St John's Wort can be as good at lifting depression as pharmaceutical drugs such as Prozac, a study has found.

A review of research evidence concluded that the herbal extract was as effective as standard anti-depressants but had fewer side-effects.

Scientists pooled data from 29 studies involving 5489 patients with mild to moderately severe depression.

The studies compared the effects of the plant Hypericum perforatum - popularly known as St John's Wort - with placebos or a wide range of old and new anti-depressants, including Selective Seretonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac and Seroxat.

"Overall, the St John's Wort extracts tested in the trials were superior to the placebo, similarly effective as standard anti-depressants, and had fewer side effects than standard anti-depressants," the researchers led by Dr Klaus Linde, from the Centre for Complementary Medicine in Munich, Germany, reported.

Meanwhile, natural honey can heal burns more quickly than some standard dressing treatments, a study has shown. Scientists pooled together data from 19 trials involving more than 2500 patients with a range of different wounds.

They found that honey was better at reducing the time it takes to recover from mild to moderate burns than some widely used gauze and film dressings.

"We're treating these results with caution, but it looks like honey can help speed up healing in some burns," said chief researcher Dr Andrew Jull, from Auckland University, New Zealand.

The findings in both cases were published by the Cochrane Library, which provides systematic reviews of research studies.