BLACK
COHOSH
The first dietary
supplement ever sold with a claim of easing feminine complaints included
this interesting gnarled little root. The product was Lydia Pinkham's
vegetable compound. And the root was black cohosh. Mrs Pinkham had
made an extract of the root and other herbs too with alcohol, the
product actually contained 18% alcohol which may have been responsible
for at least some of the benefits. But so many ladies who took the
product said their hot flashes were eased, their menstrual irregularities
improved. Could there be something to this?
Modern science
has looked into it in the laboratory when they examined the uteri
of rats what they find was the black cohosh actually does have compounds
which are estrogenic and that's interesting because we know that menstrual
irregularities and hot flashes do have some relation to estrogen levels
in the body. The promoters of black cohosh suggest that in those ladies
who have low levels of estrogen such as after menopause, black cohosh
acts as an estrogen, alleviating symptoms. On the other hand when
someone has too high levels of these natural hormones such as with
menstrual cramping then somehow black cohosh and it's estrogens blocks
the activity of the body's own estrogen.
What evidence
do we have? Well we have a lot of anecdotal evidence. Many women say
that they are helped and there's at least one interesting study on
women who have undergone hysterectomies at a young age. Half of them
were given estrogen supplements, half were given Black cohosh and
basically the results were the same. What we don't know is the long-term
consequences of black cohosh. In someone who has breast cancer for
example nobody knows whether black cohosh is beneficial or detrimental.
I think it would
be prudent to stay away from that. But for someone who wants to try
it for hot flashes lets say or menstrual irregularities it is now
available in a variety of capsule forms. 40 milligram capsules
is probably the way to go based on admittedly rather limit ed evidence.
You can look for it there. You can look for it in a variety of products,
Remifemin is another one that contains standardized amounts of black
cohosh. But don't look for it in Lydia Pinkham's vegetable compound,
the product that originated black cohosh, although it's still around,
no longer contains any black cohosh.
