# St. John's Wort? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388 "2002-04-02T15:07:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/21 "2002-04-03T11:49:12Z")
it may or may not work…take as directed, and try it for yourself… providing of course you aren’t taking the contraceptive pill or other contra-indicated meds. and the “it’s just a plant it won’t work” thing isn’t exactly true e.g. aspirin- willow bark digitalis-foxglove and let’s not forget that one of the strongest anti-cancer drugs in use at present is made from the bark of a south american tree… ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/22 "2002-04-03T15:18:58Z")
The health care agency I work for has an evidence report (a review of the clinical research) on this subject: _Treatment of Depression–Newer Pharmacotherapies_. There’s a summary of the report at [http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/deprsumm.htm](http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/deprsumm.htm) and a link to the full report on the National Library of Medicine’s site at the very bottom. From the summary: > [@](#): > > Hypericum (St. John’s wort) appears more effective than placebo for the short-term treatment of mild to moderately severe depressive disorders. Adverse effects occur significantly less frequently with hypericum compared to first generation tricyclic antidepressants. These findings are tempered by the relatively small number of trials and evidence of publication bias favoring positive trials. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/23 "2002-04-03T16:10:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrO \* > \*\*It is also rumoured to have magical powers, and a very cool [nickname](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_318.html). \*\* I wonder how Cecil identified SJW with High John the Conqueror. He didn’t cite a source. There’s an alternative explanation which (sorry, Cecil fans!) I think carries greater weight: High John=jalap. From one of the top experts on African-American **mojo** , at this URL: [http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html](http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html) > [@](#): > > There are three roots named for John the Conqueror. Each is in a separate botanical family and has a different method of use. High John the Conqueror is the most prized of the three John roots. When Willie Dixon sings in “Hootchie Cootchie Man” that he has “a John the Conqueroo,” he means a John the Conqueror root – the hard, woody tuber of _Ipomoea jalapa_, a member of the morning glory family, and a relative of the common sweet potato. Fresh John the Conqueror root has a unqiue, spicy fragrance, reminiscent of a combination of cherry-scented pipe tobacco, vetivert, cedarwood, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and mace. Like many other ipomoeas, some of which are psychedelic, it is rich in alkaloids, but in magical practice, the root is not ingested, probably because it is an extremely powerful laxative. [Even more off topic is this quote from _Ulysses_ by James Joyce—] > [@](#): > > His old fellow made his tin by selling jalap to Zulus or some bloody swindle or other. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/24 "2002-04-03T22:38:05Z")
So what’s the optimum/recommended dosage for SJW supposed to be? ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/25 "2002-04-03T23:46:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > **I wonder how Cecil identified SJW with High John the Conqueror. He didn’t cite a source.** Hmm. I’m all about questioning authority, but I thought we drew the line at questioning _Cecil_’s authority. I guess it’s time to adjust my worldview once again.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kybrdbrkn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kybrdbrkn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kybrdbrkn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/26 "2002-04-04T02:00:04Z")
I tried St. John’s Wort pills for a while, but all they did was make me drowsy! Oh, well… different bodies react in different ways, I guess. I ended up using the rest of the pills in that bottle as sleeping pills! ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/27 "2002-04-10T10:49:03Z")
I have no idea about the toxicity of S:t John’s wort, but I heard this morning on the radio that a recent experiment done here in Sweden has shown that it has no effect whatsoever as an antidepressant. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/28 "2002-04-10T11:02:08Z")
To follow up cynic’s link, they have an [article](http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n14/rfull/joc11936.html) in the latest edition which goes into great detail. It’s also free. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/29 "2002-04-10T14:09:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KKBattousai \* > \*\*So what’s the optimum/recommended dosage for SJW supposed to be? \*\* Ahh, and there’s the rub: with most herbal stuff, it’s difficult to ascertain a correct dosage. When you have a standard medication in a pill, they’ve isolated the specific chemical that provides the desired effect. When you take something like St. John’s Wort, you’re consuming the shredded up plant. Therefore, even if they know which chemical provides the goods when you eat SJW, the amount of that chemical can vary from crop to crop of SJW. This is the single most important thing that “alternative medicine” purveyors need to address before they will be taken more seriously by the “medical establishment”, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388/30 "2002-04-10T14:26:57Z")
I’d prefer to take it this way: Just before the flowers burst out you pick as many buds as you can get, put them in a bottle of vodka, preferably with low alcohol content, and wait until the clear liquid has turned red. Pour in a small glass and enjoy. According to the Danish mathematician and poet Piet Hein you should take a sample every now and so you can better decide when the taste is maximised, something that usually happens when the bottle is empty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-johns-wort/101388.md?page=1)