St. John’s wort is used orally in the form of the cut drug, drug powder, or solid and liquid preparations. For external use, liquid and semi-solid preparations are suitable.
Extracting the flowers with fatty oils such as olive, sunflower or wheat germ oil yields St. John’s wort oil, which can be used externally or internally.
St. John’s wort as extract and tea
The drug can also be crushed and made into an extract with a mixture of water and methanol. When the ingredients have dissolved after several hours, they can be separated from the extract and further processed into capsules or tablets.
Dry extracts are contained in numerous monopreparations.
Although use in the form of tea is no longer recommended, numerous tea monopreparations (“St. John’s wort tea”) do exist.
What dose?
The mean daily dose for internal use is 2-4 g of the drug or 0.2-1.0 mg of total hypericin in other dosage forms.
St. John’s wort: preparation as a tea
To prepare a tea, 2-4 g of the finely chopped drug (1 teaspoon equals about 1.8 g) is poured over boiling water and passed through a tea strainer after 5-10 minutes.
However, tea preparation is no longer recommended today due to highly fluctuating concentrations of the ingredients. Also, in case of permanent use, the side effects should be taken into account.
Important notes on the application
Currently, there are no known contraindications. However, please note the listed interactions and side effects.
The effect of St. John’s wort usually occurs only after 2-3 weeks, a lasting effect is achieved even after 3-6 months. St. John’s wort preparations should therefore not be discontinued too early, taking into account the side effects and interactions.
St. John’s wort should be stored in a dry place and protected from light.
