Published May, 2011

Update Sept, 2019-  at end

Many women using synthetic hormones stopped when the Nurse’s Initiative published the negative side effects. Now more women use natural treatments to help with hormonal challenges, ranging from acne to weight gain and hot flashes.

Phytotherapy is the use of plants, either from food or herbs, for healing purposes. Phytotherapy is a wonderful alternative for hormonal balance because it works with your body to give you what you need, and has a proven track record of safety and efficacy.

Both women and men have hormone receptor cells that can be filled (like a key fitting into a lock) in several ways: EDC’s: endocrine disruptors produced by industrial by-products; xenoestrogens: prevalent in plastics, household, personal care products, fertilizers, pesticides; our body’s own hormones, AND plant precursors to hormones, or phytohormones.

The healthiest choice when our own hormones are out of balance is to use phytohormones to fill our natural hormone receptor sites, so that the toxic forms have no sites available, and will be eliminated via liver, kidneys, lymph and bowel.

One example is Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)(US). This herb acts positively to reduce hot flashes, in addition to its long historical uses as an antidote for snake bites, fevers, phlegm, and a tonic for the central nervous system. Many women have had exceptional relief from hot flashes and night sweats with a standardized formulation of Black Cohosh combined with Dong Quai. This formula, known as FE (Flash Ease) can work within the week, without the negative side effects inherent in drugs.

Maca (Lepidium meyinii) is another herb that has hit the American market in the last 10 years. To learn more about these and other natural aids for overall female hormonal health, join us for fun and informative dinner classes in Duncan. The next class will deal with Hormones for both Women and Men. This $10 investment can make a difference in your life! We’ll discuss Men’s health,  Monday June 13^th. Call 250-748-6802 to register.

You can also learn everything you ever wanted to know about herbs that grow in the Cowichan Valley, in our Annual Herbal Intensives.

Also be sure to understand the more about the phyto hormones from soy, in our article: The Soy Controversy  and Soy and Breast Cancer .

UPDATE September 16, 2019

There are other herbs that one may have unwarranted warnings due to the general misunderstanding about the different  human interactions  of phyto hormones, human hormones, pharmaceutical hormones and environmental, toxic hormones (xenohormones) such as xenoestrogens mentioned above.

Some more common herbs that carry warnings are: licorice, red raspberry, dong quai, ginsengs, wild yam, red clover, chaste-tree berry,  evening primrose, ginkgo and saw palmetto.

Brassinosteroids (BS) are natural low-molecular-mass bioregulators, i.e., plant hormones that are present in all vegetable matter and possess growth-modulating and adaptogenic activity. Many common foods including plum, pear, apple grape berries, beans, sprouts, cabbage, spinaches, soybeans, grains, hops, garlic, onion would also be contra-indicated if one followed this (il)logic.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently published a summary stating that they have found no credence to the suggestion that soy may be harmful to human health. See my article on Soy Controversy from 2010 that supports this finding.

You may also want to refer to Soy and Breast Cancer .

These plants all have their benefits, so do not be scared off by medical warnings that are based on biochemical mis-information.