[alert] (Fwd) [healthfraud] St Johns Wort & Cataracts (fwd)

[Robert Marshall <marshalr@OHSU.EDU>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 22:09:12 +0000
From: Rebecca Long+ <arlong@netcom.com>
To: alert@ssr.com
Subject: [alert] (Fwd) [healthfraud] St Johns Wort & Cataracts

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:          "Patrick Bramwell-Wesley" <pbramwell@home.com>
To:            <healthfraud@ssr.com>
Date:          Thu, 22 Jul 1999 09:12:22 -0400
Subject:       [healthfraud] St Johns Wort & Cataracts

>From today's London Daily Telegraph
------------------

Cataracts warning over herbal remedy
By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent


  ST JOHN'S wort, the popular herbal remedy for depression and
memory loss, can trigger cataracts in people who expose themselves to
bright light. The finding, revealed by scientists at a meeting of the
American Society for Photobiology, is a blow to the fastest rising
star in herbal medicine. In Germany, doctors prescribe St John's wort
eight times more often than Prozac.

Hypericin, the active ingredient in St John's wort, reacts with
visible and ultraviolet light to produce free radicals, reports
New Scientist. Joan Roberts of Fordham University, New York,
showed that this reaction can damage proteins in the eye that give the
lens its transparency.

Dr Roberts said: "If the proteins are damaged, they precipitate
out of solution and make the lens cloudy. That's what a cataract
is." She recommended that those taking St John's wort should wear hats
and wraparound sunglasses.

Users should be warned of the risks, she said, particularly if
taking the herbal remedy at the beach or while skiing. The
side-effect may be a particular problem for any sufferers of
seasonal affective disorder who combine St John's wort with
light-box therapy.

David Wheatley, a psychiatrist at the Charter Chelsea Clinic,
London, said he has had no complaints from his patients about
side-effects. "It works extremely well for people with mild to
moderate depression."

A possible beneficial effect of hypericin's strong reaction with
light has emerged from the investigation. It may help skin
cancers. Dr Roberts said: "Its side-effect is being used as a
potential therapy for killing cancer cells."


end





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