The efficacy of Hypericum or St. John’s wort in treating clinical depression is fraught with controversy. Scientific evidence regarding its efficacy is inconsistent; while some studies indicate it may help in treating mild depression, some other studies indicate that St. John’s wort was no more effective than placebo in treating major depression.
And to muddle things even further, yet another review has been published in the Cochrane Library, suggesting that St. John’s wort extracts tested in trials

are superior to placebo in patients with major depression;
are similarly effective as standard antidepressants;
and have fewer side effects than standard antidepressants.

I’m sure there  are …read more

A small study indicates that females get a perk-up from drinking coffee whether they are habitual drinkers or “caffeine-naïve”.
“The take-home message for women is that whether you are hooked on caffeine or not, if you need a boost coffee improves your mental alertness and can have a calming affect on your heart rate,” said Michael Kennedy, a professor in exercise physiology in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, lead author on the study. “In addition, a large coffee has more than enough caffeine to see these changes.”
Kennedy and a team of students looked at how 10 …read more

Did you know that residents of Finland drink more coffee per capita than the Japanese, Americans, Italians, and other Europeans? And it also appears that among a group of Finns surveyed between 1972 to 2006, the higher the coffee consumption, the lower the risk of primary liver cancer.
The researchers noted a significant inverse association between coffee drinking and the risk of primary liver cancer. Participants in the survey who drank 0-1 cup, 2-3 cups, 4-5 cups, 6-7 cups, and 8 or more cups per day. After a median follow-up period of 19.3 years, the study showed that the multivariable hazards …read more

Aside from possibly protecting you from diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and alcoholic cirrhosis, a recent survey study suggests that women coffee drinkers have a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease or cancer.
Women consuming two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease during the follow-up period (which lasted from 1980 to 2004 and involved 84,214 women) as compared with non-consumers, and an 18 percent lower risk of death caused by something other than cancer or heart disease as compared with non-consumers during follow-up.
Before you use this to justify your …read more