Menopause - The Blog » Natural Remedies

Flax Seed: If You Think It Will Help with Hot Flashes, It Just Might

Wendy — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:00:39 +0000

“Just thinking that Flaxseed will help seems to do the trick for many women”

Hot flashes and night sweats are the number one complaint of menopausal women. For most women they last four to six years. For others, they can persist well into their 70s. That’s why, if there’s a glimmer of hope that something – anything – can help reduce their frequency, it’s worth a try. Flaxseed falls into that category. Some women find that adding a couple of tablespoons to their cereal every day helps cool them off. Is it the estrogenic effect of the plant’s phytoestrogens that’s helping? Or is it just wishful thinking? And, as long as it helps, does it really matter? Consider these latest research findings:

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic randomly assigned 188 women to eat either a daily flaxseed bar containing 410 milligrams of lignans or one that was flax-free. Many of the study participants experienced hot flashes at least four times a day. Over six weeks, more than one third of the women in both groups had a 50 percent reduction in the frequency and severity of their hot flashes and they said that their symptoms were moderately to “very much” improved. Yet, according to the study’s senior researcher, Dr. Debra Barton, they concluded that “there’s little compelling information to try flaxseed if the objective is to reduce hot flashes.”

There’s obviously a strong placebo effect, but isn’t that the case with all medicines whether they’re prescribed or “natural?” To me, this study suggests that just thinking that Flaxseed will help seems to do the trick for many women and that could mean getting a solid night sleep once in a while.

Interestingly, a small pilot study, without a control group, but also conducted at the Mayo Clinic earlier this year, found that crushed flaxseed worked very well for 29 women who had at least 14 hot flashes a week. The women said it really helped them, according to the director of the Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic.

Today’s news reports about this study will leave menopausal women very disappointed if they don’t read beyond a headline like the one that appeared in The Vancouver Sun: “Study Throws Cold Water on Hot-Flash Benefits of Eating Flaxseed Daily.” IMHO, Flaxseed is worth a try if you haven’t found anything else that’s helped. You just have to think positively!

What’s your experience with Flaxseed? Has it helped you?

Related blogposts you might be interested in:

Designer Flaxseed form a North Dakota Farm
Flaxseed for Hot Flashes?

An Independent Lab Says Not All Menopause Supplements Live Up To Their Label Claims

Wendy — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:00:27 +0000

If you’re trying to get through the menopause transition au naturel, that is, without the help of hormone therapy, you’ve probably tried several over-the-counter products containing Soy and Red Clover Isoflavones (an estrogen-like plant compound), Black Cohosh or Progesterone cream to help with common symptoms like hot flashes, or insomnia. But finding a Menopause supplement that works for you can be a daunting and expensive process because there are hundreds of brands to choose from, all with different formulations and proprietary blends. Since the FDA nor any other federal or state agency routinely tests supplements for quality prior to sale, how do you know if a product contains the ingredients promised on the label and in sufficient amounts to work?

If you want to know which products you should try, or avoid, be sure to read the latest report on Menopause supplements from Consumer Lab, a member-supported organization that independently evaluates multivitamins, minerals and herbal products for consumers. Their latest report provides quality ratings for more than 20 branded products that you see on the shelves every day. They reveal which ones provide the amounts of compounds shown to be effective in clinical studies and which products failed to meet their label claims or posed other problems. In one case, a menopause supplement contained only a third of its listed isoflavones; and a black cohosh supplement was contaminated with a small amount of lead.

You can purchase this single report for $15. But I suggest signing up for an annual subscription ($33 or $2.75/month for 12 months) to give you access to all of their reports. There are currently 50 major reports covering more than 900 products including multi-vitamins, Calcium, Vitamin D and Fish Oil (only 17 of 24 passed quality testing). Each product review provides thorough information about the supplement; what it does, how it works, what the latest research shows and what Consumer Lab tested for. You’ll want to have it handy next time you stock up on supplements.

Try Eastern Medicine’s Approach to Menopause and Aging Well

Wendy — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:30:26 +0000

Menopause seems to creep up on us. It doesn’t start with a big bang. Rather, for most women, it starts like a whisper, in our mid to late-forties, with symptoms like insomnia, foggy brain, and sometimes depression. So, you consult your physician who, after a 10-minute office visit, gives you prescriptions for Ambien to help you sleep better and maybe an anti-depressant for the mood swings. A year or two later, perhaps your blood pressure or cholesterol has risen to a level requiring medication, a common problem for midlife women. Now you’re up to four pills a day. And you’re still feeling really crummy. Isn’t there a better way to take care of ourselves during the menopause transition?

In email correspondence last week, I asked Helen Ye, an Integrative Chinese Medicine practitioner (ICM)and Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc) at the Institute for Health and Healing in San Francisco, how Eastern Medicine’s approach to wellness can help mid-life women manage the symptoms of menopause in a way that’s more healthful and sustainable:

Wendy: First, please explain the philosophy of Chinese medicine.

Helen: Chinese medicine’s goal is to bring balance to the overall system – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. When the body is out of balance, symptoms occur. In ancient times, Chinese medicine practitioners did not get paid if their patients got sick; so the emphasis of the work is to keep the individual healthy and strong, preventing the individual from getting sick, and for the patient to follow the recommendations of the practitioner. Maintaining a balanced and generally moderate lifestyle for your constitution is the key to ensuring better health.

Wendy: Describe a woman’s initial consultation with you. What can we expect?

Helen: An initial consultation with me will be very different from a Western physician. A comprehensive intake noting your current symptoms, health history, family history, diet, sleep habits, stress management, and current and past life situations are discussed during your first visit. In addition, I will feel your pulses in 9 positions on each wrist and take a look at your tongue. I will be feeling for pulse qualities and noting different positions and levels. Pulses provide information on different organ systems, and provides information on your emotional well-being as well. The tongue provide additional information about long-standing issues and complement the information derived from your pulses.

Other diagnostic tools include visual observation of your face and other surface regions, listening to your voice and tones, and palpating different areas on the body corresponding to acupuncture regions, meridian pathways, and organ system. These diagnostic methods inform me of your current health status, predispositions and what may have led to your current symptoms. This is very different from a Western medical approach which uses blood work and other diagnostic technology.

Wendy: What modalities have you found to be especially helpful to women experiencing menopausal symptoms?

Helen: Within the Chinese medicine toolbox, acupuncture, customized herb blends and/or nutritional supplements, breath work, exercise, and techniques to manage stress are all extremely helpful to reduce insomnia, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings/irritability, and heavy or irregular bleeding. A single acupuncture treatment will not “fix” the problem, but will support you in noticing what the body feels like at complete rest. Most often, a series of acupuncture treatments are most beneficial for your menopausal symptoms, and the combined use of herbal remedies and lifestyle recommendations are even more helpful.

Visit Helen’s website for more information about Integrative Chinese Medicine and details about what you can expect on your first visit.

Have you tried acupuncture or other Eastern medicine treatments to help alleviate menopausal symptoms? Did they help you?

Now You Can Have a Dose of Flax Seed In Your Coffee

Wendy — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:42:10 +0000

Take a walk through your local super market, and you’ll be surprised to see just how many products contain flax seed, which some call a “wonder food” for its many potential health benefits. You’ll find ground flaxseed as a key ingredient in “chewy” products such as cereals, oat meal, breads, and crackers. But now, one processor has come up with a way to mix it with your morning coffee.

Flax Milk is the latest entry in the dairy and lactose free beverage category. The company behind it, FLAX USA, says it contains 1100 mg of Omega 3s and has as much calcium as regular milk. Right now, it’s a one-of-a-kind product that’s only available at Wal Mart in the refrigerated section. I haven’t tasted it yet, but their publicity materials claim that both the regular and vanilla flavors are delicious. I hope so because I’m not a big fan of nut, soy or rice milks.

Flax USA is a family business in North Dakota. The Stober family has been growing flax for five generations and their organic, cold-milled, golden flax seed can be found at Costco and other big box chains. See my 2008 interview with Stephanie Stober for a description on how their crops are harvested and why flax seed is such a healthful food.

For another source on the health benefits of Flax, read The Healing Power of Flax: How Nature’s Richest Source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Can Help to Heal, Prevent and Reverse Arthritis, Cancer, Diabetes and Heart by Herb Joiner-Bey N.D.

Do Any OTC Menopause Products Really Work? Only These Docs Will Tell You The Truth

Wendy — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:00:15 +0000

Before you buy an over-the-counter remedy for hot flashes, insomnia or any other menopause symptom, be sure to check the website of the Wellesley Center for Women’s Health. This is a group of doctors and researchers whose mission is “to provide women with information that others normally wouldn’t.” So they test products that promise to make you feel better and they tell you if they work or not. And why.

Who are these doctors? They won’t say. Apparently, they are so truthful they must work anonymously. They describe themselves as “fed up with current practices in the health care industry” and choose instead “to contribute their knowledge of the most common health problems and remedies.” They’ve got my attention!

They explain on their website that most supplements and creams just have one ingredient, but a variety of hormone-balancing ingredients is necessary for them to have any real benefit. So, they test for estrogen balance, progesterone balance and quality of ingredients (no dyes). Their vote for the two most effective menopause supplements?

At the top of the list is Mendapause Mendapause, which they describe on their website as “a well-balanced formulation:”

“It has phytoestrogenic ingredients from a variety of sources… it’s balanced with botanical ingredients, which raise progesterone levels… it has progesterone precursors in wild yam and black cohosh… and contains no carcinogenic titanium.”

Source Naturals Hot FlashSource Naturals Hot Flash was cited as another menopause support supplement “with a good amount of phytoestrogens and progesterone balancers:”

“It has isoflavones from soy, dong quai and licorice root, all of which are weakly estrogenic plant compounds. It also has chasteberry, which raises progesterone levels… and progesterone precursors in black cohosh.”

You can see their reviews of twelve other menopause support products on their website.

Menopause and Insomnia: Hear Expert Advice on a Holistic Approach to Better Sleep

Wendy — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:38:19 +0000

If you’re like me and can’t remember the last time you slept four consecutive hours, you’ve probably tried a “natural” sleep remedy like L-Theanine, Kava, Gaba or a botanical like Valerian and Passionflower. The shelves of Integrative Medicine retailers like Pharmaca and medical centers such as The Institute of Health and Healing, located in San Francisco, are full of products that offer the chance of a good night’s sleep. But what really works for your type of sleep problem? And are they safe to experiment with?

On Thursday, March 17th, you’ll have a chance to hear expert advice on a holistic approach to getting better sleep from Dr. Bruce Bradley, a specialist in integrative medicine with a private practice in the San Francisco Bay area. He also is on the integrative health advisory board of Pharmaca, which is sponsoring this web talk. To register for the one-hour talk, “Better Sleep: The Holy Grail of Good Health,” and even write in your own question , visit this website. The talk begins at 5pm EST/2pm PST.

Getting consistent, good quality sleep is the cornerstone of good health. So if you’re experiencing sleep problems, and don’t know what to do about it, Dr. Bradley’s advice might turn out to be a good place to start. I’ve already sent him my question.

Do Commonly Used Botanical Therapies Really Work for Hot Flashes?

Wendy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:38:13 +0000

A recent pair of studies has concluded that Black Cohosh and Red Clover (shown in photo), commonly used by women to alleviate hot flashes, are safe to take — that is, they don’t have a negative impact on breast and uterine health. That’s the good news. The bad news? Neither botanical treatment worked as well as a placebo in reducing the number of hot flashes and night sweats that the research participants experienced daily over a 12 month period. What did work was the hormone therapy used in the study – in this case Prempro, a conjugated hormone product made by Wyeth.

A second study evaluated the effect that Black Cohosh, Red Clover and Prempro has on a woman’s cognitive abilities. Again, “none of the botanicals had either a beneficial or a detrimental effect on memory.” However, “the specific hormone therapy used in the trial, Prempro, had a slight negative impact on memory.”

So, the researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago concluded that “only hormone therapy had a beneficial effect on vasomotor symptoms, but this benefit was at a cost of a slight decrease in memory.”

You can listen to an explanation of the study’s findings here.

Dr. Andrew Weil On What NOT To Take For Menopausal Symptoms

Wendy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:52:50 +0000

I was surprised to read Dr. Andrew Weil’s comments about the fallacies of taking some natural remedies to alleviate menopausal symptoms in his “Dr. Debunker” column in the latest issue of AARP Magazine. After all, isn’t he known as a leading proponent of natural medicine?

In short, he says there’s little scientific evidence to support claims that common menopausal complaints, such as hot flashes, insomnia and low libido, can be helped by most herbal products. He also states that women should avoid all products that contain isolated soy isoflavones, such as red clover. Here is a list of other natural remedies that Dr. Weil says won’t do much to alleviate menopausal symptoms:

Wild Yam
Ginseng
Licorice
Gotu Kola
Saint Johns Wort
High does of Vitamin E

What does he recommend? Black cohosh, ground flaxseed (see my earlier blogpost about Flax), a healthful diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids and regular physical activity and stress-reducing practices.

A good place to begin your research on the efficacy of any complementary or alternative medicine or therapy is rVita, a free website that evaluates claims based on available clinical data and users’ experiences.

A Trip to “Menopauseland” Is In Our Future

Wendy — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:53:59 +0000

I guess if ED can be talked about in TV ads, so can menopause. The company that makes Estroven, a natural OTC supplement that claims to alleviate menopausal symptoms, will soon launch a $20 million TV, print and online advertising campaign beckoning us to visit Menopauseland. They describe it as a “cool and calming destination… lush instead of flushed,” presumably where you can enjoy life symptom free - if you take Estroven, that is.

Estroven contains all natural products — soy, vitamin D and black cohosh. It competes with another natural product, Remifemin, which contains only black cohosh. Both are worth trying if you are experiencing hot flashes and are reluctant to take hormones.

It’s not often that we see natural and botanical remedies being advertised nationally simply because manufacturers of “alternative medicine” products don’t have the marketing dollars that companies like Wyeth have to promote their synthetic products such as Premarin. The result is that many women are not aware of – or comfortable with – natural solutions for their menopausal symptoms. Hopefully the makers of Estroven will also target medical professionals with an education campaign so our physicians no longer refer to natural products as “that stuff.”

By the way, if you find menopause funny in any way, you can contribute a story or joke to their website.

10 Foods with High Amounts of Phytoestrogens

Wendy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:48:33 +0000

If you are experiencing menopausal symptoms typically associated with estrogen deficiency, such as hot flashes, mood swings, and food cravings, you may want to try increasing the amount of plant-based hormones – or phytoestrogens - in your diet. Phytoestrogens are chemicals that are found in plants that may act like the estrogen produced naturally in the body. Consider adding these foods to your weekly visit to the farmers market or grocery store.

Soy milk, tofu, edamame beans
Fermented soy foods such as miso and soy
Flaxseeds and sesame seeds
Wholegrains – such as oat bran, whole wheat and oatmeal
Peppers
Red grape juice and cranberries
Cranberries or red grape juice
Green beans, chickpeas, kidney beans
Broccoli
Celery

There are several herbs and plant roots, including dong quai, black cohosh, ginseng and red clover, that have also been reported as effective in menopause, but you should have the advice of an herbalist or naturopathic doctor before you add this to your diet.