Black Cohosh Looks OK to Take with Tamoxifen 31732

Black Cohosh Looks OK to Take with Tamoxifen

NEW YORK--Some good news came out this month for those womensuffering menopausal symptoms. A study released May 14 from Columbia Universityfound that black cohosh decreases menopausal symptoms and had no effect on thelevel of hormones in breast cancer patients, which researchers take as a goodsign for not interfering with the breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen.

The two-month, placebo-controlled study included 85 breast cancer survivors,42 of whom were assigned black cohosh. (A third of the patients were not theusual age from menopause, but Tamoxifen has possible side effects that includedmenopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and excessive sweating.) Researchersnoted that both the placebo and black cohosh groups reported a 27-percentdecrease in hot flashes, although the herb-supplemented group reportedexperienced less sweating, a common complaint during menopause.

The product used is this study was RemiFemin Menopause, distributed in theUnited States by GlaxoSmithKline and marketed internationally by Schaper andBruemmer GmbH & Co. KG of Germany. To learn more about the research, visit http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu.