rate at the end of the study compared with paroxetine-treated
participants (83.0% vs 76.8%)"
Loss Of
Sleep, Even For A Single Night, Increases Inflammation In The Body - Science
Daily, 9/2/08 - "losing sleep
for even part of one night can trigger the key cellular pathway that produces
tissue-damaging inflammation. The findings
suggest a good night’s sleep can ease the risk of both heart disease and
autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis"
St. John's Wort and Duloxetine Equally Effective in Mild to Moderate Depression
- Doctor's Guide, 9/1/08 - "Twenty patients received
St. John's Wort at a dosage of 900 mg QD,
whereas the remaining 20 participants were treated with
duloxetine 60 30 mg QD ... In
the group of patients suffering from moderate
depression, we did not find any statistically significant differences
between the 2 treatment groups" - See
St. John's wort at Amazon.com.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids, But Not Statin Therapy, Cuts Mortality and Hospitalizations
in Heart Failure - Medscape, 8/31/08 - "The
long-term administration of omega-3 fatty acids
reduced all-cause mortality and admission to
the hospital for cardiovascular reasons, while there was no effect on these end
points with 10-mg
rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca)" - See
Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.
New
Evidence On Folic Acid In Diet And Colon Cancer - Science Daily, 9/1/08 -
"folate depletion
caused increased DNA damage and a cascade of other biological changes linked to
an increased cancer risk" - See
folic acid products at Amazon.com.
Sex
Hormones Link To Heart Risk - Science Daily, 8/31/08 -
"one of the sex hormones -
estradiol - was associated positively with total
cholesterol and negatively with
HDL-cholesterol. Circulating concentrations of
another sex hormone - estrone - showed strong positive associations with both
total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol ... Thus, men with the highest
concentrations of estrone and estradiol may have the highest level of
cardiovascular risk as their levels
of detrimental LDL-cholesterol are high whilst their cardio-protective
HDL-cholesterol is low" - See my
aromatization page for ways to reduce these.
Effects
Of N-3 PUFA In Patients With Symptomatic Chronic Heart Failure: The GISSI-HF
Results - Science Daily, 8/31/08 - "undertook a
randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial in 357 cardiology sites in
Italy. They enrolled 6 975 patients with
chronic heart failure of New York Heart Association class II-IV, assigned to
n-3 PUFA 1 g daily or placebo. Patients were
followed up for a median of 3•9 years ... In a per-protocol analysis performed
in about 5000 full complier patients, the relative risk of death was reduced by
14% (p 0.004). Safety was excellent" - See
Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.
Neurogenesis In Adult Brain: Association With Stress And Depression -
Science Daily, 8/31/08 - "Chronic
stress can affect the brain and lead into
depression"
Medication To Lower Blood Pressure Reduces Outcome Of Cardiovascular Death,
Heart Attack Or Stroke, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 8/31/08 -
"Telmisartan
reduced the outcome of cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke or
hospitalization for heart failure by a relative eight per cent ... However, when
the outcome included cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke (and not
hospitalization for heart failure), telmisartan reduced that outcome by a
significant 13 per cent"
Fish oil
helps patients with chronic heart failure - MSNBC, 8/31/08 -
"Comparing the results from both studies, the
researchers concluded that fish oil is
slightly more effective than the drug because the oil performed better against a
placebo than did Crestor
... Both studies were paid for by an Italian group of pharmaceuticals including
Pfizer Inc., Sigma Tau SpA and AstraZeneca PLC" - See
Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.
Even
Without Dementia, Mental Skills Decline Years Before Death - Science Daily,
8/29/08 - "The start of the decline is different for
various cognitive abilities. Perceptual speed, which measures how quickly people
can compare figures, begins declining nearly 15 years before death. Spatial
ability starts declining nearly eight years before death. And verbal ability
starts declining about six-and-a-half years before death" - See my
memory page for ways to prolong it.
Hormone Therapy May Speed Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 8/28/08 -
"in different types of
prostate cancer cells, androgens actually inhibit prostate cancer. When
these tumor cells don't get androgens, they become more aggressive and more
invasive"
All
Types Of Antipsychotic Drugs Increase The Risk Of Stroke - Science Daily,
8/28/08 - "All drugs used to treat psychosis are linked
to an increased risk of stroke, and dementia sufferers are at double the risk"
HbA1c Tied to Cardiovascular Risks in Patients With Symptomatic HF -
Medscape, 8/28/08 - "Over a median follow-up period of
almost 3 years, the researchers found that for each 1% rise in
HbA1c, the risk of cardiovascular
death, heart failure hospitalization and overall
mortality rose by about 25%. Moreover, this was
true in subjects with and without a history of diabetes and whether or not
ejection fraction was reduced or preserved"
Angiotensin Inhibitors And Receptor Blockers Linked To Lower Risk Of Nonmelanoma
Skin Cancer - Science Daily, 8/28/08 - "The group
taking either an ACE
inhibitor or ARBs had a 39
percent relative reduction in incidence of basal cell cancer and a 33 percent
relative reduction in squamous cell cancers compared with nonusers"
Black
Raspberries Slow Cancer By Altering Hundreds Of Genes - Science Daily,
8/27/08 - "examined the effect of freeze-dried black
raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of
esophageal cancer ... The carcinogen
affected the activity of some 2,200 genes in the animals’ esophagus in only one
week, but 460 of those genes were restored to normal activity in animals that
consumed freeze-dried black raspberry powder as part of their diet during the
exposure"
Calcium With or Without Vitamin D May Help Prevent Osteoporosis - Medscape,
8/27/08 - "For best therapeutic effect, we recommend
minimum doses of 1200 mg of calcium, and 800 IU
of vitamin D (for combined calcium plus vitamin
D supplementation)"
High
Levels Of Toxic Metals Found In Herbal Medicine Products Sold Online -
Science Daily, 8/27/08 - "Overall, 20.7 percent of
Ayurvedic medicines contained detectable lead, mercury and/or arsenic. U.S. and
Indian manufactured products were equally likely to contain toxic metals. Rasa
shastra compared with non-rasa shastra medicines were more than twice as likely
to contain metals and had higher concentrations of lead and mercury. Among
products containing metals, 95 percent were sold by U.S. Web sites and 75
percent claimed Good Manufacturing Practices or testing for heavy metals. All
metal-containing products exceeded one or more standards for acceptable daily
intake of toxic metals"
Olive
Leaf Extract Can Help Tackle High Blood Pressure And Cholesterol - Science
Daily, 8/27/08 - "This works showed that taking a
1000mg dose has substantial effects in people
with borderline
hypertension" - See
Olive Leaf extracts at
iHerb.
Exec behind male supplement Enzyte gets 25 years for fraud - USATODAY.com,
8/27/08 - "A business owner convicted of defrauding
customers seeking male sexual enhancement products and a variety of herbal
supplements was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison" - Unbelievable
that it took 25 years to stop that guy, almost as unbelievable is that people
believed the commercials.
High
Levels Of Uric Acid May Be Associated With High Blood Pressure - Science
Daily, 8/26/08 - "In the study, half of the 30
teen-agers with newly diagnosed high blood
pressure and higher than normal levels of uric
acid in their blood underwent treatment with allopurinol twice a day for
four weeks. The other half received a placebo (an inactive drug) on the same
schedule. They then went without either drug for two weeks before receiving the
opposite treatment for another four weeks ... blood pressures decreased to
normal in 20 of the 30 teens when they were on allopurinol. By contrast, only 1
of the 30 teens had normal blood pressure when receiving placebo"
Isoflavones and Flavonols Reduce Ovarian Cancer Risk - oncologystat.com,
8/22/08 - "Women with the highest
flavonoid intake had a 37% lower risk of
ovarian cancer than those with the lowest
intake. A high intake of isoflavones, in
particular, was associated with a 49% decreased ovarian cancer risk"
Total Cholesterol Management: Taking Complete Control - PowerPak.com, exp.
7/31/10 - "In the Helsinki Heart Study, a randomized,
double-blind, five-year primary prevention study, a 1% increase in
HDL-C levels was shown to reduce the risk of CVD by
3% in patients (p<0.05).26 In a secondary prevention trial, an 11% reduction in
CVD events was associated with every 5-mg/dL increase in HDL-C levels"
Abstracts from this week's
Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics
plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here
for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):
Effects of the angiotensin-receptor blocker telmisartan on cardiovascular events
in high-risk patients intolerant to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors: a
randomised controlled trial - Lancet. 2008 Aug 29 -
"Telmisartan was well tolerated
in patients unable to tolerate ACE inhibitors. Although the drug had no
significant effect on the primary outcome of this study, which included
hospitalisations for heart failure, it modestly reduced the risk of the
composite outcome of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke"
Impact of beta-blockers on sleep in patients with mild hypertension: a
randomized trial between nebivolol and metoprolol - Adv Ther. 2008 Aug 28 -
"Nebivolol was associated with improved sleep (as
assessed by the PSQI), whereas metoprolol was associated with a worsening of
sleep characteristics"
Effects of mirtazapine on dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate and cortisol plasma
concentrations in depressed patients - J Psychiatr Res. 2008 Aug 13 -
"Mirtazapine
significantly reduced both COR and
DHEA-S concentrations, but had no impact on the
COR/DHEA-S ratio"
Neat Tech Stuff :
- I figured out how to get DVD movies on to my TiVo but it takes five
different software programs not counting the TiVo software if you want the
letterbox format. First you'll need to get the movies on a backup DVD
that's not copy protected. To do that, I like
AnyDVD (it operates in the
background) and something like
1Click DVD Copy Pro.
Actually AnyDVD will work with DVD Shrink so you could skip the backup disk
but it's nice to have. After that, just follow the instructions at
Converting DVD's to
Watch on Tivo. I ran into one snag. That link to the TMPGEnc software
he talks about is dead and from the list of software, I downloaded two that
weren't the right ones. Finally I did a Google search of the TMPGEnc
website and found it at
http://www.tmpgenc.net/en/download.html. You end up with about a 4
gigabyte .mpg file on the TiVo. With DVD concerts, sometimes the audio is
in the .ac3 format. If that happens, in DVD2AVPI you need to select "Audio
- Output Method - Demux All Track" then convert the .ac3 file to a .wav file
using something like
PX3 AC3 to WAV.
Supplement Focus (St.
John's wort):
Specific Recommendations:
Ze 117 Extract (Not available in the US,
Remotiv brand in Germany):
- St. John's
Wort Equivalent to World's Best-selling Antidepressant
- herbs.org
- No one can argue placebo effect on this study:
St. John's wort extract Ze 117 (Hypericum perforatum) inhibits
norepinephrine and serotonin uptake into rat brain slices and reduces
3-adrenoceptor numbers on cultured rat brain cells - Pharmacopsychiatry
2001 Jul;34 Suppl 1:S56-60 -
"The Ze 117 extract was more selective for the
uptake of NE than for that of 5-HT. The maximal extent of uptake inhibition
by Ze 117 extract was comparable to that of imipramine (IMI), desipramine
(DMI) or fluvoxamine for 5-HT, but lower for NE transport, than that of the
synthetic antidepressants"
-
Equivalence of St John's wort extract (Ze 117) and fluoxetine: a randomized,
controlled study in mild-moderate depression - Int Clin Psychopharmacol
2000 Mar;15(2):61-8 -
"We concluded that hypericum and fluoxetine are
equipotent with respect to all main parameters used to investigate
antidepressants in this population. Although hypericum may be superior in
improving the responder rate, the main difference between the two treatments
is safety. Hypericum was superior to fluoxetine in overall incidence of
side-effects, number of patients with side-effects and the type of
side-effect reported"
-
Comparison of St John's wort and imipramine for treating depression:
randomised controlled trial - BMJ 2000 Sep 2;321(7260):536-9 -
"Among the 157 participants taking hypericum mean
scores on the Hamilton depression scale decreased from 22.4 at baseline to
12.00 at end point; among the 167 participants taking imipramine they fell
from 22.1 to 12.75 ... This Hypericum perforatum extract is therapeutically
equivalent to imipramine in treating mild to moderate depression, but
patients tolerate hypericum better" - Bottom line, the SJW group
rated more depressed than the imipramine group before the study and less
depressed than the imipramine group after the study. There are doctor's who
would argue that they should have used 225 mg of imipramine but then they
could have tried 750 mg on the Ze 117 extract also.- Ben
- Comparison of
St. John's Wort and Imipramine for Treating Depression: Randomised
Controlled Trial - Medscape, 9/00
-
Comparison of St John's wort and imipramine for treating depression:
randomised controlled trial - BMJ 2000 Sep 2;321(7260):536-9
- St. John's Wort
Trumps Depression Drug - WebMD, 9/1/00
-
Comparison of St John's wort and imipramine for treating depression:
randomised controlled trial - BMJ 2000;321:536539 (2 September) -
"Among the 157 participants taking hypericum mean scores on the Hamilton
depression scale decreased from 22.4 at baseline to 12.00 at end point;
among the 167 participants taking imipramine they fell from 22.1 to 12.75"
-
Medline search of Ze 117
LI 160 Extract (Kira®
Brand LI-160 extract in the US, Jarsin 300 brand in Germany):
- St. John's Wort
Useful for Severe Depression - WebMD, 2/10/05 -
"At the end of six weeks, 71% of the patients taking
St. John's Wort and 60% of those taking Paxil had responded to treatment.
Half of the St. John's Wort-treated patients and 35% of the Paxil-treated
patients were free of depression symptoms"
-
New Use Suggested For St. John's Wort - Psychiatric News, 9/17/04 -
"St. John's wort "may be a useful therapeutic alternative in the acute
treatment of mildly to moderately severe
somatoform disorder." ... The St. John's wort used in this study is from
a specific company, Lichtwer, with a long history of outstanding quality
control and a consistent approach to the processing of St. John's wort.
Individuals going to health food stores and purchasing St. John's wort are
not likely to find the same consistency in the quality of the product"
- Lichtwer is the LI-160 extract sold under the band name
Kira®
in the U.S.
- St. John's Wort as
Effective as Zoloft® against Depression
- New Hope Natural Media Online, 6/13/02 -
"St. John's wort (SJW), a popular herbal remedy, is
at least as effective as the prescription drug
sertraline (Zoloft®) in the treatment of
depression
and causes fewer side effects, according to a new study published in
Canadian Family Physician (2002;48:905–8). This report confirms dozens of
other studies demonstrating SJW is an effective treatment for
mild-to-moderate depression, and contradicts two controversial studies
suggesting the herb is of little or no benefit ... After 12 weeks, the
severity of depression had decreased by an average of 50.2% in the SJW group
and by 41.6% in the sertraline group"
-
Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) in Major Depressive
Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial - JAMA, 4/10/02 -
"extract (LI-160) ... neither sertraline nor H
perforatum was significantly different from placebo ... Dr Davidson holds
stock in Pfizer"
-
Money colors drug research - USA Today, 1/22/03 -
"industry funding makes it 3.6 times more likely
that a study result will be favorable to the sponsor"
- St. John's Wort
Not Effective -- Again - WebMD, 4/9/02
-
Efficacy and tolerability of St. John's wort extract LI 160 versus
imipramine in patients with severe depressive episodes according to ICD-10
- Pharmacopsychiatry 1997 Sep;30 Suppl 2:81-5 -
"6-week trial comparing 1800 mg LI 160/die to 150 mg
imipramine/die in severely depressed patients according to ICD-10 ... mean
values 25.3 to 14.5 in the LI 160 group and 26.1 to 13.6 in the imipramine
group ... Regarding adverse events, the nonrejection of the nonequivalence
hypothesis denotes a superiority of the herbal antidepressant. These main
result indicate that LI 160 might be a treatment alternative to the
synthetic tricyclic antidepressant imipramine in the majority of severe
forms of depressions"
-
Comparison of an extract of hypericum (LI 160) and sertraline in the
treatment of depression: a double-blind, randomized pilot study
- Medline/Clin Ther 2000 Apr;22(4):411-9, 4/00 -
"Clinical response (defined as a > or =50% reduction
in HAM-D scores) was noted in 47% of patients receiving hypericum and 40% of
those receiving sertraline ... The [LI 160] hypericum extract was at least
as effective as
sertraline in the treatment of
mild to moderate depression in a small group of outpatients"
-
Neuroendocrine evidence for dopaminergic actions of hypericum extract (LI
160) in healthy volunteers - Biol Psychiatry 1999 Aug 15;46(4):581-4 -
"Following HP relative to placebo, there was a
significant increase in plasma GH [growth
hormone] and a significant decrease in plasma PRL [prolactin]"
- Note: Prolactin is bad for your sex like.
-
Hypericum LI 160 inhibits uptake of serotonin and norepinephrine in
astrocytes - Brain Res 1999 Jan 23;816(2):358-63 -
"We found that LI 160 inhibited both serotonin and
norepinephrine uptake in a dose-dependent manner"
-
Acute effects of LI 160 (extract of Hypericum perforatum, St John's wort)
and two of its constituents on neuroendocrine responses in the rat
- J Psychopharmacol 2000;14(4):360-3 -
"LI 160 also lowered plasma prolactin and prevented
the increase in plasma prolactin following haloperidol administration"
- Note:
Prolactin is bad for your sex life.
-
Effectiveness and tolerance of the hypericum extract LI 160 in comparison
with imipramine: randomized double-blind study with 135 outpatients
- J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1994 Oct;7 Suppl 1:S19-23 -
"a parallel reduction of the Hamilton score from
20.2 to 8.8 (LI 160, n = 67) or from 19.4 to 10.7 (imipramine, n = 68) ...
In the LI 160 group fewer and milder side effects were found as compared to
imipramine"
- St. John's wort study was financed and biased
by Pfizer, makers of Zoloft - Ben
-
Questions About St. John's Wort - Intelihealth, 4/25/01
-
Study: St. John's wort ineffective in severe depression
- CNN, 4/18/01 - "At the time the study was done,
Pfizer also sold St. John's wort, but the company stopped selling herbs last
year because it wasn't profitable" -
That's the whole problem in a nutshell, Ben
- Depressing News:
St. John's Wort May Not Work After All, Don't Believe the Hype, Says
Researcher - WebMD, 4/17/01
-
Comparison of an extract of hypericum (LI 160) and sertraline in the
treatment of depression: a double-blind, randomized pilot study
- Medline/Clin Ther 2000 Apr;22(4):411-9, 4/00 -
"Clinical response (defined as a > or =50% reduction in HAM-D scores) was
noted in 47% of patients receiving hypericum and 40% of those receiving
sertraline ... The [LI 160] hypericum extract was at least as effective as
sertraline in the treatment of mild to moderate depression in a small
group of outpatients"
-
Medline search of LI 160
WS 5572 Extract (Perika
Brand in US, Neuroplant 300 brand in Germany):
WS 5570 Extract (contains at least 4% hyperforin but I don't
believe it's available)/(Perika
Brand in US, Neuroplant 300 brand in Germany):
-
Continuation and long-term maintenance treatment with Hypericum extract
WS((R)) 5570 after recovery from an acute episode of moderate depression - A
double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled long-term trial - Eur
Neuropsychopharmacol. 2008 Aug 9 - "3x300 mg/day
WS((R)) 5570 or placebo for 26 weeks. 426
patients were evaluated for efficacy. Relapse rates during continuation
treatment were 51/282 (18.1%) for WS((R)) 5570 and 37/144 (25.7%) for
placebo. Average time to relapse was 177+/-2.8 and 163+/-4.4 days for
WS((R)) 5570 and placebo, respectively (time-to-event analysis; p=0.034;
alpha=0.025 one-sided). Patients treated with WS((R)) 5570 showed more
favorable HAMD and Beck
Depression Inventory time courses and greater
over-all improvement (CGI) than those randomized to placebo. In long-term
maintenance treatment a pronounced prophylactic effect of WS((R)) 5570 was
observed in patients with an early onset of depression as well as in those
with a high degree of chronicity. Adverse event rates under WS((R)) 5570
were comparable to placebo. WS((R)) 5570 showed a beneficial effect in
preventing relapse after recovery from acute depression. Tolerability in
continuation and long-term maintenance treatment was on the placebo level"
-
New Study Finds Different Results on Efficacy of St. John's Wort for
Depression - Clinical Psychiatry News, 3/05 -
"extract WS 5570 ... Patients whose initial response
was insufficient could increase the dose of hypericum extract to 1,800
mg/day or of paroxetine to 40 mg/day ... response rates were 60% in the
hypericum group and 63% in the paroxetine group, while remission rates were
46.6% with hypericum and 42.9% with paroxetine"
- Note: The WS 5570 extract is sold under the Perika(R) brand name.
-
Acute treatment of moderate to severe depression with hypericum extract WS
5570 (St John's wort) - NPI Center, 2/11/05 -
"This extract (WS(R) 5572) contains the same patented, standardized and
stabilized hyperforin content as WS(R) 5570, and is marketed as Perika(R)
St. John's Wort by Nature's Way Products, Inc"
- St. John's Wort
Useful for Severe Depression - WebMD, 2/10/05 -
"At the end of six weeks, 71% of the patients taking
St. John's Wort and 60% of those taking Paxil had responded to treatment.
Half of the St. John's Wort-treated patients and 35% of the Paxil-treated
patients were free of depression symptoms"
-
Efficacy of St. John's wort extract WS 5570 in major depression: a
double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Am J Psychiatry 2002
Aug;159(8):1361-6
-
Neuroendocrine effects of Hypericum extract WS 5570 in 12 healthy male
volunteers - Pharmacopsychiatry 2001 Jul;34 Suppl 1:S127-33
-
Medline search of WS 5570
STW3-VI Extract:
Other St. John's wort News:
-
St. John’s Wort
- Vitacost Health Library
-
St. John’s Wort for Weight Control
- Vitacost Health Library
-
Depression Protocol - Life Extension Foundation
- St. John's Wort, Nature's
Feel Good Herb - Ray Sahelian, M.D.
- St. John's wort
- Compiled by Chad Bradshaw, Pharm.D
-
St. John’s Wort Extract - Dr. Murray -
"German doctor's now prescribe St. John's wort
extract 8 times more often than Prozac ... These doctors are knowledgeable
about both medicines, but clearly favor St. John's wort extract. Why? The
simple answer is that St. John's wort produces equal or better results in
relieving depression, but has far fewer side effect. Over 25 double-blind
randomized trials involving a total of 1,757 outpatients with mild to
moderately severe depression have shown St. John's wort extracts
standardized for hypericin to yield excellent results in the treatment in
depression with virtually no side effects"
- I read somewhere
that when taking St. John’s wort extract that it is important to stay away
from the sun and avoid red wine and cheese. Is this true? - Dr. Murray
-
St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) - M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
-
St. John's Wort and Duloxetine Equally Effective in Mild to Moderate
Depression - Doctor's Guide, 9/1/08 - "Twenty
patients received St. John's Wort at a dosage of 900 mg QD, whereas the
remaining 20 participants were treated with duloxetine 60 30 mg QD ... In
the group of patients suffering from moderate depression, we did not find
any statistically significant differences between the 2 treatment groups"
- St. John's Wort
review - ConsumerLab.com, 2/15/07 -
"most of the herbal supplements that we purchased failed
to meet quality standards. Two contained less St. John's wort compounds than
claimed. Two others were contaminated with cadmium and/or lead. And two more
lacked proper label information"
-
Botanical and dietary supplements for mood and anxiety in menopausal women
- Menopause. 2006 Dec 28 - "Five of seven trials of
St. John's wort for mild to moderate depression showed a significant
improvement"
-
Serotonin syndrome has been reported in patients who used both St. John's
Wort and an SSRI - Clinical Psychiatry News, 11/06 -
"The evidence is strongest for the psychotropic herb
St. John's wort, which appears to induce cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzyme
systems, particularly 3A4, leading to substantial reductions in drug
substrates, including antivirals and cancer chemotherapy agents"
-
Is St. John's Wort Effective
for Major Depression? - New Hope Natural Media Online, 8/10/06
-
Black Cohosh/St. John’s Wort could ease menopause symptoms
- Nutra USA, 3/2/06 -
"The most common symptom of menopause, “hot flashes”
characterized by sudden waves of body heat, decreased by 53.4 percent among
women who took the Black Cohosh-St. John's Wort combo in the trial, while
psychological, or “psyche”, symptoms reportedly dropped by 56.4 percent"
-
St. John's Wort May Not Stop Major Depression - WebMD, 5/24/05
-
St.
John's Wort Only Minimally Effective In Relieving Major Depression, Review
Confirms - Science Daily, 5/22/05 -
"St. John’s Wort products should be avoided if they
do not provide important content information, such as the amount of total
extract contained, the extraction fluid used and the ratio of raw material
to extract" - Note: Most of the studies I've seen involve the LI 160
extract sold in the US under the
Kira®
brand.
-
St. John's Wort and
Plavix May Be Risky Combo - WebMD, 3/8/05 -
"St. John's wort, used by many for depression,
increases the effect - and the bleeding risk - of Plavix, a widely used
blood thinner"
-
St. John's Wort - Imatinib Drug Interactions
- Medscape, 12/17/04 - "Coadministration of imatinib
with St. John's wort may compromise imatinib's clinical efficacy"
- St. John’s Wort: Good
for More than Depression - Healthwell, 10/21/04 -
"SDs are a group of conditions characterized by
several ongoing physical symptoms that cannot be explained by any
identifiable illness ... Among those participants receiving SJW, 44%
reported being completely improved, compared with only 25% in the placebo
group. In contrast, 45% of the participants in the placebo group felt
unchanged or worse compared with 17% in the SJW group. By the end of the
study, one half of the participants taking SJW had improved so much that
they were no longer considered to have SD"
- St. John's
Wort Thwarts Cancer Drug - WebMD, 10/26/04
-
St John's Wort May Reduce Bioavailability of Conventional Medications
- Doctor's Guide, 7/6/04
- St. John's Wort
Depletes Cancer-Fighting Drug - WebMD, 3/26/04 -
"when St. John's wort is taken in combination with
Gleevec, it caused the amount of Gleevec in the blood to drop by 30%"
- Caution: St.
John's Wort Ingredients Vary - WebMD, 2/10/04
-
What's Really In Your St. John's Wort Tablets? - Intelihealth, 2/9/04 -
"Actual amounts of hypericin ranged from 1.7 to 38.5 percent of the claimed
amount"
-
St. John's Wort - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 10/03 - "Recently, in a
large trial comparing SJW with the conventional antidepressant imipramine,
researchers concluded SJW is as effective as imipramine and is better
tolerated by patients.13 In a newer, larger trial (240 participants)
comparing SJW directly with fluoxetine, researchers concluded SJW was as
effective and safer than fluoxetine, particularly in patients suffering
depression and anxiety"
-
St John's Wort Alters Enzymes Involved in the Metabolism of About 50% of
Over-the-Counter and Prescription Medications
- Doctor's Guide, 9/18/03 -
"long-term administration of
St John's wort may result in diminished
clinical effectiveness or increased dosage requirements for all
CYP 3A4 substrates, which represent at least half of marketed
medications" - The way I understand it, the enzyme that SJW increases
protects the liver. JAMA always seems to be biased against supplements,
which might be why they didn't mention that. Have they ever mentioned the
pitfalls of prescription drugs?
- St. John's Wort
Increases Metabolism Via CYP 3A4 - Medscape, 9/16/03
-
St. John's Wort for Depression - Clinical Psychiatry News, 1/03 -
"Most St. John's wort preparations are standardized
to the hypericin component. This compound has been shown to reduce
5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor density; weakly inhibits reuptake of
5-HT,
norepinephrine, and
dopamine; and binds to -aminobutyric acid (GABA)
receptors ... It also has MAO inhibitor activity
... In biochemical and animal studies, the researchers wrote, hyperforin
also inhibits the synaptosomal uptake of 5-HT, noradrenaline, dopamine,
glutamate, and GABA"
-
St. John's Wort May Help Depression in Children - Clinical Psychiatry
News, 1/03
-
Antidepressants Aren't All They're Cracked Up to Be - Clinical
Psychiatry News, 1/03 -
"The fact is, the stringent inclusion and exclusion
criteria routinely used in pharmacologic
antidepressant clinical trials enable investigators to paint an
unrealistically rosy picture of the drugs' performance. This renders the
trials largely irrelevant to real-world clinical practice" - That's
an important consideration with the Pfizer (makers of Zoloft) funded St.
John's wort study.
- St. John's Wort
and Chemo Don't Mix - WebMD, 8/20/02 - "Taking
St. John's wort during chemotherapy
could jeopardize the effectiveness of cancer treatment" - Again, I'm
not a doctor but the way I understand it, SJW increases an enzyme that
protects the liver. It seems like that would be a good thing for most
people. Again, why didn't the media mention that instead of being so one
sided?
-
St. John's Wort: Effective, with Caveats - Nutrition Science News, 3/02
-
"Using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, 47
percent of those taking St. John's wort improved compared with 40 percent of
those taking the
sertraline ... Hyperforin increases the effectiveness of
norepinephrine, dopamine, L-glutamate,
and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), as well as
serotonin. Researchers in the Department of Pharmacology at the
University of Frankfurt in Germany concluded, "no other antidepressant
compound exhibits a similar broad uptake-inhibiting profile.""
- Hypericum, Drug
Interactions, and Liver Effects - Medical Herbalism, Medical Herbalism
(2000)11(2):16) -
"The specific enzyme system whose activity was
increased in the test subjects is the CYP3A, part of the p450 microsomal
enzyme system, responsible for Phase I detoxification in the liver"
- Prozac and I'm sure others alter the P450 enzymes also. See:
-
Characterising Fluvoxamine Metabolism - Doctor's Guide, 4/19/02 -
"the higher fluvoxamine doses inhibited CYP1A2 and
CYP2C19 by approximately 75 to 80 per cent. The inhibition with the lower
doses was around 40 to 50 per cent"
-
A Novel Mechanism For St John's Wort Drug Interactions
- Doctor's Guide, 1/25/02
-
Depression Management - ContinuingEducation.com, exp. 12/31/02 -
"The results of at least one trial suggest that Hypericum, used in higher
doses, may be considered a therapeutic alternative in patients with moderate
to severe depression"
- Evaluation of the
Association Between St. John's Wort and Elevated Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone
- Medscape, 12/01 -
"This study suggests a probable association between
St. John's wort and elevated TSH levels ... In one patient, TSH dropped from
18.63 to 5.37 µU/ml 1 month after discontinuing St. John's wort, and
subsequently to 1.32 µU/ml 6 months later. In the second patient, TSH
decreased from 14.76 to 3.23 µU/ml 1 month after discontinuation of the herb
... Although the similarities between St. John's wort and tricyclic
antidepressant drugs are less clear, it has been postulated that tricyclic
antidepressants interfere with the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis
through noradrenergic or serotonergic systems, indirectly decreasing T4 or
triiodothyronine (T3) levels in the blood"
-
Is St. John's wort an effective treatment for depression? - Nutrition
Science News, 9/01
-
St. John's Wort Vs. Drugs - Nutrition Science News, 6/01 -
"Yet recent clinical trials have shown that St.
John's wort works as well as Prozac, Zoloft and other leading antidepressant
drugs for treating mild to moderate depression"
- Hypericin May Be Potential
Candidate For Treating Esophageal Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 5/22/01 -
"Hypericin, the active ingredient in St. John’s Wort, a popular herbal
remedy for depression, may be a potential candidate for treating esophageal
and other tumors"
-
Effects of long-term administration of hypericum extracts on the affinity
and density of the central serotonergic 5-HT1 A and 5-HT2 A receptors -
Pharmacopsychiatry 1997 Sep;30 Suppl 2:113-6 -
"the number of both 5-HT1 A and 5-HT2 A receptors
were significantly increased by 50% compared to controls"
-
Popular Herb Works for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - WebMD, 8/17/00
-
Herb May Curb PMS - WebMD, 8/7/00
-
St. John's Wort Passes Muster - Nutrition Science News, 4/00
- Hypericum, Drug
Interatcions, and Liver Effects - MedHerb.com, 2/00 -
"Endogenous hormones metabolized by the CYP3A enzyme system - estradiol,
estriol, testosterone, cortisol"
- Study 20 - The Hypericum
Homepage - "Both serum-cortisol
and serum-prolactin
were lowered significantly after three weeks of treatment with hypericum
extract in male rats."
-
Natural Remedies for Depression - Nutrition Science News, 2/99
-
Antidepressant Can Change Personality Traits In Healthy People -
Doctor's Guide, 3/2/98
- Scientists Study How Light
Activates St. John's Wort Chemical
- Doctor's Guide, 12/4/97
- Hypericum (St. John's Wort) &
Depression Home Page
- Brain's Serotonin System
Declines With Age, Researchers Report - Doctor's Guide, 10/29/97
-
St. John's Wort may offer herbal relief for depression - CNN, 8/3/96
-
Study: Anti-depressant helps relieve severe PMS - CNN, 9/23/97
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