Super Eco

Photo credit: nps.gov

Despite my being much too young to have this apply to me (I had my 23 year old when I was 6), I found the latest findings on black cohosh as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) very interesting. HRT is controversial, given its possible association with an increase in breast cancer and heart disease. So, when a new study by the University of Missouri found that black cohosh extract was a good remedy for hot-flashes in menopausal women, I was intrigued. The goal of the study, (funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure), was to "provide evidence that black cohosh is safe to use for breast cancer patients,” according to Rachel Ruhlen, a postdoctoral researcher in the MU School of Medicine. Prior to these findings, there was “little reliable information guiding women in how they can use foods and botanical supplements to enhance their treatment or improve their quality of life.” 

45 menopausal women completed 12 weeks of supplementation of black cohosh extract. Ruhlen's paper, "Tamoxifen induces regression of estradiol-induced mammary cancer in ACI.COP-Ept2 rat model", was published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment" (not yet available, however, a summary of the findings can be found here).

So what does this mean for women like me, er, I mean, women who are of menopausal age (lest we forget I had my first child at the age of 6), and hesitant to take HRT? I think it means that we may again look to nature to help us relieve the very natural symptoms of a very natural aging process!