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Article: Health: The suddenly fashionable wort Hypericum, or St John's wort, is being hailed as an effective treatment for depression. No wonder long-time practitioners of folk medicine are feeling smug . By Liz Bestic
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- April 6, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1999 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ACCORDING TO the self-help charity Depression Alliance, around
four million people in Britain suffer from depression at any one
time. Add to that the fact that the cost of depression to the United
Kingdom is pounds 8 billion a year - of which pounds 500 million goes
on medication - and it comes as no surprise that so much attention is
focused on any new treatment which arrives on the market.
The current vogue is for hypericum, or St John's wort, a rather
unassuming little plant which is confounding the medical profession
with its efficacy both as an anti-depressant and for its lack of side
effects. Hypericum has been used for centuries in folk medicine for
everything from diarrhoea to sleep ...