Herbal alternatives for menopausal symptoms

Approximately 40% of women interviewed in the National Health Interview Survey used complementary and alternative therapies of some kind in the 12 months before taking the survey.¹ Of women in the midlife Study of Women Across the Nation (SWAN), this figure was nearly 50% at baseline and increased to 80% during the 6-year study.²

In a population-based survey, more than 35% of midlife women had used herbal, homeopathic, or naturopathic medicines, and approximately 12% used them to manage menopausal symptoms.³

Since the main findings for the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) were published in 2002 and in 2004,^4,5 more women are choosing not to use hormone therapies (HT) for menopausal symptoms-the use of estrogen and progestin therapies (EPT) decreased by 46% and the use of estrogen therapy (ET) decreased by 28% in US women when comparing use in late 2002 with what had been used before.⁶

Nonhormonal HT for menopause that may not completely alleviate symptoms are commonly used; women who are perimenopausal and postmenopausal are among the highest users of herbal products. Among the top 10-selling herbal products in the United States in 2004, at least 4 of the 10 products have been used for menopausal symptoms: soy supplements, black cohosh, St John's wort, and ginseng.⁸

In spite of prevalent use of these products, approximately 70% of women using them do not inform their healthcare providers that they are using them.⁹