The Benefits of St. John’s Wort by SARA TIPTON for Ready Nutrition
St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), is a plant that grows in the wild and has been used for centuries to help aid humans with some mental health conditions. St. John’s wort is sold as a dietary supplement in the United States. It’s currently widely prescribed for depression in Europe.
St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), is a plant that grows in the wild and has been used for centuries to help aid humans with some mental health conditions. St. John’s wort is sold as a dietary supplement in the United States. It’s currently widely prescribed for depression in Europe.
Known for its exhaustive medicinal value, St. John’s Wort is one of the best herbs to add to your herbal medicine cabinet. In addition to its medicinal properties, an herbal tincture can have the powerful effect of balancing your mood and helping you achieve a more positive outlook naturally.
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St. John’s Wort is a flowering plant named because the bright yellow flowers were said to bloom for the first time around St. John the Baptist’s birthday. The word “wort” means “plant” in Old English.
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Evidence suggests that the plant might be better at handling mild to moderate depression than a placebo. A 2015 study published in the Annals of Family Medicine, for instance, examined whether antidepressants were more effective than a placebo in a primary care setting. For the analysis, scientists examined 66 previously published studies (with a total of 15,161 participants) and found that antidepressant medication and St. John’s wort extracts were more effective than a placebo. But the real positive aspect of this herb was that it was associated with fewer dropouts because of adverse effects compared to tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (NRI), a serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI; venlafaxine), and noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant agents (NaSSAs). Meaning more people continued to take St. John’s wort than other medications because they were not experiencing devastating side effects.
