Daily HealthBeat Tip - July 15, 2008

Wort and ADHD

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD, affects 3 percent to 12 percent of children each year. There are drugs to treat ADHD. And some parents give their children herbal products such as St. John’s wort.

But a study finds St. John’s wort does not reduce symptoms.

Wendy Weber of Bastyr University in Washington state studied 54 children. Half got St. John’s wort and half got an inactive preparation.

“I think the real concern with St. John’s wort is that we found that it didn’t work for ADHD.” (4 seconds)

Children between 6 and 17 who received St. John’s wort showed no benefit. The kids still had their symptoms, such as restlessness, hyperactivity and lack of concentration.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July, 15 2008