Black Cohosh and Menopause, Pt II – The Cons The fact that bugs avoid the black cohosh p lant has given rise to some of it’s nicknames: bugwort, bugbane, and rattleroot, just to name a few. Still, in previous centuries, Native Americans used black cohosh to treat a variety of conditions, especially gynecology-related ones in females, and reports from women today seem to bear this out – black cohosh appears to be very useful in reducing many of the symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, moods swings, and night sweats. As with all treatments, be sure to see your primary health care provider before beginning to take black cohosh supplements. Although the reports are highly favorable, there are still some disadvantages to taking black cohosh that you might think about before considering it as part of your treatment plan: • As with anything you take, black cohosh can have some side effects of its own, but there have been no reports of any severe or life-threatening ones. Mild side effects are rare and usually include upset stomach or headaches. |
• Because no controlled long-term studies have been conducted, it is unclear how black cohosh actually works to relieve menopausal symptoms, and the effects of long-term use are unknown as well. It has been suggested that if black cohosh actually contains a natural form of estrogen, then long-term use could have the same potential side effects and HTR, including an increased risk of breast cancer for women who are at higher risk already. • Black cohosh is “controlled” as a food rather than a drug in the Unites States. As such, the federal requirements for consistency are lighter. Amounts of black cohosh in the preparations for sale today can fluctuate quite a bit based on different manufacturers and even different production lots by the same manufacturer. All in all, black cohosh appears to be a safe, natural method of coping with various symptoms of menopause, whether mild or severe enough to adversely affect a woman’s lifestyle. |
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