St. John’s wort can cause dangerous interactions with many common medications

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

30-Jun-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ruehle kruehle@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, June 30, 2014St. John's wort is the most frequently used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment in the U.S. for depression and similar psychiatric disorders. The many commonly prescribed medications that St. John's wort can interact withsometimes with serious consequences such as serotonin syndrome or heart diseaseare reviewed in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine website.

In the article "Use of St. John's Wort in Potentially Dangerous Combinations", Scott Davis, Steven Feldman, MD, PhD, and Sarah Taylor, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, present the results of a large-scale search of a national medical database across 17 years to assess how often St. John's wort is prescribed and taken with other medications that may result in adverse reactions, such as oral contraceptives, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), blood thinners, chemotherapy medicines, digoxin, statins, immunosuppressants, or HIV medicines, for example.

About the Journal The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a monthly peer-reviewed journal publishing observational, clinical, and scientific reports and commentary intended to help healthcare professionals and scientists evaluate and integrate therapies into patient care protocols and research strategies. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine website.

About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Alternative & Complementary Therapies, Medical Acupuncture, Brain and Gut, and Journal of Medicinal Food. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215 Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101 http://www.liebertpub.com

Contact: Kathryn Ruehle, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., (914) 740-2100, kruehle@liebertpub.com

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St. John's wort can cause dangerous interactions with many common medications