RESEARCH - Black cohosh won't cool hot flashes

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Black cohosh won't cool hot flashes

Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:44am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with hot flashes related to menopause are

unlikely to find relief with the herbal supplement black cohosh -- alone or

in combination with other herbal therapies -- according to a report released

this week.

" We were disappointed by the findings, " said Dr. M. Newton in a

news release, " because many women want an alternative to hormone therapy and

many have assumed that black cohosh is a safe, effective choice. "

Newton, the principal investigator of the study which appears in the ls

of Internal Medicine this week, and colleagues from the Group Health

ative in Seattle studied 351 menopausal women, between the ages of 45

and 55, experiencing at least two hot flashes or night sweats each day.

The women were randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups: 160

milligrams of black cohosh daily; a multi-botanical supplement containing

200 milligrams black cohosh and 9 other herbal ingredients including

alfalfa, pomegranate and Siberian ginseng; a multi-botanical supplement plus

increased soy consumption; hormone therapy (estrogen with or without

progestin); or inactive 'placebo' capsules.

After 3, 6, and 12 months, black cohosh was no better than placebo in

reducing the frequency or severity of hot flashes or night sweats, the team

found. The same was true for the other herbal products.

As expected, women who were given hormone therapy had significantly fewer

hot flashes and night sweats than women given placebo. However, " While

hormone therapy is still the most effective treatment for hot flashes,

recent studies have shown that it poses serious risks, " Newton noted, such

as the risk of heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.

The " good news " from this study, according to Dr. Carol M. Mangione of the

University of California, Los Angeles, is that women in the placebo group

experienced about a 30 percent reduction in the severity and frequency of

hot flashes and night sweats during the year-long study.

This should help reassure women that with time these bothersome symptoms

will ease up on their own, Mangione writes in a commentary accompanying the

study.

Mangione also notes that it's too soon to throw in the towel on the

potential benefits of soy on the symptoms of menopause. Because most women

in the soy group did not increase their soy intake to the target level,

" this trial probably was not an adequate test of dietary soy " for treatment

of menopausal symptoms, she writes.

It is " easy and probably safe " for women experiencing hot flashes and night

sweats to increase their intake of soy and see whether it helps, Mangione

adds.

SOURCE: ls of Internal Medicine, December 19, 2006.

© Reuters 2006. .

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