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St. John's Wort

Hypericum Perforatum

St. John's Wort has been used throughout Europe for a number of symptoms of nervous tension: insomnia, cramps (e.g. menstrual), intestinal colic, irritable bowel, bed wetting and anxiety. St. John's Wort extracts have shown a wide variety of effects in experimental and clinical studies. Some of the activities demonstrated include psychotropic, antidepressant, antiviral, and antibiotic effects as well as increased healing of wounds and burns.

• ANTI-DEPRESSANT - St. John's Wort is commonly used as a mild to moderate antidepressant. This action appears to be based on the ability of hypericin and other components to inhibit monoamine oxidase (MAO) types A and B. As a result of this inhibition, the level within the brain of certain nerve impulse transmitters increases - helping maintain normal mood and emotional stability. While it was previously thought the antidepressant actions of St. John's wort were due to hypericin and the inhibition of the enzyme monoamine oxidase, current research has challenged this belief, focusing on other constituents, such as hyperforin, and flavonoids.

  A meta-analysis was performed on three double-blind, randomised multi-centre trials, involving 544 out-patients suffering from mild to moderate depression. After 6 weeks of treatment with St. John's Wort, the results indicated that Hypericum extract accelerated the recovery from depression by influencing all investigated signs and symptoms of the disease. The effect was found to be similar to the profile of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  Atypical depression, neurasthenia and fibromyalgia seem to form a spectrum of disorders, who share a common biological basis, i.e. a reduced activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical(HPA)-system. Treatment with hypericum seems to disinhibit the HPA-system in healthy subjects and patients with a depression. Clinical studies with patients with depression with atypical features like the seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and with patients with a depressive syndrome accompanied by somatic complaints or fatigue, support this view.

• ANTI STRESS / ANXIETY - St. John's wort has a traditional use as a restorative treatment for the nervous system; s