HERB HOPES GROW FOR ALCOHOLICS

SCIENTISTS BELIEVE they may have found a herbal treatment to curb excessive
drinking. An extract of the yellow flowers of St John's wort, a herb used
for centuries to treat melancholia, cut by half the amount of alcohol
consumed by a group of heavy drinkers.

The heavy drinkers were rats, selectively bred for their liking for the hard
stuff. Researchers from the University of North Carolina who carried out the
experiments, plan next to test it on human alcoholics.

Dr Amir Rezvani, research associate professor of psychiatry at the
university's school of medicine, said: "We don't know yet whether the
compound will work in human alcoholics, but we are optimistic.

"Since it is a herb, it should have no side effects or fewer side effects
than synthetic drugs. One of the major problems with alcoholics is that they
don't like to take medications that have side effects. St John's wort might
be different in that it would just reduce their desire for alcohol."

Dr Rezvini decided to investigate the herb because depression and alcoholism
were thought to have a strong biological link. "If it worked for depression,
then it might just have a beneficial effect on alcoholism," he said. "Many
people think the link may be a deficiency of serotonin, a neurotransmitter
in the brain."

The findings were presented yesterday at a meeting of the Research Society
on Alcoholism in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The researchers compared the behaviour of rats that were given the extract
and another group that was not. All were offered a choice between alcohol
and water.

Over a 24 hour period the rats treated with the herbal extract drank half as
much alcohol as the untreated animals.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett