I ran into the great article on CNN’s website “Supplements for Depression: What Works & What Doesn’t” by Ray Hainer of Health.com. Long ago…well, September 19, 2006 to be exact, I blogged about whether supplements work for depression and anxiety. While I didn’t go into specific details of which supplements have the greatest research evidence supporting them, there are some important bases that I cover in that blog, so please check it out.
You will need to refer Ray Hainer’s article for the specifics about which supplements appear to be most helpful for depression, but I’ll summarize a few crucial points of interest:
1). Some supplements do seem to help with depression.
2). However, they are not regulated by the FDA.
3). Many false or exaggerated claims can be made about the effectiveness of supplements to treat various conditions, including depression.
4). Consult your physician before using any supplements (or, if you are already using supplements, please consult your physician immediately).
Although many supplements have proven to be helpful, they can have dangerous side-effects and drug interactions, so we should be very cautious about any supplement usage. Supplements are still drugs…our brains don’t know the difference between man-made drugs and naturally-occurring ones. So, we need to do our homework before taking any medications or supplements that can affect our noggins.