Veel gebruikt kruid veilig en goed bij menopauze*
Uit een Duitse studie onder 1.100 vrouwen in de overgang blijkt dat het kruid zilverkaars (black cohosh) veilig gebruikt kan worden tegen klachten als gevolg van de
menopauze. Wereldwijd waren er wat vragen over de veiligheid met betrekking tot mogelijke leverschade doch uit dit onderzoek blijkt dat het tegenovergestelde wel eens juist zou zijn. De vrouwen werden in 3 groepen verdeeld en tot 6 maanden kregen zij of zilverkaars, of het medicijn tibolone als hormoonvervanger of een placebo. De werkzaamheid van zilverkaars bleek vergelijkbaar met het medicijn. In elke groep bleek bij 5% van de deelnemende vrouwen het ontstekingsenzym ASAT verhoogd te zijn. Van de 37 vrouwen die al leverproblemen hadden bleek bij 62% van hen deze problemen duidelijk te verminderen. Alle andere vrouwen bleken geen
teken van leverproblemen te hebben.
Black cohosh safe for your liver, review finds
A safety review published in the journal Menopause has confirmed that black cohosh, a natural plant alternative to conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT), is safe and will not cause liver damage. Some recent reports have questioned the dietary supplement's safety, but the new study confirms that menopausal women can safely use black cohosh to help alleviate hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopause
symptoms.
Led by Dr. Belal Naser from the German-based Schaper & Brummer GmbH & Co., manufacturer of a popular brand of black cohosh, the study analyzed 1,100 women who used either black cohosh, HRT, tibolone or a placebo to treat menopause symptoms for up to six months. Not only did users of black cohosh not experience visible signs of liver damage, but 62 percent of those taking the supplement that had indicators of liver problems prior to the study actually saw these indicators normalize at the completion of the study.
Overall, the researchers found, 88 women dropped out of the studies, but none did so because of abnormal liver enzymes, a potential sign of liver damage.
And there was no evidence that black cohosh triggered harmful changes in liver enzymes. In both the black cohosh and comparison groups, about 5 percent of women developed abnormally high levels of a liver enzyme known as AST.
On the other hand, of 37 black cohosh users who had abnormally high AST levels before treatment, 62 percent saw those levels drop back into the normal range during therapy.
But an expert not involved in the study said the findings are consistent with other evidence that black cohosh is safe for the
liver.
At least eight different studies have shown that black cohosh is just as effective as synthetic HRT therapies at treating menopause symptoms, but without the harmful side effects. A 2004 study from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., for instance, found that black cohosh reduces weekly hot flash averages by more than 50 percent. And the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports the use of black cohosh for treating menopause symptoms.
Conventional HRT drugs, on the other hand, have been shown to increase women's risk of having a heart attack or stroke, as well as developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, blood clots, and asthma. Much of the research claiming synthetic HRT drugs to be effective is also based on medical fraud, according to some reports
(Juli 2011)
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