Our last HERBLOG post regarding the Bastyr ADHD study attracted email comment, controversy and criticism. All of which is good. With Word Press comments disabled you never know if anyone is bothering to read a blog.

Thanks to Paul Bergner of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism and Editor of the journal Medical Herbalism pointed out that Dr John Bastyr was not a founder of Bastyr University. The four founders of Bastyr were Bill Mitchell, Joe Pizzorno, Les Griffith and Sheila Quinn. As Bill Mitchell wrote in his book Plant Medicine in Practice, Bastyr was a towering figure of American botanical medicine, the “best of the best”. Bergner reports that being in the presence of this master clinician was amazing, and Bill Mitchell’s book gives a flavor of the man to those of us who were not fortunate enough able to meet him or hear him teach.

Bastyr University teaches Botanical Medicine as part of its core curriculum for Naturopathic Physicians, and arguably has one of the best botanical departments in North America at this time, which also offers a Herbal Sciences undergraduate degree, oriented more towards those considering non-clinical careers in the herb industry.

Dr Eric Yarnell, a current core faculty member at Bastyr’s Botanical Medicine department, defends the ADHD study and criticizes my post statement that Bastyr is joining the chorus that Hypericum does not work as a wild exaggeration. Eric suggests that since HYpericum is in fact a popular remedy with self medicating public for ADHD, it is reasonable to see if it works or not. He also suggests I read the whole paper, which I did not. Fair comment. His points are worth looking at in detail, which we will do in the next post.

So JAMA publishes a trial run out of Bastyr University, the renowned Naturopathic college in Seattle, which resoundingly informs us that SJW does not work for ADHD? What a total waste of time and money. What herb have they been smoking up there in Seattle? Is there a herbally literate practitioner anywhere who would recommend SJW as a single agent for a behavioral pattern such as “ADHD”. The centres of excellence so called in natural medicine would be better occupied in dismantling the ADHD “label” - instead of regarding it as disease that might be cured by a single herb given as a druand en route adding to the “SJW does not work” chorus.One wonders what the founders of Bastyr - Dr John Bastyr and Dr Biill Mitchell would think of such an unsavoury scenario.

Hypericum perforatum (St John’s Wort) for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

JAMA. 2008 Jun 11;299(22):2633-41 Weber W, Vander Stoep A, McCarty RL, Weiss NS, Biederman J, McClellan J  

CONTEXT: Stimulant medication can effectively treat 60% to 70% of youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Yet many parents seek alternative therapies, and Hypericum perforatum (St Johns wort) is 1 of the top 3 botanicals used. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy and safety of H perforatum for the treatment of ADHD in children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between March 2005 and August 2006 at Bastyr University, Kenmore, Washington, among a volunteer sample of 54 children aged 6 to 17 years who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) criteria for ADHD by structured interview. INTERVENTION: After a placebo run-in phase of 1 week, participants were randomly assigned to receive 300 mg of H perforatum standardized to 0.3% hypericin (n = 27) or a matched placebo (n = 27) 3 times daily for 8 weeks. Other medications for ADHD were not allowed during the trial. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Performance on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV (range, 0-54) and Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale (range, 0-7), and adverse events. RESULTS: One patient in the placebo group withdrew because of an adverse event. No significant difference was found in the change in ADHD Rating Scale-IV scores from baseline to week 8 between the treatment and placebo groups: inattentiveness improved 2.6 points (95% confidence interval [CI], -4.6 to -0.6 points) with H perforatum vs 3.2 points (95% CI, -5.7 to -0.8 points) with placebo (P = .68) and hyperactivity improved 1.8 points (95% CI, -3.7 to 0.1 points) with H perforatum vs 2.0 points (95% CI, -4.1 to 0.1 points) with placebo (P = .89). There was also no significant difference between the 2 groups in the percentage of participants who met criteria for improvement (score </=2) on the Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale (H perforatum, 44.4%; 95% CI, 25.5%-64.7% vs placebo, 51.9%; 95% CI, 31.9%-71.3%; P = .59). No difference between groups was found in the number of participants who experienced adverse effects during the study period (H perforatum, 40.7%; 95% CI, 22.4%-61.2% vs placebo, 44.4%; 95% CI, 25.5%-64.7%; P = .78). CONCLUSION: In this study, use of H perforatum for treatment of ADHD over the course of 8 weeks did not improve symptoms.

Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00100295.PMID: 18544723 [PubMed - in process]

(Via Herbal Science Research aggregator.)

Kevin Kelly, Executive editor of Wired magazine and has a wide ranging personal web site that includes a blog called Cool Tools devoted to gadgets that work. I am a fan of Kelly’s writing and if you are unfamiliar with it go check out his work at kk.org. His Cool Tool blog is here

Cool Tools today mentions The Blender Bottle - a brilliant non electrical device for blending smoothies - for camping, road trips, travel or just home convenience. The protein plus smoothie is a foundation of all patient protocols at our clinic, and the challenge of making these brews on the road is a recurrent complaint. The Blender Bottle is the best answer to date.

The Blender Bottle is a shaker bottle with a free-floating surgical stainless steel wire ball inside. Not unlike a kitchen whisk, the ball moves freely within your drink, breaking up clumps and further mixing the mix as you shake it for a smooth, totally grit- and clump-free serving..

Blender Bottle
$7
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