Herb Of The Month - Clover - Article: Red Clover May Tame Hot Flashes

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Red Clover May Tame Hot Flashes

http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/49/40135.htm

 

Or Is It the Placebo Effect?

 

 

By <http://www.webmd.com/content/Biography/7/1756_50703.htm> Jeanie

Lerche Davis

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed By Michael

<http://www.webmd.com/content/Biography/7/1756_53424.htm> Smith, MD

 

 

 

 

Aug. 16, 2002 -- A red clover supplement called Promensil may bring some

relief from those nasty hot flashes, two small studies show.

 

Promensil is an isoflavone supplement produced from red clover and

contains the same key isoflavones commonly found in soy foods.

Isoflavones are plant compounds -- found commonly in soy -- that act

like weak form of the female sex hormone estrogen. Researchers have

speculated that postmenopausal women in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia

have fewer hot flashes than western women because of isoflavones in

their diets.

 

However, getting enough isoflavones in your diet to actually reduce hot

flashes is difficult. Only red clover contains all four isoflavones that

women need, according to Ronald Barensten, MD, obstetrics-gynecology

researcher with Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre in Amsterdam.

 

His study of Promensil appears in this month's issue of Maturitas, The

European Menopause Journal.

 

In his study, 30 women were given either 40 mg of Promensil or a placebo

for 16 weeks. The group taking Promensil reported a 48% reduction in

frequency of hot flashes, whereas the control group had an 11% decrease.

 

 

The second study involves 30 postmenopausal women, all who had more than

five hot flashes every day. For the first four weeks, each woman took a

placebo -- but didn't know if they were taking a placebo or the

supplement. Then, they were given either a placebo or 80 mg red clover

isoflavone supplement for 12 weeks -- again unaware of which one they

were taking.

 

During the first four weeks of placebo, the frequency of hot flashes

decreased by 16%. During the second phase, women taking the red clover

supplement had further 44% decrease in hot flashes.

 

A previous study using Promensil showed reduction in hot flashes and

lowering of HDL " good " cholesterol levels, according to Arturo R. Jeri,

MD, author of the second study, appearing in the journal, The Female

Patient. Jeri is a researcher in the Institute of Gynaecology and

Reproduction in Lima, Peru.

 

Jeri also found that Promensil had no effect on the lining of the

uterus. One of the effects of estrogen on the female body is thickening

of this lining, which over time has been associated with uterine cancer.

 

 

" It's certainly worth trying, " says Bill Meyer, MD, associate professor

of obstetrics and gynecology and a reproductive endocrinologist at the

University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill.

 

" Isoflavones in the dosages used in [the red clover] studies are safe, "

he tells WebMD.

 

Clinical studies conducted at UNC as well as studies of monkeys have

looked at the effects of soy protein -- which also contains isoflavones

-- on the lining of the uterus. As in the red clover studies, " we found

that soy protein wasn't necessarily protective of the [uterine lining],

but it also didn't have a [negative] effect, " says Meyer.

 

However, whether you'll get the hot-flash relief you're seeking from red

clover is another question. A close look at statistics in the red clover

studies show that there may be a big effect just from taking a placebo,

he says.

 

 

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