Is Black Cohosh the Biggest Scam in Natural Menopause Treatment?

At the age of 31 I underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy, or a complete hysterectomy with the removal of both ovaries. During the last five years I have tried every natural treatment available for post-menopausal women in an attempt to reduce the risk of negative side effects associated with hormone replacement therapy. If I'm lucky, I will be spending at least 50 years in menopause, so I need to find something natural to stop the most difficult symptoms--hot flashes. Black cohosh is supposed to be a trusted, all-natural treatment for hot flashes, but it did nothing to control the heat that strings up at the most inopportune times, also known as the hot flash. After a bit of research, I found that black cohosh has not been definitively proven effective to treat any menopause symptoms.

Evidence supporting black cohosh often comes from ineffective study models. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health, clinical studies on black cohosh are rarely placebo-controlled and often last fewer than six months. Natural therapies take longer than medicinal therapies to relieve symptoms, so women in menopause may need to take black cohosh for 12 months or more before feeling full benefits. Controls are also an important issue in black cohosh clinical studies. Women in the study need to be in the same age group, same type of menopause and same climate. Something as simple as humidity can increase the intensity of hot flashes rendering the possible effects of black cohosh irrelevant.

Black cohosh clinical studies have not been completed on all types of women in menopause. Women in natural menopause may have a different reaction to black cohosh than women in surgical menopause. Some women retain one or both ovaries after a hysterectomy. This could also change the effect of black cohosh on menopause symptoms. Even if a placebo-controlled, regulated study were completed on women in natural menopause for 24 months with positive effects, the results would not necessarily be the same for women in surgical menopause.

No one knows how black cohosh works to relieve hot flashes. Clinical studies are again on both sides of the fence in terms of how black cohosh works. According to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, studies reveal black cohosh has no estrogen-boosting qualities, but cancer patients are advised not to take the supplement until further studies confirm this result. Some forms of cancer grow in the presence of estrogen, so the effect of black cohosh on estrogen levels is very important to these patients. If black cohosh has no estrogen qualities, the medical community is left searching another theory on the action of the supplement in the body.

Two major medical institutes agree that black cohosh is not proven to relieve menopause symptoms, so why is the woman in menopause supposed to trust this natural treatment? Just because black cohosh has been an accepted natural treatment for decades and it is generally considered safe for daily use does not mean it relieves one of the most debilitating symptoms of menopause. Any women who suddenly breaks out in a hot sweat, hair drenched in seconds from profuse sweating, in the middle of a business meeting, parent teacher conference or romantic dinner with a spouse wants a treatment that works, not one the medical community thinks may help--maybe.

References

"Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Black Cohosh." Office of Dietary Supplements. National Institutes of Health. Web. 2 June 2011.

"Sloan-Kettering - Black Cohosh." Sloan-Kettering - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Web. 02 June 2011.

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