Latest news with #FrontiersofPharmacology
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
The supermarket ‘antidepressant' in your spice rack
Probiotics and vitamin D were more likely than a placebo to reduce depressive symptoms, while most studies found no effects for Omega-3, according to lead author Rachael Frost, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. 'However, St John's Wort and saffron more often showed effects compared to placebo, and similar results to prescription antidepressants,' Frost wrote in an accompanying editorial in Frontiers of Pharmacology. Frost, we should note, is a herbal medicine practitioner herself; the first of many caveats we'll cover on this study. It's not surprising St John's Wort showed a strong effect. A Cochrane review, the gold-standard for scientific evidence, found the flower extract could treat symptoms of depression as effectively as antidepressants back in 2008. Ian Hickie, professor of psychiatry and co-director of health and policy at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, said St John's Wort is known to be pharmacologically similar to a weak SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant medication. 'It should be seen as a 'medicine' and not simply a natural product,' he says. Hickie noted that many of the other natural interventions weighed up in the review were tested on subclinical depression, not the severe illness conventional antidepressants are aimed at, which is important to consider when interpreting the results. The review also didn't analyse the statistical power of each trial's results, which most modern meta-analyses do, and instead simply collated the number of positive and negative experiments on each substance. That doesn't take us far, particularly because most of the trials included in the review had small sample sizes. So where does that leave us with the claim that saffron, alongside St John's Wort, could be as potent as a prescription antidepressant? A narrow evidence base Eighteen studies on saffron were included in the review. Most found the substance improved people's mood and alleviated depression at least as well as conventional medication. But, reading the studies one by one, something caught my eye: at least half were co-authored by the same researcher. Further, all but one of the studies emerged from a small group of research organisations in Iran. That's not surprising; Iran produces 90 per cent of the world's saffron, so naturally the country's scientists would lead experiments on its therapeutic potential. What it does show, however, is that the experimental landscape for saffron is very concentrated. To be confident that a certain new drug or intervention works, ideally, you want labs across many countries running experiments with a range of settings and participants of different ethnicities. It's safe to say the evidence base, as it stands, is narrow. The one study referenced in the paper completed outside of Iran was an Australian one led by Dr Adrian Lopresti, which found saffron extract could help reduce depressive symptoms in people already taking a pharmaceutical antidepressant. Lopresti, who's the managing director of Clinical Trials Australia, also just published a new paper that marks the largest study to date on saffron and mood, with 202 participants. The trial found 72.3 per cent of participants with depressive symptoms (not clinical depression) taking saffron extract significantly improved compared to 54.3 per cent of people on a placebo. Scientists believe saffron could address chemical issues associated with depression, which include problems with neurotransmitters, high inflammatory blood markers, and low levels of antioxidants. 'Saffron is an anti-inflammatory, it's an antioxidant, and it impacts on neurotransmitters too, so it probably works through those different mechanisms,' Lopresti says. Fine print and industry funding But these Australian studies, too, come with a crucial caveat: they were funded by a biotech company that sells saffron supplements. 'I think what you've got to really do is not hedge your bets on just one single study,' Lopresti says when I ask how people should interpret studies funded by industry. 'Has it been replicated across the world with different research organisations?' Loading Jerome Sarris, professor of integrative mental health at the NICM medical research institute, said it's important to note potential conflicts of interest. But they can be managed in placebo-controlled, double-blind studies – where participants and experimenters don't know who's on the placebo – as long as data is analysed independently of industry. 'Of course, read the fine print, look at the conflict of interest and weigh that up in your own mind. But I would also say universities are pretty good in terms of having safeguards around conflict of interest management,' he says. People considering supplements for mood or mental illness should seek professional health advice. Herbs and other supplements can interact with other medications. St John's Wort, for example, can lead to a potentially life-threatening increase in serotonin when combined with some antidepressants.
The Age
2 days ago
- Health
- The Age
The supermarket ‘antidepressant' in your spice rack
Probiotics and vitamin D were more likely than a placebo to reduce depressive symptoms, while most studies found no effects for Omega-3, according to lead author Rachael Frost, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. 'However, St John's Wort and saffron more often showed effects compared to placebo, and similar results to prescription antidepressants,' Frost wrote in an accompanying editorial in Frontiers of Pharmacology. Frost, we should note, is a herbal medicine practitioner herself; the first of many caveats we'll cover on this study. It's not surprising St John's Wort showed a strong effect. A Cochrane review, the gold-standard for scientific evidence, found the flower extract could treat symptoms of depression as effectively as antidepressants back in 2008. Ian Hickie, professor of psychiatry and co-director of health and policy at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, said St John's Wort is known to be pharmacologically similar to a weak SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant medication. 'It should be seen as a 'medicine' and not simply a natural product,' he says. Hickie noted that many of the other natural interventions weighed up in the review were tested on subclinical depression, not the severe illness conventional antidepressants are aimed at, which is important to consider when interpreting the results. The review also didn't analyse the statistical power of each trial's results, which most modern meta-analyses do, and instead simply collated the number of positive and negative experiments on each substance. That doesn't take us far, particularly because most of the trials included in the review had small sample sizes. So where does that leave us with the claim that saffron, alongside St John's Wort, could be as potent as a prescription antidepressant? A narrow evidence base Eighteen studies on saffron were included in the review. Most found the substance improved people's mood and alleviated depression at least as well as conventional medication. But, reading the studies one by one, something caught my eye: at least half were co-authored by the same researcher. Further, all but one of the studies emerged from a small group of research organisations in Iran. That's not surprising; Iran produces 90 per cent of the world's saffron, so naturally the country's scientists would lead experiments on its therapeutic potential. What it does show, however, is that the experimental landscape for saffron is very concentrated. To be confident that a certain new drug or intervention works, ideally, you want labs across many countries running experiments with a range of settings and participants of different ethnicities. It's safe to say the evidence base, as it stands, is narrow. The one study referenced in the paper completed outside of Iran was an Australian one led by Dr Adrian Lopresti, which found saffron extract could help reduce depressive symptoms in people already taking a pharmaceutical antidepressant. Lopresti, who's the managing director of Clinical Trials Australia, also just published a new paper that marks the largest study to date on saffron and mood, with 202 participants. The trial found 72.3 per cent of participants with depressive symptoms (not clinical depression) taking saffron extract significantly improved compared to 54.3 per cent of people on a placebo. Scientists believe saffron could address chemical issues associated with depression, which include problems with neurotransmitters, high inflammatory blood markers, and low levels of antioxidants. 'Saffron is an anti-inflammatory, it's an antioxidant, and it impacts on neurotransmitters too, so it probably works through those different mechanisms,' Lopresti says. Fine print and industry funding But these Australian studies, too, come with a crucial caveat: they were funded by a biotech company that sells saffron supplements. 'I think what you've got to really do is not hedge your bets on just one single study,' Lopresti says when I ask how people should interpret studies funded by industry. 'Has it been replicated across the world with different research organisations?' Loading Jerome Sarris, professor of integrative mental health at the NICM medical research institute, said it's important to note potential conflicts of interest. But they can be managed in placebo-controlled, double-blind studies – where participants and experimenters don't know who's on the placebo – as long as data is analysed independently of industry. 'Of course, read the fine print, look at the conflict of interest and weigh that up in your own mind. But I would also say universities are pretty good in terms of having safeguards around conflict of interest management,' he says. People considering supplements for mood or mental illness should seek professional health advice. Herbs and other supplements can interact with other medications. St John's Wort, for example, can lead to a potentially life-threatening increase in serotonin when combined with some antidepressants.
STV News
7 days ago
- Health
- STV News
New technique 'powerful double weapon' to prevent chemotherapy hair loss
Scientists have developed a new technique which they describe as a 'powerful double weapon' to prevent cancer patients losing their hair during chemotherapy. The method combines scalp cooling – where a patient wears a cold cap to help reduce hair loss from the damage caused by the cancer drugs – with a lotion comprising the same antioxidants found in the likes of red grapes. The study, which has been hailed as a 'milestone', also pinpointed the optimal temperature for scalp cooling to be most effective for keeping hair. Cold caps are used by some cancer patients during chemotherapy to help minimise the amount of hair they lose. The technique works by restricting blood flow to the scalp, which reduces the amount of medication reaching the hair follicles. Now, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have found cooling the scalp to 18C can prevent hair follicle damage, while cooling to 26C may not provide enough protection to hair follicle cells. The team has also shown how combining topical antioxidants with cooling could 'transform the ability of cooling to protect' against hair loss. Dr Nik Georgopoulos, an associate professor of cell biology and Transforming Lives fellow at Sheffield Hallam, told the PA news agency that he views hair loss as the 'face of cancer'. 'The reason why people get hair loss is because, at the base of the hair follicles, there are these rapidly dividing cells that are actually feeling the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs,' he said. 'Chemotherapy drugs are drugs that kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they cannot discriminate between cancer cells and rapidly dividing normal cells in the body. 'At the base of our hair follicles are these rapidly dividing cells, or keratinocytes, that constantly grow and they end up forming the actual hair.' For the study, published in Frontiers of Pharmacology, hair follicles were isolated from the scalp and grown in the lab before being treated with chemotherapy to study the impact. 'We show that they die,' Dr Georgopoulos said. 'The cells that are rapidly dividing and grow the hair, they will die because of the toxicity of chemotherapy. 'But if you cool them, they are protected, and I don't mean just protected – prevented from dying. 'So if cooling is used while the hair follicles are grown in the lab, it can completely prevent the toxicity. But there is a catch – you have to use the right temperature.' While an optimal temperature was highlighted in the study, researchers also combined cooling with the lotion as a potential target for patients who may not respond to the cold cap technique. It contained antioxidants like resveratrol, which is found in the likes of red grapes and peanuts, and N-Acetylcysteine, a dietary supplement. Dr Georgopoulos told PA: 'For some patients, cooling works, and for others it doesn't. Because some heads – I call them stubborn – they don't cool enough. 'By adding this topical product that delivers this antioxidant, we form a powerful double weapon that, based on our results in the lab, showed us it can transform the ability of cooling to protect.' Dr Georgopoulos added that the antioxidant lotion is not 'powerful enough' when used alone. 'The reason for that is cooling does multiple amazing things at the same time,' he said. 'What happens in the body when things go cold? You get the constriction of your blood vessels, they're narrowing down, less blood goes to the scalp, less drug. It isn't as simple as that. 'Our research has shown that cooling can slow down the cells, stops them from dividing – protection. 'It stops the chemotherapy drug going in – protection. It does multiple things at the same time as long as the cooling is optimal. 'If it isn't optimal, our approach is now allowing us to actually say 'it's OK, it's not an ideal scenario, but we compensate for it with our topical product'. Dr Georgopoulos has been working with Paxman Scalp Cooling for more than a decade. The Huddersfield-based business has created a device that circulates coolant through a specially designed cooling cap, worn by the patient. The cooling cap is worn for half an hour before chemotherapy treatment commences, during treatment, and for up to 90 minutes after all the drugs have been given. It is now hoped the new technique, combining scalp cooling with the antioxidants, can be trialled with cancer patients using the Paxman device, with researchers currently finalising the antioxidants that will be used in the topical product. Dr Georgopoulos said: 'Our ongoing work will ensure that efficacy is as high as possible with the belief that a topical agent will not only dramatically enhance the efficacy of scalp cooling in protecting from hair loss, but also significantly accelerates hair recovery post chemotherapy treatment.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
South Wales Guardian
7 days ago
- Health
- South Wales Guardian
New technique hailed as ‘powerful double weapon' against chemo hair loss
The method combines scalp cooling – where a patient wears a cold cap to help reduce hair loss from the damage caused by the cancer drugs – with a lotion comprising the same antioxidants found in the likes of red grapes. The study, which has been hailed as a 'milestone', also pinpointed the optimal temperature for scalp cooling to be most effective for keeping hair. Cold caps are used by some cancer patients during chemotherapy to help minimise the amount of hair they lose. The technique works by restricting blood flow to the scalp, which reduces the amount of medication reaching the hair follicles. Now, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have found cooling the scalp to 18C can prevent hair follicle damage, while cooling to 26C may not provide enough protection to hair follicle cells. The team has also shown how combining topical antioxidants with cooling could 'transform the ability of cooling to protect' against hair loss. Dr Nik Georgopoulos, an associate professor of cell biology and Transforming Lives fellow at Sheffield Hallam, told the PA news agency that he views hair loss as the 'face of cancer'. 'The reason why people get hair loss is because, at the base of the hair follicles, there are these rapidly dividing cells that are actually feeling the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs,' he said. 'Chemotherapy drugs are drugs that kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they cannot discriminate between cancer cells and rapidly dividing normal cells in the body. 'At the base of our hair follicles are these rapidly dividing cells, or keratinocytes, that constantly grow and they end up forming the actual hair.' For the study, published in Frontiers of Pharmacology, hair follicles were isolated from the scalp and grown in the lab before being treated with chemotherapy to study the impact. 'We show that they die,' Dr Georgopoulos said. 'The cells that are rapidly dividing and grow the hair, they will die because of the toxicity of chemotherapy. 'But if you cool them, they are protected, and I don't mean just protected – prevented from dying. 'So if cooling is used while the hair follicles are grown in the lab, it can completely prevent the toxicity. But there is a catch – you have to use the right temperature.' While an optimal temperature was highlighted in the study, researchers also combined cooling with the lotion as a potential target for patients who may not respond to the cold cap technique. It contained antioxidants like resveratrol, which is found in the likes of red grapes and peanuts, and N-Acetylcysteine, a dietary supplement. Dr Georgopoulos told PA: 'For some patients, cooling works, and for others it doesn't. Because some heads – I call them stubborn – they don't cool enough. 'By adding this topical product that delivers this antioxidant, we form a powerful double weapon that, based on our results in the lab, showed us it can transform the ability of cooling to protect.' Dr Georgopoulos added that the antioxidant lotion is not 'powerful enough' when used alone. 'The reason for that is cooling does multiple amazing things at the same time,' he said. 'What happens in the body when things go cold? You get the constriction of your blood vessels, they're narrowing down, less blood goes to the scalp, less drug. It isn't as simple as that. 'Our research has shown that cooling can slow down the cells, stops them from dividing – protection. 'It stops the chemotherapy drug going in – protection. It does multiple things at the same time as long as the cooling is optimal. 'If it isn't optimal, our approach is now allowing us to actually say 'it's OK, it's not an ideal scenario, but we compensate for it with our topical product'. Dr Georgopoulos has been working with Paxman Scalp Cooling for more than a decade. The Huddersfield-based business has created a device that circulates coolant through a specially designed cooling cap, worn by the patient. The cooling cap is worn for half an hour before chemotherapy treatment commences, during treatment, and for up to 90 minutes after all the drugs have been given. It is now hoped the new technique, combining scalp cooling with the antioxidants, can be trialled with cancer patients using the Paxman device, with researchers currently finalising the antioxidants that will be used in the topical product. Dr Georgopoulos said: 'Our ongoing work will ensure that efficacy is as high as possible with the belief that a topical agent will not only dramatically enhance the efficacy of scalp cooling in protecting from hair loss, but also significantly accelerates hair recovery post chemotherapy treatment.'
North Wales Chronicle
7 days ago
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
New technique hailed as ‘powerful double weapon' against chemo hair loss
The method combines scalp cooling – where a patient wears a cold cap to help reduce hair loss from the damage caused by the cancer drugs – with a lotion comprising the same antioxidants found in the likes of red grapes. The study, which has been hailed as a 'milestone', also pinpointed the optimal temperature for scalp cooling to be most effective for keeping hair. Cold caps are used by some cancer patients during chemotherapy to help minimise the amount of hair they lose. The technique works by restricting blood flow to the scalp, which reduces the amount of medication reaching the hair follicles. Now, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have found cooling the scalp to 18C can prevent hair follicle damage, while cooling to 26C may not provide enough protection to hair follicle cells. The team has also shown how combining topical antioxidants with cooling could 'transform the ability of cooling to protect' against hair loss. Dr Nik Georgopoulos, an associate professor of cell biology and Transforming Lives fellow at Sheffield Hallam, told the PA news agency that he views hair loss as the 'face of cancer'. 'The reason why people get hair loss is because, at the base of the hair follicles, there are these rapidly dividing cells that are actually feeling the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs,' he said. 'Chemotherapy drugs are drugs that kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they cannot discriminate between cancer cells and rapidly dividing normal cells in the body. 'At the base of our hair follicles are these rapidly dividing cells, or keratinocytes, that constantly grow and they end up forming the actual hair.' For the study, published in Frontiers of Pharmacology, hair follicles were isolated from the scalp and grown in the lab before being treated with chemotherapy to study the impact. 'We show that they die,' Dr Georgopoulos said. 'The cells that are rapidly dividing and grow the hair, they will die because of the toxicity of chemotherapy. 'But if you cool them, they are protected, and I don't mean just protected – prevented from dying. 'So if cooling is used while the hair follicles are grown in the lab, it can completely prevent the toxicity. But there is a catch – you have to use the right temperature.' While an optimal temperature was highlighted in the study, researchers also combined cooling with the lotion as a potential target for patients who may not respond to the cold cap technique. It contained antioxidants like resveratrol, which is found in the likes of red grapes and peanuts, and N-Acetylcysteine, a dietary supplement. Dr Georgopoulos told PA: 'For some patients, cooling works, and for others it doesn't. Because some heads – I call them stubborn – they don't cool enough. 'By adding this topical product that delivers this antioxidant, we form a powerful double weapon that, based on our results in the lab, showed us it can transform the ability of cooling to protect.' Dr Georgopoulos added that the antioxidant lotion is not 'powerful enough' when used alone. 'The reason for that is cooling does multiple amazing things at the same time,' he said. 'What happens in the body when things go cold? You get the constriction of your blood vessels, they're narrowing down, less blood goes to the scalp, less drug. It isn't as simple as that. 'Our research has shown that cooling can slow down the cells, stops them from dividing – protection. 'It stops the chemotherapy drug going in – protection. It does multiple things at the same time as long as the cooling is optimal. 'If it isn't optimal, our approach is now allowing us to actually say 'it's OK, it's not an ideal scenario, but we compensate for it with our topical product'. Dr Georgopoulos has been working with Paxman Scalp Cooling for more than a decade. The Huddersfield-based business has created a device that circulates coolant through a specially designed cooling cap, worn by the patient. The cooling cap is worn for half an hour before chemotherapy treatment commences, during treatment, and for up to 90 minutes after all the drugs have been given. It is now hoped the new technique, combining scalp cooling with the antioxidants, can be trialled with cancer patients using the Paxman device, with researchers currently finalising the antioxidants that will be used in the topical product. Dr Georgopoulos said: 'Our ongoing work will ensure that efficacy is as high as possible with the belief that a topical agent will not only dramatically enhance the efficacy of scalp cooling in protecting from hair loss, but also significantly accelerates hair recovery post chemotherapy treatment.'
