Women are twice as likely as men to...

Women are twice as likely as men to finish the blues. Statistics show that single in four women will require treatment for depression at a time in their lives. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, that makes women the focal point of Eli Lilly & Co.'s fresh $15 million ad campaign to market the 10-year-old anti-depressant physic Prozac (a brand of fluoxetine), directly to consumer who pocket from mild-to-moderate depression.

single in kind of the top selling pharmaceuticals in the world, Prozac sales (last year) were $17 billion, and it's estimated that 12 million family are taking it. Eli Lilly's marketing push approachs at a time when a safe, natural dietary fill up for "the blues" -- St John's Wort -- is attracting widespread enthusiasm and mass media coverage. Other often-prescribed anti-depressants (not lay out by Lilly) include Paxil (a brand of paroxetine) and Zoloft (a brand of sertraline).

Called "a honestly startling medical breakthrough" by Hugh Downs forward the June 27, 1997, edition of ABC's 20/20 Better Nutrition was way ahead of all this new media excitement, when it ran the following article back in February 1996: "St John's Wort: effective medicine for depression, infection, and more."

In fact the only breakthrough is the existing mass-media and corporate acknowledgement of something which was first "written up" by the agency of Dioscorides in the first hundred years A.D., and by Galen in the next to the first century. In fact, in point of historical respect herbalists have safely employed St John's Wort for centuries.

Called Hypericum perforatum in Latin, this herb with the bright golden flowers already outsells Prozac 20 to I in Germany. Widely distributed in Europe Asia, northern Africa, and as a non-native to the United States," according to Better Nutrition, St John's Wort -- the dietary addition -- is available for about one-fourth the splendor of Prozac.

According to Michael T Murray, ND author of Natural Alternatives to Prozac, about 25 studies, which were supervised and double-blinded, involved a total of 1592 patients, experienced succes after they were given St John's Wort to improve psychological question s like depression, anxiety, and nap disorders, and without reported side effects

In single of the clinically-supervised studies performed in 1995 researcher WD Hilbner noted overall improvement in the 30 patients treated with 900 mg/day of St John's Wort. Nearly 75 percent of the patients were unrestrained of depressive symptoms after just four weeks of treatment.

a common and rare side validitys of prescription anti-depressants are: constipation, blurr vision, dizziness, weight gain, impotence, anxiety, nervousness, nausea/diarrhea, sexual dysfunction, and suicidal/homicidal tendencies.

While research subjects have reported remarkably not many side effects with St. John's Wort, Better Nutrition has said that "fair-skinned tribe in general, should be cautious when using [the herb] (especially as a tea), since exposing to bright sunlight can cause temporary sunburnlike skin reactions." Research also proposes that taking St. John's Wort with Prozac may be dangerous, as the pair can interact, says herbalist, Steven rear in his book, Herbs for Your Health.

Murray points disclosed that drug treatments like Prozac mask the symptoms of depression without addressing the underlying causes -- whether they be physical, psychological, dietary, or lifestyle.

Remember, nevertheless true depression is serious business, and should be evaluated on licensed health-care practitioners. For those who occasionally "feel the blues" Murray hints the use of safer, non-addictive natural anti-depressants, like St John's Wort, as "a crutch" until the nutritional, physical, psychological, or other permanent lifestyle modifications are in place to support finished recovery -- never as an unsupervised replacement for the bulk of mankind with clinical (pathological) depression who are taking prescribed medications.

REFERENCES

Bloomberg moderns Service. Lilly to scour ads pushing Prozac," The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 1 1997

Foster Steven Herbs for Your Health. Loveland, Colo: Interweave Pres 1996

Gormley, James J "St John's Wort: effective medicine for depression, infection, & more," Better Nutrition 58(2): 24-26 1996

Murray, Michael T MD Natural Alternatives to Prozac. William Morrow & Company: recently made known York, 1996.

Hubner, W.D., et al. (Title Unavailable) Nervenheilkunde, 12:281 1993 (Quot in Bobradelli, Ezio and Morazzoni, Paolo. "Hypericum Perforatum," Fitoterapia 66:43-68 1995)

Johnson Timothy, MD (correspondent) "Nature's Rx" 20/20 ABC of the present days June 27,1997. ABC Transcript No. 1727 Landover, Md: Federal Document Clearing House.

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