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A natural treatment for bipolar disorder and depression?
http://www.abc.net.au/centralvic/stories/s2053962.htm?backyard
A natural treatment for bipolar disorder and depression?
Last Update: Monday, October 8, 2007. 4:45pm AEST
By Terri-Anne Kingsley
The medications used to manage bipolar disorder and depression are not without risks; the side-effects range from minor for some people to being major problems for others, and getting the dosage right can take some time.
What if there was a natural treatment? Would you be interested, or would you be tempted to pass it off as another new-age fad?
Dr Sue Jeavons, research clinician at the Mental Health Research Institute, says there is serious medical interest in N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC), a naturally-occurring amino acid found in meat, fish, and leafy green vegetables.
"This is research that's auspiced by Professor Berk from the University of Melbourne, and it's funded by the Stanley Medical Institute," Dr Jeavons says.
While Professor Berk is based with Barwon Health in Geelong, the trial is also running in Bendigo, Melbourne and Sydney.
It's not the first trial looking at the usefulness of NAC, but previous research wasn't exclusively focused on either bipolar disorder or depression.
"We actually started about four years ago with this area of research, and we did a trial involving people with schizophrenia," Dr Jeavons says.
"Just towards the end of that, before the funding ran out, we did a pilot program for bipolar and we actually got very good results for that, particularly for people towards the depressed end of the spectrum."
The schizophrenia research did show some promise for using the anti-oxidant NAC in its treatment, but the research into bipolar disorder showed even more potential.
"People have heard a lot more about anti-oxidants now," Dr Jeavons says.
"We hear about green tea and chocolate and blueberries and all the foods that contain them. Basically, all of us end up with what are called free radicals - leftover oxygen molecules in our system, and these can cause damage to our nerve cells.
"It's thought that people with some of these disorders like bipolar are actually more prone to having higher levels of free radicals...so by taking anti-oxidants, they can 'gobble up' those free radicals.
"We can get anti-oxidants in our diet, but to get a therapeutic benefit from them, you really can't eat enough of the foods that contain them, which is why taking a supplement is more effective."
Using a natural treatment like an anti-oxidant could lead to fewer side effects, she says.
"Many people would rather have a more natural approach to treatment, and many who do take ongoing medications for conditions such as bipolar do have side-effects from their medication which they find unpleasant; to find a more natural alternative is beneficial all round."
The trial will run for two years, and participants would be on the trial for eight months. At the moment, researchers are looking for people with bipolar disorder to take part in a double-blind trial to hopefully learn whether the NAC is effective. A trial involving people with depression will start soon.
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8/Oct/07, 21:11
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