Herbs Useless for Hot Flashes?
New research suggests that the herbs black cohosh and red clover may not help tame hot flashes for women undergoing menopause.
For the study, researchers looked at 89 women who suffered at least 35 hot flashes and night sweats per week. After 12 months, women who took black cohosh had a 34 percent decrease in hot flashes, while those who took red clover had a 57 percent reduction. However, study members assigned to a placebo pill saw their hot flashes decrease by 63 percent. What's more, women assigned to standard care (in the form of hormone therapy) had a 94 percent drop in hot flashes.
Although black cohosh and red clover were less effective than placebo, the study found that both herbs were safe when taken daily.
Despite the new findings, past research shows that black cohosh may improve some menopausal symptoms for up to six months.
Comments
Some of the worst menopausal problems for many women are hot flashes and night sweats. For helpful hints to combat night sweats go to Help For Night Sweats. The tips have been a real lifesaver for many of my clients.
Well, black cohosh has been used for centuries as a folk remedy for menopause, so here is what I think is going on… Studies like this always seem to say, aha, see the natural doesn’t work, but the medical researchers seem to be treating the cohosh as a pill or just another medicine instead of the holistic treatment that it is. If women were given balck cohosh in addition to making diet changes (less sugar, more phytoestrogens) and exercised more, I wonder what the results would be? Anyway, thanks for writing about this topic! Though they annoy me, I do enjoy reading them! Here’s a link to an article that has — what I think — to be a pretty good breakdown of how herbal therapy (phytotherapy) works in the body: Phytotherapy — the key to hormonal balance?
They studied only two remedies out of a bunch that are used IN COMBINATION to help with a whole suite of menopause symptoms. It is absolutely bogus to test one or two ingredients when they work synergistically. And yeah, the hormones probably work better than the herbs, but what about the increased risk of cancer that accompanies the hormones? It does us no good to reduce our hot flashes only to face breast cancer five years down the line!