Fact Or Fiction: Does Natural Supplements Ease Menopausal Symptoms?

Hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, and other symptoms often come with menopause. A variety of supplements claim to help with these menopausal symptoms. But we want to know if they work? Supplements are rarely tested thoroughly, and many claims made by manufacturers aren’t always supported by science.

Here’s a look at several supplements and research about their effectiveness on menopausal symptoms.

Black cohosh:The extract of the black cohosh plant’s root. When it comes to hot flashes, several studies compared it with a placebo and found that black cohosh helps. However, wrote WebMD, “Other studies haven’t found a benefit.”

Dong quai: An herb said to mimic the body’s estrogen. Dong quai has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine as treatment for women’s health. But a modern study of dong quai looked at its effects on menopausal hot flashes and found no benefits.

Evening primrose oil: Oil extracted from the seeds of a yellow-flowered plant.  Little research on evening primrose oil has been done. In fact, Health.com reported that in a 2009 review in American Family Physician, just one study comparing primrose oil and placebo in menopausal women has been done. The study found that evening primrose oil was no better than the placebo in treating hot flashes.

Ginkgo biloba: The extract of the ginkgo plant’s leaves. Ginkgo is well-known for improving memory, concentration and mood. All of these can be affected by menopause. Yet several studies have found no evidence that ginkgo can help menopausal women suffering from memory loss, concentration and mood swings.

Hops: The flower clusters of the Humulus lupulus plant. Hops are another supplement with extremely limited research behind it. There has been only one controlled trial studying 8-PN’s potential effects. 8-PN is an estrogenic compound in hops. The controlled trial found that there were favorable results reducing menopausal symptoms including hot flashes.

Red clover: An extract of a legume that contains substances that mimic estrogen. Research results from red clover have been mixed when it comes to easing menopausal symptoms.

Soy: A protein found in foods such as tofu, edamame and soy milk. Many menopausal women look to soy to help with hot flashes. Unfortunately they may not find much relief. No conclusive evidence of effectiveness was found from the use of soy is of lavones to reduce hot flashes in frequency or severity in a 2009 review of randomised controlled trials.

It’s important to talk with your doctor before taking any supplements. All supplements have potential side effects and may adversely interact with some medication.

Read More

Scientists Map Risk of Premature Menopause after Cancer Treatment

Women treated for the cancer Hodgkin lymphoma will be able to better understand their risks of future infertility after researchers estimated their risk of premature menopause with different treatments.

The findings, set out in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are based on the experience of more than 2,000 young women in England and Wales treated for the cancer over a period of more than 40 years.

Previous research has suggested that women with Hodgkin lymphoma who receive certain types of chemotherapy or radiotherapy are at increased risk of going through the menopause early – but there was insufficient information to provide patients with detailed advice.

But the new study, led by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, provides precise estimates of risk for women depending on which treatment types and doses they received and at what age - allowing doctors to give them detailed advice about their risks of future infertility.

The research was largely funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer and involved researchers from across the UK at more than 50 universities and hospitals.

The research team followed-up 2,127 women who had been treated for Hodgkin lymphoma in England and Wales between 1960 and 2004, and who had been aged under 36 at the time.

All had received treatment with chest radiotherapy, sometimes alongside other treatments.

Some 605 of the women in the study underwent non-surgical menopause before the age of 40.

This was a large enough number for the researchers to estimate accurate risks of menopause at different ages, depending on the mixture and doses of treatments they received and the age they received them.

The researchers produced a risk table which could help improve the advice that clinicians are able to give to women who have undergone treatment for the disease.

Several of the treatments caused a sharp increase in premature menopause risk.

For example, a woman who had received six or more cycles of a standard chemotherapy regimen in her late 20s, but without receiving radiotherapy to the pelvic area, had a chance of around 18 per cent of undergoing menopause by the age of 30, or 58 per cent by age 40.

Overall, risk of premature menopause was more than 20-fold raised after ovarian radiotherapy, and also after some specific chemotherapy regimens.

Risk of menopause by age 40 was 81 per cent after receiving ovarian radiotherapy at an overall dose of 5 or more Grays, and up to 75 per cent after chemotherapy, depending on the type, although only one per cent after receiving a chemotherapy regimen called ABVD.

Study leader Professor Anthony Swerdlow, Professor of Epidemiology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:

"Hodgkin lymphoma often affects younger women, and although fortunately most survive the disease, treatments including certain types of chemotherapy and pelvic radiotherapy can lead to premature menopause.

"We hope our study will help women to understand better, in consultation with their doctors, their risks of future infertility following treatment for this malignancy. By looking in a much larger group of women than previous studies of this type, we were able to produce age and treatment specific risk estimates that we hope will be of practical use to individual women. I'm extremely grateful to the patients and doctors who made it possible for us to produce this information."

Source: http://ecancer.org/news/6175-scientists-map-risk-of-premature-menopause-after-cancer-treatment.php

Read More

Brisdelle Review: Does it Really Help to Relieve Menopausal Symptoms?

Brisdelle Overview:
Brisdelle is a prescription medication approved to treat hot flashes related to menopause. It belongs to a category of medicines referred to as selective serotonin uptake inhibitors. Brisdelle is the first non-hormonal medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating hot flashes because of menopause.

How Does Brisdelle Work?
As mentioned, Brisdelle belongs to a category of medicines known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs work to extend serotonin activity by increasing the number of serotonin offered within the tiny space between the cells within the body. Serotonin has several functions in the body, including effects on mood and actions. It’s unknown how Brisdelle works to cut back hot flashes, however it's probably associated with the drug's effects on serotonin. It’s thought that changes in serotonin levels somehow contribute to the development of hot flashes throughout menopause.

The ability of SSRIs to cut back hot flashes is independent of their effects on mood. This can be the reason Brisdelle works to treat hot flashes in doses that are lower than those who would be required to treat depression or anxiety.

Key Ingredients:
Paroxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is the active ingredient in a pair of medication for depression and alternative psychiatric disorders, paxil (GlaxoSmithKline) and Pexeva (Noven Therapeutics). Both medication contain higher doses of paroxetine than the version for hot flashes.

Brisdelle Pros

• Brisdelle is a FDA approved drug to resolve menopause symptoms.
• It is also clinically tested.
• It is a Non-hormonal drug to treat menopausal issues.

Brisdelle Cons

• It is a New and not time-tested.
• There is mention of the increased risk of suicidal thought on the drug’s label.
• It can reduce the effectiveness of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen.
• It causes side effects.

Side Effects of Brisdelle
Brisdelle, and associated antidepressant drugs, may increase suicidal thoughts or actions at intervals the first few months of treatment.

• Headache
• Fatigues
• Nausea or vomiting.

Warnings!
It is necessary to read the drug label carefully to create positive that adverse effects are prevented. Have a word with your doctor before taking this or any other drug. Brisdelle may cause fetal damage and it should not be taken when you are taking sure medication or have any health problem pathological state.

Bottom Line
The fact that the FDA has voted to not approve Brisdelle as a result of it didn’t provide adequate profit is alarming. Take note that this can be a drug that may cause many possible side effects thus it's not completely safe. Would you risk suffering from these aspect effects only for bottom benefit? It’s a viable choice if your doctor recommends thus. However, like in everything else, natural is every time good. This is why natural menopause supplements are currently very popular. These product are abundant safer since they solely contain natural ingredients. Intensive analysis can assist you realize the best product for you.

Read More

Macafem Review: Does This Menopase Supplement Really Work?

Macafem is a supplement designed to treat the PMS, signs of menopause, reduced sexual desire and infertility problems in ladies. The company manufacturing this product claims to make and balance the hormones. This product contains maca that is natural herb that treats the signs of menopause and assists to remove any possible side-effects. The official web site of Macafem guarantees to produce you relief type the menopause signs, PMS. It additionally supports healthy immunity system, ease to grow the vitality and stop bone weakening.

Active Ingredients in Macafem
The herb employed in macafem is cultivated in one in all the foremost troublesome places within the world. It’s awfully troublesome to grow vegetables in such places. However the herb employed in macafem is full-grown there thanks to the wealthy soil that has terribly several nutrients. Otherwise the climate isn't appropriate for vegetables. This is often the reason why this herb includes a smart concentration of vitamins, amino acid, minerals and carboxylic acid beside smart proteins, fibers and carbohydrates.

How Does Macafem Works?
The product contains top quality of genus Lepidium meyenii that is found in Peru. This is a natural herb that has nutrition that helps motivate the neural structure. It additionally facilitate stimulating the pituitary glands thereby enhance the secretion operate in ladies. This additionally stabilize the endocrine program in ladies thereby offer you relief from severe hot flashes.

Pros of Macafem

• Balances the hormonal level
• Helps in get rid of symptoms of menopause
• Releases the PMS symptoms
• Macafem supports healthy sexual functioning
• Enhancing the immune system
• Increasing energy and vitality

Cons

• The product takes around over 2 months to provide you effective results.
• It can't be taken by hormone dependent women.

Customer’s Testimonials
There are several statements that claim this product is economical for treating all the hormone related problems in ladies. It is useful to treat the signs & symptoms of menopause. This is additionally useful for relieving the PMS and fertility issues in women. There are several positive reviews from real women who used this product for treating the menopause symptoms. There are some negative reviews from customers stating the product isn't really effective.

Final Word
While Macafem claims that it uses solely natural ingredients, the web site doesn't show this list. However since the web site is flooded with positive client testimonials and doctor recommendations, Macafem seems to be the important deal. Also, the supplement isn't only for one treatment alone. Taking this may profit the body in lots of ways that too. Macafem solely boasts its one herbal ingredient that is Maca. It may well be a disadvantage that this may lengthen the time for the supplement to require result on the body. However if it works nice, Macafem should be definitely worth the wait. Read the Macafem reviews and compare with alternative menopause treatments to seek out the simplest one.

Read More

Menopace Tablets: Do They Really Work?

Menopace Overview
Menopace is a complicated range of menopause supplements, designed by specialists to produce effective nutritionary support. Thousands of ladies enter the products each year, and Menopace's tried and tested vitamins for the menopause are specially designed to produce nutritionary support throughout this point of amendment. The collection includes ingredients like soy Isoflavones, Sage, 5HTP, Red Clover, and far additional.

Menopace Product Summary
1. Menopace Original
This daily supplement has been specially developed for ladies during and after the menopause.

• Ingredients: These embody advanced vitamin B complex vitamin B|B vitamin|B|water-soluble vitamin complex, zinc and magnesium. Menopace additionally contains vitamin d to assist maintain calcium levels, vital for strong bones.
• Directions: One pill per day along with your main meal. Swallow with water or a chilly drink. Not to be chewed. Don’t exceed suggested intake. Only to be taken on a full abdomen.

2. Menopace plus
Vitamin & mineral tablets plus active botanical tablets. Menopace plus combines the first effective Menopace formula with a singular active botanical pill to be taken aboard.

• Ingredients: Original Menopace plus multi-nutrient tablets and Active botanical tablets providing further Soy isoflavones, flaxseed lignans, Sage and green tea. Includes natural soy isoflavones, vitamins and minerals and essential co-factors.
• Directions: Take daily - One Menopace pill (red blister) and one botanical pill (green blister). Swallow each with water or a cold drink and take with a main meal.

3. Menopace calcium
Vitamin and mineral tablets with calcium and soya isoflavones. Menopace calcium combines the effective Menopace formula with extra calcium.

• Ingredients: Includes a rich supply of calcium (700mg), vitamin D3 plus magnesium and alternative co-factors essential for bone health. Vitamin D3 is important for calcium absorption and maintenance of healthy bones, while metallic element assists with maintenance of traditional bones.
• Directions: two tablets per day along with your main meal. Swallow with water or a cold drink. Not to be chewed. Don’t exceed counseled intake. Only to taken on a full abdomen.

4. Menopace Night
Optimal nutrition is useful throughout the menopause. Menopace Night is a good, advanced supplement of twenty three nutrients scientifically developed for throughout and when the menopause.

• Ingredients: Includes botanical extracts of chamomile and Hops, also as Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) a present aminoalkanoic acid. Contains vitamin c and supporting nutrients. Provides further sustenance D3, magnesium and trace minerals to assist maintain robust bones.
• Directions: Swallow with water or a cold drink. Not to be chewed. Don’t exceed the counseled intake.

5. Menopace red clover
Menoflavon Red Clover and Green Tea vegetarian capsules. Red clover (Trifolium Pratense) contains a rich supply of isoflavones. The typical British diet is low in isoflavones as a result of it solely contains a little quantity of pulses, beans (legumes) and soy.

• Ingredients: This standardized extract provides the subsequent three vital isoflavones, Genistein, Biochanin-A, Formononetin, plus standardised tea Extract
• Directions: One capsule per day along with your main meal.

Conclusion
The official web site of Menopace contains adequate info concerning the product’s active ingredients and its purpose. However, though info is given, it doesn't signify on its effectiveness and safety. Customers should be decisive enough once exploitation this product. It’s best to consult your doctor initial before exploitation this supplement.

Read More

How to Manage Sleepless Nights in Menopause?

Hot flashes and night sweats often come with the menopause territory. As if these symptoms weren’t disruptive enough, you may find yourself losing sleep because of them. Not getting enough sleep from menopause symptoms means more than just crankiness the next day. Long-term sleep deprivation decreases your ability to function during everyday activities, and can even lead to other health problems. If hot flashes and night sweats are causing sleepless nights, it’s time to figure out what you can do about it.

What’s Behind Those Menopause Symptoms?

Due to a variety of symptoms, menopause can mean different things for different women. From a medical standpoint, menopause is defined as not having your period for one year. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the average age for menopause is 51 years old. The absence of periods and the influx of menopausal symptoms is attributed to hormonal changes. When you enter menopause, your ovaries produce less estrogen and progesterone.

Hot flashes and night sweats are the most common menopause symptoms. Estrogen is the culprit here. The ACOG estimates that 75 percent of perimenopausal women experience hot flashes. Signs of hot flashes and accompanying night sweats include:

• red, blushing skin (especially on the face)
• feelings of hotness, even in cool temperatures
• drenching sweat during times of inactivity
• inability to focus due to general discomfort

Hot flashes can happen more than once a day, and they strike without warning. The symptoms can also occur during perimenopause. This is the time leading up to menopause, when your periods start becoming more and more irregular.

When Menopause Disrupts Sleep

Hot flashes from menopause can be so intense that they interrupt normal activities. In fact, it’s not uncommon for women to lose sleep over them. To make matters worse, hot flashes and subsequent night sweats can last for several minutes at a time. You may find yourself waking up more than once a night, and unable to find relief for long periods of time. When you can’t sleep, other health problems can arise. Over the long-term, a regular lack of sleep can cause:

• slowed metabolism
• weight gain
• anxiety
• high blood pressure
• heart problems

You Can Get a Good Night’s Sleep

The key for your health (and for your sanity) is to get those sleepless nights under control. Given the frequency and intensity of hot flashes and night sweats, such a task may seem impossible. Success in getting sleep is dependent on a combination of lifestyle changes as well as the possibility of medical intervention.

You can help reduce hot flashes at night by:

• not taking daytime naps
• avoiding alcohol
• reducing caffeine intake (and avoiding it at night)
• eat small dinners
• exercising every day

Also, it goes without saying that you want to keep your bedroom as cool as possible. During the cold winter months, this can be challenging, especially if you sleep in the same bed as your partner. Try dressing in layers and use several small. Lightweight blankets instead of one heavy comforter. Keep shades drawn during the day to prevent your room heating from the sun.

Lifestyle changes can help minimize night sweats from hot flashes. While hot flashes may also be minimized, hormone therapy can help prevent them. Among the options are:

• estrogen-only therapy
• combined estrogen-progestin
• prescription antidepressants

Hormone therapy is not for everyone, but if you suffer from severe sleep deprivation, it may be time to consider how medications can help combat nighttime hot flashes. Talk to your doctor about the benefits versus any risks. With a little work, you can be on your way to better sleep without all of the heat and sweat of menopause.

---

Source - http://menopausechitchat.com/2014/06/hot-flashes-and-night-sweats-keeping-you-awake-how-to-manage-sleepless-nights-in-menopause.html

Read More

New Clues Why Breast Cancer Still A Menopause Risk

It is not just your hormones that change at menopause, it seems that as women age the cells responsible for maintaining healthy breast tissue stop responding to their immediate surroundings, including mechanical cues that should prompt them to suppress nearby tumours.

These new findings are attributed to scientists from the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratory at Berkeley and the University of Bergen, Norway.  Their work sheds light on how aging alters cellular and molecular functions, and how these changes contribute to the prevalence of breast cancer in older women.

Who is at risk?

The disease is most frequently diagnosed among women aged 55 to 64 according to the National Cancer Institute and of course if you have a family link through the maternal line you will be more susceptible.
Two years ago the same scientists found that as women age, multipotent progenitors accumulate in breast epithelial tissue. They didn’t know why these cells increase in numbers, but they believed their cellular microenvironment — or the matrix of tissue surrounding them — plays a role. To explore this idea, the scientists examined human mammary epithelial cell samples from pre and post-menopausal women.

They found that breast tissue from women less than 30 years old is extremely responsive to changes to their immediate surroundings.  The tissue responded to any stiffness by producing a defence  mechanism of tumor suppressants.  This natural response to change was not however seen in tissue from women older than 55. Instead of responding to the stiffness by upping the production of tumor-suppressing cells, multipotent progenitors from older women produced equal amounts of luminal and tumor-suppressing cells. That’s bad for a couple of reasons. The majority of cancers diagnosed in older women are luminal, and more multipotent progenitors means more cells that can become cancerous.

They found that as women age, multipotent progenitors, which are the cells responsible for maintaining healthy homeostasis in breast tissue, no longer respond to their microenvironment like they do in younger women. Older tissue does not correctly perceive differentiation cues, such as the mechanical stiffness of their surroundings.

The scientists traced this failure to a breakdown in a cellular process. The process converts external mechanical cues, in this case the stiffness of the tissue outside of the cell membrane, into an internal molecular message that tells the cell nucleus what to do.  In multipotent progenitors in women older than 55, the molecules that help deliver this message are inefficiently activated, and they believe this breakdown stems from changes in the way women’s genes are activated and silenced as they grow older.


How to reduce your risk?

Hormone balance is key here, so dealing with oestrogen dominance and rebalancing with progesterone to oppose the excess oestrogen is the best place to start. Next are lifestyle changes, as at menopause the more weight you have, the more fat cells there are to produce oestrogen so again maintaining a healthy weight is essential to reduce your risk.

One study has shown that in a study of two groups of breast cancer survivors who were considered obese or overweight the group who received weight loss and exercise counselling after six months, women in the weight loss counselling group experienced an approximate 30% decrease in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels compared with the group who received no counselling.

CRP is a marker of chronic inflammation and higher CRP levels have been associated with a higher risk of breast cancer mortality. The women who lost at least 5% body weight experienced an approximate 22% decrease in insulin, 38% decrease in leptin, and 55% decrease in CRP, compared to significantly less biomarker improvement in women who lost less than 5% body weight.

Diet alone is not enough, exercise is also a key component as a similar story applies to exercise where participants were randomised into two groups — those who participated in twice-weekly strength training and 2.5 hr/wk of moderate-intensive aerobic exercise — and those who did no exercise (control group). After 12 months, the study found that the exercise group experienced an approximate 3% weight and body fat loss, and 6% decrease in CRP levels compared to increases in the control group.

---

Source - http://www.bio-hormone-health.com/2014/06/16/new-clues-why-breast-cancer-still-a-menopause-risk/

Read More