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  2. Botanical/herbal remedies fail in clinical efficacy trial for menopausal symptoms

Botanical/herbal remedies fail in clinical efficacy trial for menopausal symptoms

By terrasig on December 19, 2006.

Here is the NIH press release of a study published in today's Annals of Internal Medicine.

I'll have to take a closer look at the specific formulations of the supplements tested (two of which contained black cohosh extracts) and study design before commenting more extensively. The trial was supported jointly by NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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Botanical/Herbal Medicines

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From the article:

Initially, the women were randomly assigned to receive one of five therapies:

  • Black cohosh
  • A multibotanical supplement, including black cohosh, alfalfa, boron, chaste tree, dong quai, false unicorn,licorice, oats, pomegranate and Siberian ginseng
  • A multibotanical supplement plus diet counseling to increase consumption of foods containing soy
  • Menopausal hormone therapy, consisting of estrogen with or without a progestin
  • A placebo, containing no drug or supplement

Is it just me, or should scientific studies use the scientific (latin) names of herbs that are used in double blind, placebo controlled studies.

Of course; I'm shocked they did not. They do so when animals are the objects of study, why not plants?

By speedwell (not verified) on 19 Dec 2006 #permalink