Black Cohosh and mid-life

It\’s no secret that many women started menopause in their mid-40s into their early 50s.  It is a time of life where many changes happen in a woman\’s body that are hormonally based and wreak havoc on everything from sleep patterns to weight gain and emotional stability.  For centuries, women have been searching for a way to decrease their symptoms and get through this time in life more easily.

Physicians and researchers as well as pharmaceutical companies have also jumped on the bandwagon to address the needs of this evergreen market.  Women are continuing to enter and leave menopause each and every year and will continue to do so until the human race is no more.  Pharmaceutical companies and researchers hold a great stake in finding a solution for which they can charge a significant amount of money.

For several decades doctors believe that hormone replacement therapy was the best solution for women who not only suffered from menopausal symptoms but would also decrease their risk of osteoporosis.  Unfortunately, physicians have also found that there are long-term effects for women who have used this solution which do not have a positive outcome in their health.  Women who have a history of breast cancer in the family should never take hormone replacement therapy because of the added risk of developing tumors that are dependent on the availability of estrogen in the body. (1)

One remedy which women have been turning to in the health food store is black cohosh.  This is a group of plants given names like bugwort, rattleroot, and bugbane because of its original use by Native Americans as an insect repellent.  This group of people also used black cohosh for women\’s health conditions such as menstrual cramps, hot flashes as well as arthritis, sore throat and indigestion. (2)

Today black cohosh is used primarily as a nutritional supplement and sold for the treatment of hot flashes, mood swings, vaginal dryness, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms which women experience.  The part of the plant that is usually used are the roots which manufacturers have processed into tea, capsules, tablets or liquid extract. (3)

Once thought to have estrogen like activity, researchers have now determined that there is a growing amount of evidence that it does not.  The use and safety of this herbal supplement in women who are pregnant, breast-feeding or in children has not been established. (4)

Because researchers are still not clear about how much of an estrogen type activity at black cohosh has people who have hormone sensitive conditions, such as cancers or uterine fibroids should avoid the use of this supplement until more is known.

Individuals can suffer some side effects which include indigestion, headache, nausea, perspiration, vomiting, heaviness, weight gain and low blood pressure.  Excessive use can also lead to seizures, visual disturbances or irregular heartbeats.

Black cohosh also contains small amounts of salicylic acid so people who have an allergy to aspirin or salicylates should avoid this herbal supplements.  People who have allergies to plants in the buttercup family should also avoid black cohosh because it is in the buttercup family.  Those who have a history of blood clots, stroke common seizure or liver disease should also not take black cohosh.

The popularity of using black cohosh in lieu of hormone replacement therapy to alleviate hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings has caused the rapid rise in popularity of Remifemin.  This formulation of black cohosh claims to alleviate 70% of all perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms which women suffer.  They have 15 clinical studies which proves it is a safe and effective alternative to hormone replacement therapy and is completely estrogen free. (5)

However, in one study from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University researchers found that natural hot flash remedies had no effect on memory loss which was also a frequent complaint among women who were menopausal.  This particular result also showed that neither black cohosh nor red clover offered relief from hot flashes either.  This study on hot flashes compare the two remedies to placebo and to hormone replacement therapy.  The women who experienced at least 35 hot flashes or night sweats per week were followed for 12 months and asked to keep a diary.  This particular study found that women who were receiving hormone replacement therapy had better results than those who were using natural remedies. (6)

Interestingly, the lead author of the study was an obstetrician at the University of Chicago and believes that hormone replacement therapy was the gold standard when the goal is to reduce hot flashes.  And while the researchers quoted statistics that showed that the natural remedies had no significant differences than the placebo use it also showed that the natural remedies were safe in the 12 month period of time in which it was studied.

The use of black cohosh to alleviate your night sweats and hot flashes as well as moodiness is a choice that only you can make.  You must consult with your primary care physician if you have any other underlying medical conditions or if you have a family history of hormone sensitive conditions, such as breast cancer.  However, when compared against the efficacy of hormone replacement therapy and those side effects with these side effects suffered by individuals who took placebo it seems reasonable to assume that if your primary care physician finds no reason you should not try black cohosh then it is an excellent alternative to test in your individual circumstances.

(1) National Cancer Institute: Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Cancer

(2) Virginia Tech: Black Cohosh

(3) MayoClinic: Black Cohosh

(4) Drugs.com: Black Cohosh

(5) Remifemin

(6) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Black Cohosh, Red Clover No Better Than Placebo in Treating Menopause Symptoms