St John’s Wort reduced symptoms of severe depression more effectively than a commonly prescribed anti-depressant, according to last week’s online edition of the British Medical Journal.
Previous studies have indicated St John’s Wort is effective for mild depression. This study is the first to endorse the herb’s use in severe depression. Its German authors criticized a previous study with conflicting evidence as inadequately designed. (more…)
The FTC has been asked to halt an advertising campaign in which the artificial sweetener Splenda is described as a natural product “made from sugar.”
“Splenda is produced through a chemical process that involves chlorination and phosgene gas, a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides,” according to the Florida Consumer Action Network. (more…)
A ginger-like Thai curry spice called galangal appears to attack and kill cancer cells, according to researcher Peter Houghton of King’s College in London. Houghton found that galangal activates detoxifying enzymes, removing cancer causing agents from cells. (more…)
In August 5000 food supplements will disappear from health food store shelves in the UK. The EU directive mandating this “vitamin ban” across Europe should be of grave concern to supplement users in the United States. It has linkages to emerging but parallel situations at the UN and in the US Congress. In each of these instances, the driving force is an attempt to stop the use of supplementary nutrients as a sort of gentle medicine, a viable alternative to pharmaceuticals and surgery. Most observers believe that large international pharmaceutical corporations are driving this process with their immense wealth and the influence it buys. Watch this site for updates and background information on this issue.
One of the deep mysteries of our time is the question of why, with living standards higher than ever before in history, so many people in the “developed” world are disabled by chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, ADD, autism, irritable bowl syndrome, psoriasis, hyperactivity and related disorders. The numbers are startling, showing significant jumps, for example, in depression for each age cohort born after World War II.
Americans now in their eighties came of age during the Great Depression and World War II, with great attendant social and emotional trauma. But they had very few depressive illnesses. Baby boomers, born to great prosperity and opportunity, suffered so much affective disorder that their ill fated attempts to live better through chemistry launched a drug culture. And Gen-X’ers (as the boomers’ children call themselves) have taken depressive and affective disorders exponential. (more…)
Email This Article