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Some of these do have real evidence behind them. St John's wort has repeated support in mild to moderate depression, SAMe and methylfolate have reasonable backing as additions to treatment, and omega-3 has looked weaker in the larger and better run trials.
That last part is worth sitting with, because it is what usually happens. An early promising effect shrinks as trials get bigger and better controlled, and the honest conclusion moves with it. None of this is a reason to write the whole category off. It is a reason to ask which one, for what, and alongside what else, rather than treating natural as a single thing that either works or does not.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Who has forbidden the adornment and the nourishment God has provided for His servants? (Quran 7:32). Blanket suspicion is not the position being taken there, and it is not the right position here either.
قُلۡ مَنۡ حَرَّمَ زِينَةَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِيٓ أَخۡرَجَ لِعِبَادِهِۦ وَٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ مِنَ ٱلرِّزۡقِۚ قُلۡ هِيَ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ فِي ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا خَالِصَةࣰ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِۗ كَذَٰلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ ٱلۡأٓيَٰتِ لِقَوۡمࣲ يَعۡلَمُونَ
Say [Prophet], ‘Who has forbidden the adornment and the nourishment God has provided for His servants?’ Say, ‘They are [allowed] for those who believe during the life of this world: they will be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’ This is how We make Our revelation clear for those who understand
Qur’an 7:32read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A systematic review of nutrients used alongside antidepressants found reasonable support for omega-3, SAMe, methylfolate and vitamin D, and little for others. Across randomised trials, omega-3 reduced depressive symptoms with the benefit concentrated in people with diagnosed depression rather than in healthy volunteers. The support that exists is specific: particular compounds, added to existing treatment, in people who actually have the condition.
Sarris J, Murphy J, Mischoulon D, Papakostas GI, Fava M, Berk M, Ng CH. (2016). Adjunctive Nutraceuticals for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.. The American journal of psychiatry doi
Grosso G, Pajak A, Marventano S, Castellano S, Galvano F, Bucolo C, Drago F, Caraci F. (2014). Role of omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of depressive disorders: a comprehensive meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.. PloS one doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Each of these is a different substance doing a different job, so evidence for one says nothing about the next.
When not to
St John's wort should not be started alongside an antidepressant without medical advice.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Pick one small change and leave the rest alone. A full overhaul asks the most of you at the point when you have the least to give, and it usually collapses in the second week.
The same brand of sweets is often made with plant based colours in one country and artificial ones in another. If a company can make it without the dyes elsewhere, the dyes are not essential to the food.
People often turn to herbal remedies hoping to avoid side effects. Plants are chemistry too, and some of them interact with prescribed medication in ways that matter.