THE BEST ALTERNATIVE?

December 1998
		More than four out of ten people in the United States visited alternative medicine practitioners last year. Dr. George Lundberg of the Journal of the American Medical Association and Dr. Marcia Angell of the New England Journal of Medicine answer your questions.

What is the definition of alternative medicine? What do doctors think of alternative medicine? How has marketing effected alternative medicine? Is there research on St. Johns Wart? Will the FDA get involved with regulation?   August 27, 1998 More hospitals are offering alternative treatments. June 19, 1997 The mixed bag of estrogen hormone replacement. Browse the NewsHour's Health Spotlight.

Bill Murphy of Harrisburg, PA, asks: Are there any research findings on the effectiveness of exercise and/or St. Johns Wort for depression? How do they compare with the anti-depressants? Dr. Marcia Angell responds: I believe there has been some research on the effectiveness of St. Johns Wort for depression, but I haven't reviewed the work in detail and would rather not comment here. Exercise is generally agreed to be beneficial, but it is very difficult to study the question rigorously, since depressed people may be considerably less willing to exercise. Dr. George Lundberg responds: There is very little credible evidence yet available on the effectiveness of exercise or St. Johns Wort for depression. Exercise is good for many things, rarely hurts, and could help. Current studies of St. Johns Wort should be available in a fairly short time and may answer that question. Meanwhile, many antidepressants are known to be highly effective in the treatment of depression and should be used with confidence. Click to continue...