The flag tested 64 natural depression remedies – only a few work in reality

Why do we look at this topic?

Depression is increasingly common, to the extent that it is sometimes described as an epidemic. In the UK, 11.3 % of people are for light depression symptoms, moderate depression symptoms by 4.2 %, and 3.3 % of severe depression symptoms. Many of us know someone who struggles with simple or moderate levels of depression, or we may face symptoms of depression ourselves. Often, we will try many things to help, such as antidepressants, conversation, meditation, or exercise. One of the people trying to treat a common treatment is the widely available OTC products from supermarkets, pharmacies, healthy food stores and online.

Once you start searching for the OTC product that may be useful, the list becomes countless. This is especially the case if you read online blogs or look at the promotion of the social media of various products. How do we know what is based on evidence? What are the effective products? Are they safe?

Looking at my background, I was naturally interested in understanding products that may be useful and where research should focus after that.

What did we do?

As one team, we reviewed 23,933 study record and 1,367 sheets. In general, we found 209 clinical trials that evaluated 64 OTC products for depression as the product was taken for more than a week. We focused on the most striking way to evaluate effectiveness and safety – clinical trials. Studies conducted on adults between the ages of 18 and 60 were included with symptoms of depression or diagnosis. We also examined whether my life is by reviewing experiences in the elderly separately and we found that there. This project is part of a larger series of studies, as it is also looking for anxiety and insomnia products.

It may be difficult to classify OTC products – different countries have different regulations, and some products are commonly used in some places but not elsewhere. Two audience volunteers helped us narrow our options, which helped us exclude some very mysterious products, such as ELS head powder!

So what did we find?

We expected a lot of studies, but more than 200 was more than we expected! We had to recruit a trainee to help us sort through the results. Studies were not always clear – some doses or multiple products, some of which were in addition to antidepressants, and in some experiments, people had a set of physical conditions in addition to depression. We collected the results we reached in fundamental evidence products (more than 10 experiments), emerging evidence (between two and ninety trials), and only one trials.

Objective products are well known – omega -3s (39 experiments), Wort Saint John (38), and probiotics (18) and vitamin (14) – as well as saffron (18), which is important in the Middle East and Asia parts.

Compared to the imaginary medicine, I found fewer omega -3 experiments traces of depression than those that did not find any effects. However, the plant of Saint John and Saffron often showed the effects compared to the imaginary medicine, and similar results to prescription antidepressants. Probiotics and vitamin D were more likely to reduce symptoms of depression than the placebo.

Among the 18 of the emerging evidence products, folic acid, lavender, zinc, tryptophan, Rodiola, and the most promising lemon conditioner. Bitter orange, Lavender Persian, and chamomile tea showed positive effects in two experiences each. Some products that gain popularity, such as melatonin, magnesium and turmeric, have shown mixed effects on depression through multiple clinical trials. Mixed results are also found for cinnamon, stics, vitamin C and a group of vitamin D as well as calcium. The Brootic, which supports good bacteria in our pamphlets, and an annex called itself is better than the imaginary medicine. 41 products had only one experience available. This is useful as a starting point, but it does not give us conclusive evidence.

It is good news that few safety concerns arose from any of these products, whether they are alone or in combination with antidepressants. However, a healthcare professional should always be consulted about whether the product may interact with something else to eat. A higher level of safety reporting in experiments is essential – only 145 (69 %) of examined studies have been fully reported about any side effects of products.

What do we recommend in the future?

While 89 experiments tested the products in conjunction with antidepressants, a few have seen whether to take OTC products while talking treatments have an additional effect. There was only one study that I looked at whether to take the OTC product (folic acid) had provided health service funds – was not more effective than the imaginary medicine and did not lead to savings – but knowing more about that will be useful in the future. Some evidence is also available for OTC products that are often ignored.

Therefore, what we have is relatively conclusive evidence for some products. When we looked at investigative studies of what people usually take, chamomile, lavender, lemon conditioner, and echiumerced as common consumption products with an emerging evidence base, we recommend studying them. Common herbal drugs used for symptoms of depression are ginseng, sangco, lime flowers, orange flowers and mint, but no studies have evaluated these products. Thus, our study is a pioneer in exploring what is the necessary research to increase the evaluation of widespread health care products.