The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Kava and St. John’s wort: Evidence for mood and anxiety disorders

     A broad range of mood disorders were reviewed by researchers at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, in Queensland, Australia.

    First, the details.

    • Evidence of efficacy, mode of action, pharmacokinetics, safety, and use in the following conditions was considered.
      • Major depressive disorder
      • Bipolar disorder
      • Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
      • Generalized anxiety disorder
      • Social phobia (SP)
      • Panic disorder (PD)
      • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    And, the results.

    • Evidence supports St. John’s wort to treat mild to moderate depression.
    • Evidence supports kava to treat generalized anxiety.
    • Regarding the other disorders, only weak preliminary evidence exists for using St. John’s wort to treat SAD.
    • There are no published human studies on the use of kava in affective disorders, or in OCD, PTSD, PD, or SP.

    The bottom line?
    The authors concluded that the unstudied conditions are “potential applications that warrant exploration.”

    7/21/09 18:46 JR

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