Black Cohosh Does Nothing for Menopause
Yet another popular herbal remedy shot down by medical science. The gold standard of testing drug effectiveness, randomized clinical trial, was used to compare the effects of black cohosh and placebo on menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, and night sweats. The two seemed equally good (bad?) at relieving women of discomfort associated with menopause.
Dr. Katherine Newton:
In the doses we used, and the way we used it, it did not work. The findings will certainly be a disappointment to women. It would have been nice to find something that is safe and effective.
Only estrogen seems to do the trick of making women feel better as they go through menopause but in 2002, estrogen was found to increase the risk of breast cancer and heart disease. Other supplements that have been touted to help include soy, wild yam, red clover, and St. John’s wort, but none of those have proven themselves in scientific studies either. Antidepressants are helping some women but have their own set of side effects.
The best solution is try to endure and know that most menopausal symptoms will go away with time. If you’re still tempted to try an herbal supplement, be sure to study up on them first and stay within the recommended dosage. For more on black cohosh, see the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements.
The Baltimore Sun, December 19, 2006
Tags: black cohosh, herbal supplements, supplements, women, womens health, menopause, menopausal symptoms, hot flash, diseases, illness, health, estrogen
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1 opinion for Black Cohosh Does Nothing for Menopause
Lively Women » Some Women Could Benefit from Hormone Replacement Therapy
Dec 22, 2006 at 11:52 am
[…] As I mentioned earlier this week, black cohosh doesn’t appear to help with the symptoms of menopause while the much reviled hormone replacement therapy (HRT) does. Women have been warned about the side effects of HRT, which include a higher risk of breast cancer and heart disease but a recent study, the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study, is recruiting women for a randomized clinical trial to see if a specific subset of women may benefit from HRT. Learn more at A Hearty Life. […]
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