Word: hypericum
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When you squeeze the bright star-shaped yellow buds of the hardy perennial Hypericum perforatum, they yield a red juice that reminded medieval Europeans of the blood of John the Baptist. Valued for its magical healing powers, St. John's wort (a Middle English word for "plant"), as the shrub is commonly called, has been used since the time of ancient Greece for treating any number of ailments, from liver and bowel disorders to hysteria, obesity and insomnia...
Over the coming years, nagging questions about hypericum's effectiveness and safety may finally be settled. The National Institutes of Health is laying plans for a large clinical trial that will directly compare hypericum with the best antidepressants. But until the results are in, there is reason to be cautious. Like all plants, hypericum contains a wide variety of compounds, including one that is known to cause sun sensitivity. Hypericum's effects in combination with other drugs are also cause for concern. Psychiatrists worry about the so-called serotonin syndrome, a kind of biochemical overload brought on by combining several...
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...
Biochemically, hypericum has some interesting properties. For starters, says University of Frankfurt psychopharmacologist Walter Muller, it appears to affect the brain in the same way Prozac does--by prolonging the activity of the mood-enhancing brain chemical serotonin. This is the same neurotransmitter acted on by the controversial diet pills fen-phen and Redux (see following story). But hypericum has much broader activity. In rats and mice, at least, it extends the action of at least two other powerful brain chemicals that are thought to play a role in depression: dopamine and norepinephrine. In each case, hypericum appears to work...
Despite its promise, experts agree that hypericum should not be viewed as an off-the-shelf solution for depression, especially severe depression that prompts suicidal thoughts. Nor should it be casually ingested in hopes of relieving a milder state of the blues. As Dr. Stephen Barrett, a co-author of the American Medical Association's Reader's Guide to Alternative Health Methods, observes, "Most people with mild depression will do better with psychotherapy than with drugs. Therapy is generally more effective for these people in the long run than taking a pill--even if the pill works...