Post: #1

I took a CE course, and thought it would benefit others to have a read. Heres the article.

Edit- Some herbal supplements covered- Saw Palmetto, St John's Wort, Gingko Biloba, Ginseng, Echinacea, Kava, etc etc.

Some things of notes-

1) Some of the herbal supplements towards the end of the article have very weak evidence.
2) Kava can be very dangerous. It potentiates a lot of drug interactions, due to inactivating various liver detoxification enzymes.
3) Be familiar w/the evidence and levels of credibility. IE- Cochrane studies are basically verbatim TRUTH. If cochrane studies approves something, I have 100% faith in it.


Personal experiences- Gingko biloba is great. Echinacea tea had limited effect, but I dont rule out supplement's effectiveness. Valerian root extract was great- similar to valium but 15% intensity.


  Herbal Supplement Review.pdf (Size: 520.55 KB / Downloads: 2066)

Post: #2

Cliff Notes-Simple break-down located on the big table on pg 34 of the article.

Post: #3

(03-21-2013 11:20 AM)DVY Wrote:  I took a CE course, and thought it would benefit others to have a read. Heres the article.

Edit- Some herbal supplements covered- Saw Palmetto, St John's Wort, Gingko Biloba, Ginseng, Echinacea, Kava, etc etc.

Some things of notes-

1) Some of the herbal supplements towards the end of the article have very weak evidence.
2) Kava can be very dangerous. It potentiates a lot of drug interactions, due to inactivating various liver detoxification enzymes.
3) Be familiar w/the evidence and levels of credibility. IE- Cochrane studies are basically verbatim TRUTH. If cochrane studies approves something, I have 100% faith in it.


Personal experiences- Gingko biloba is great. Echinacea tea had limited effect, but I dont rule out supplement's effectiveness. Valerian root extract was great- similar to valium but 15% intensity.

Please break down Cochrane for me.

Post: #4

Zefram Cochrane is the first human to invent warp drive, in 2063, drawing the attention of the Vulcans, and leading to humanity's first contact with an alien race.

Post: #5

Cochrane studies are meta-analysis on research of various areas. It filters for large sample sizes, bias, impact, etc etc. It has a strict methodology of filtering applicable research papers. In short, its the best source of unbiased scientific data out there.

In terms of evidence quality- its goes something like this theory-->personal experience (anecdote) ---> causation/correlation studies ----> randomized controlled trials ----> double-blind RCT ----> metanalysis--->Cochrane studies.

Heres the wikipage for the organization....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochrane_Collaboration

Post: #6

(03-21-2013 02:35 PM)calihunter Wrote:  Zefram Cochrane is the first human to invent warp drive, in 2063, drawing the attention of the Vulcans, and leading to humanity's first contact with an alien race.

how did you know my grandfather?

Post: #7

St Johns Wort is completely legit. For mild or moderate depression it has EQUAL effectiveness as commonly prescribed anti-depressions (eg zoloft) with almost no side effects (SSRIs otoh have tons of sides including sexual sides). There is hardly any money in this however so that other shit is prescribed hand over fist.

Is there any short list of the conclusions of the cochrane findings?

Post: #8

(03-21-2013 08:30 PM)_DC_ Wrote:  Is there any short list of the conclusions of the cochrane findings?

If you mean this particular study, there is this table at the end



***E = Clinically Effective
**E = Clinically Beneficial
*E = Limited Effectiveness

S = Safe
AEs/DIs = Reported adverse effects and/or drug interactions
UnS = Unsafe