Product: Menopause Formula
Company: Natural Factors
Size: 90 Capsules
Ingredients: Vitex Extract 80mg, Licorice Root Extract 75mg, Wild Yam Extract 75mg, Black Cohosh Extract 40mg, Hops Extract 25mg
Dosage: Take 1 Capsule twice daily or as recommended by your health care practitioner.
Contains no artificial preservatives, colours or sweeteners.
Description: Menopause Made Easy
More than 20 million women in North America are going through menopause right now. Many millions more will join them in the very near future. While it means relief from monthly periods, menopause often comes with unwelcome symptoms. Women often seek help for the hot flashes, mood swings, anxiety, and vaginal dryness that they experience. There is success in helping women ease the symptoms of this life change with herbs and nutrients that are safe and effective. Based on current scientific research a formula has been developed that helps women through menopause while they avoid the risks that come with hormone replacement therapy.
While the body prepares for this change, hormone levels fluctuate. As a woman nears fifty (earlier in some cases) the ovaries no longer produce high levels of estrogen and progesterone; however, the pituitary continues to secrete follicle stimulating hormone ( FSH ) and luteinizing hormone ( LH ). Raised levels of FSH and LH combined with decreased levels of estrogen and progesterone can make for some very unpleasant symptoms, especially hot flashes.
Menopause - A life passage or a disease?
In many cultures women look forward to menopause, primarily as a relief from childbearing. In these cultures the symptoms of menopause are much less frequent. Rather than viewing menopause as a natural life passage, North Americans medical practitioners often treat it as a disease, with hormone replacement therapy ( HRT ) as the first treatment of choice. However, HRT is not without risk and is not a cure it only addresses symptoms while increasing the risk of gallstones, blood clots, and some cancers.
Many women want to explore more natural, less risky alternatives to HRT. The phytoestrogens found in The Menopause Formula are safe and effective. When this formula is combined with attention to diet, exercise, and other nutrients such as Calcium / Magnesium, B Vitamins, Evening Primrose Oil, and Vitamin E it can help balance hormonal irregularities and ease women through this most important life passage.
Each herb chosen exerts a balancing effect on hormones, and reduces unpleasant symptoms.
Black Cohosh
Supported by Research (Cimicifuga racemosa). This venerable herb has been used for ‘female complaints’ since our great grandmother’s time. Now, studies show it is effective for many menopausal symptoms: hot flashes, night sweats, heart palpitations and drying and thinning of the vagina. Black cohosh inhibits the release of luteinizing hormone by the pituitary gland, with a positive effect on menopausal symptoms. In a study of 110 women, half were given black cohosh root extract and the other half a placebo. Researchers found that the women receiving black cohosh root extract had significant relief of symptoms compared to the placebo group with an 80% response rate in varying symptoms of menopause.1
Other studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of black cohosh, especially when compared with hormone replacement therapies. Three groups of women were given either black cohosh, conjugated estrogens, or diazepam, for twelve weeks. All three groups found relief from menopausal symptoms with reduced hot flashes, night sweats, nervousness, headaches and heart palpitations.2
The eminent herbalist and physician, Rudolf Fritz Weiss, realized the value of black cohosh: “Modern research has shown that this plant also contains hormone-like substances, mainly oestrogenic ones, and explains why the drug has been used empirically to treat all kinds of female complaints. We now know that it is indicated specifically for conditions based on oestrogen deficiency...Using these (black cohosh extracts) we can in many cases manage without hormones, though it is important to make it clear from the beginning that success will not be instant.” 3
Black cohosh is safe, with some women experiencing only occasional gastrointestinal side-effects. Its therapeutic effectiveness has been proven both in placebo-controlled clinical trials and when compared to hormone replacement therapy. Each capsule of The Menopause Formula delivers 40 mg of black cohosh standardized to 2.5 % triterpene glycosides, the active constituents helpful for menopausal symptoms.
Vitex Agnus-Castus
Superior Hormone Regulator - The name comes from the Greek agnus castus or chaste tree. This herb has a normalizing effect on hormones. Vitex balances luteinizing hormone production and modulates progesterone levels in the body. It has also proven to reduce prolactin concentrations that are normally secreted by the pituitary. This combination of actions helps to restore the estrogen/progesterone balance, and as shown in studies, reduces hot flashes.
Phytoestrogenic Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
Phytoestrogenic compounds in licorice are formononetin and B-sitosterol. Its estrogenic activity is only 1/400th as potent as human estrogen. As with other herbs in this formula, licorice phytoestrogens exert a balancing effect on reproductive hormones, reducing them when they’re too high and increasing them when they’re too low.
A small percentage of women with high blood pressure may experience a raise in blood pressure, so they should be cautious and check with their health care practitioner before taking licorice.
Help For Your Nerves with Hops (Humulus lupulus)
The estrogenic properties of hops are a fairly recent discovery. When hops were first cultivated for the brewing industry, female hops pickers noticed that their periods came earlier in the month. The hops had raised their estrogen levels.
Hops are also considered a classic nervine, helping to ease the bouts of anxiety, and ‘nerves.’ For centuries herbalists have used hops to induce sleep. We have included hops in this formula to help insomnia, a common menopausal symptom experienced by many women.
Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa)
Wild yam contains the well known phytoestrogen, diosgenin. Wild yam also has antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and nerve relaxant properties.
Dosage and Safety
We recommend that women take one capsule of The Menopause Formula two times a day with meals. If there is no relief of symptoms after one month, increase to 3 or 4 capsules per day. The herbs are very safe and can be used long term.
References and Suggested Reading
- Duker, E. M. et al., Effects of extracts from Cimicifuga racemosa on gonadotropin release in menopausal women and ovariectomized rats. Planta Medica. 1991. 57: 420-424.
- Warnecke, G. Med. Welt. 1985. 36: 871-874.
- Weiss, Rudolf Fritz. Herbal Medicine. AB Arcanum. Gothenburg, Sweden. Beaconsfield Publishers, Beaconsfield, England. 1994.
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