Читать книгу The Mood Cure: Take Charge of Your Emotions in 24 Hours Using Food and Supplements - Julia Ross - Страница 50

Aside from 5-HTP and tryptophan, the only other really effective natural serotonin booster I know of is the ancient herbal remedy Saint-John’s wort. Much of the research on Saint-John’s wort has been done in Germany, where this herb outsells Prozac as an antidepressant. The reason is that it’s been found to work as well as or better than Prozac and similar drugs, with few side effects:

In a study comparing Saint-John’s wort with Prozac, the two were exactly equal in effectiveness. Both provided 48 percent improvement in symptoms of depression.²⁵

In another study comparing the herb to Prozac, both provided slightly over 50 percent improvement.²⁶

We’ve found that Saint-John’s wort often helps to raise serotonin levels when the amino acids somehow do not. One of our clients, Nan, was always irritable and sleepless. Unfortunately, she was very sensitive to foods and supplements, and she got headachy and spacey on 5-HTP and tryptophan, so we tried a tincture (liquid extract) of Saint-John’s wort. That did the trick, reducing most of her angry feelings and helping her get to sleep. It wasn’t quite as complete a solution as we’re used to getting from 5-HTP and tryptophan, but she was definitely feeling and sleeping better because of it.

While we understand how nutrients like 5-HTP and tryptophan work in the brain, Saint-John’s wort, like most herbs (and the drugs often derived from them), is mysterious in action. We sometimes successfully combine Saint-John’s wort with 5-HTP or tryptophan. Mostly, though, we rely on it as a safe alternative when the other two supplements just don’t work. This typically happens only when thyroid function is sluggish. For example, we discovered that Nan had thyroiditis, a not uncommon autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland. (More later on the thyroid factor.)