chaste berry -pms relief herb study vs antidepressants

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CHASTE BERRY -The PMS relief herb

 

 

CHASTE BERRY -The PMS relief herb JoAnn Guest Mar

19, 2005 17:08

PST

CHASTE BERRY -chasteberry (vitex agnus)

 

PMS - menopause alternative therapy

chaste berry menopause natural treatment

http://www.raysahelian.com/chasteberry.html

 

Chaste berry (also written as chasteberry) contains

several different

constituents, including flavonoids, iridoid

glycosides, and terpenoids.

 

Chaste berry does not contain hormones. The benefits

of chaste berry

stem from its actions upon the pituitary gland.

 

Chaste berry keeps prolactin secretion in check.

 

The ability to decrease mildly elevated prolactin

levels may benefit

some women with breast tenderness associated with PMS.

 

 

Chaste berry may also be helpful in menopause and

" cyclic mastalgia " .

New research indicates that certain compounds in

chasteberry may have

activity similar to the brain chemical " dopamine " .

 

Chaste berry: The PMS relief herb

 

PMS (premenstrual syndrome) is the name of a group of

symptoms that

start 7 to 14 days before a period and stop soon after

the period

begins. Most women feel some discomfort before their

periods but those

with PMS may feel so anxious, depressed or

uncomfortable that they

can't

cope at home or at work. Some of the symptoms include

a bloated

abdomen,

feeling tired and tense, headache, tender and swollen

breasts, and

wanting to be alone.

 

PMS seems to be linked in part to changes in hormone

levels during the

menstrual cycle, and perhaps partly due to elevated

levels of a

pituitary hormone called " prolactin " .

 

Several studies over the past few years have indicated

that extracts

from chasteberry (the fruit of a small Eurasian tree,

also called Vitex

agnus) help with symptoms of PMS.

 

In a recent study done in Germany, 86 patients with

PMS were treated

daily with one tablet (20 mg chaste berry extract)

during three

menstrual cycles. At the end of the study, many

PMS-related symptoms

were significantly reduced by treatment with chaste

berry in the

majority of the participants.

No serious adverse effects were reported.

 

The researchers say, " Extract of chaste berry is an

effective and well

tolerated treatment for the relief of symptoms of the

premenstrual

syndrome. "

 

How chaste berry works is not clear, but one

possibility is that it may

reduce the " release " of prolactin from the pituitary

gland.

 

At least two previous studies have also shown the

beneficial effects of

chaste berry in relation to PMS. Other natural

therapies that could be

helpful include exercise, yoga, B vitamins and

reduction of simple

sugars, alcohol and caffeine.

 

Hormone replacement therapy and menopause

 

Recent studies indicate that long term replacement

with Premarin (horse

derived estrogens) and synthetic progesterone

increases the risk for

heart disease, cancer, blood clots and gallbladder

disease.

 

The field of hormone or herbal therapy during or after

menopause is

very complicated and there is no consensus within the

medical community

regarding the best option for long term therapy.

 

The medical community seems to be shifting its

viewpoint on hormone

replacement. It appears that most traditional doctors

now prefer using

low doses of hormones for a brief period of time to

treat menopausal

symptoms, but prefer not to continue hormone

replacement therapy

indefinitely as in the past.

 

Chaste berry and other herbs offer some hope as

alternatives.

 

Enzymatic Therapy - Chaste Berry Extract, 60 Capsules

Recommendations: One capsule chaste berry extract two

times daily.

www.enzy.com

 

Amount per capsule

Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) 225 mg*

Berry Extract

Standardized to contain a

minimum of 0.5% agnuside

(1,130 mcg per capsule)

* Daily Value not established

 

 

Chaste Berry Research update

 

Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)--pharmacology and

clinical

indications.

 

Phytomedicine. 2003 May;10(4):348-57.

 

Extracts of the fruits of chaste tree (Vitex agnus

castus = chaste

berry) are widely used to treat premenstrual symptoms.

Double-blind

placebo-controlled studies indicate that one of the

most common

premenstrual symptoms, i.e. premenstrual mastodynia

(mastalgia) is

beneficially influenced by an chaste berry extract.

 

In addition, numerous less rigidly controlled studies

indicate that

chaste berry extracts have also beneficial effects on

other psychic and

somatic symptoms of the PMS.

 

Premenstrual mastodynia is most likely due to a latent

 

hyperprolactinemia, i.e. patients release more than

physiologic amounts

of prolactin in response to stressful situations and

during deep sleep

phases which appear to stimulate the mammary gland.

 

Premenstrually this unphysiological prolactin release

is so high that

the serum prolactin levels often approach heights

which are

misinterpreted as prolactinomas.

 

Since chasteberry extracts were shown to have

beneficial effects on

premenstrual mastodynia serum prolactin levels in such

patients were

also studied in one double-blind, placebo-controlled

clinical study.

Serum prolactin levels were indeed reduced in the

patients treated with

the chaste berry extract.

 

The search for the prolactin-suppressive principle(s)

in chasteberry

yielded a number of compounds with dopaminergic

properties: they bound

to recombinant DA2-receptor protein and suppressed

prolactin release

from cultivated lactotrophs as well as in animal

experiments.

 

The search for the chemical identity of the chaste

berry dopaminergic

compounds resulted in isolation of a number of

diterpenes of which some

clerodadienols were most important for the

prolactin-suppressive

effects. They were almost identical in their

prolactin-suppressive

properties than dopamine itself.

 

Hence, it is concluded that dopaminergic compounds

present in chaste

berry are clinically the important compounds which

improve premenstrual

mastodynia and possibly also other symptoms of the

premenstrual

syndrome.

 

Fluoxetine versus Vitex agnus castus extract (chaste

berry ) in the

treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

Hum Psychopharmacol. 2003 Apr;18(3):191-5.

 

 

Clinical trials have demonstrated that serotonin

reuptake inhibitors

(SRIs) and the extract of chaste berry are effective

for the treatment

of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). However, to

the best of our

knowledge, there has been no study comparing the

efficacy of the SRIs

with chaste berry extract.

 

Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare

the efficacy of

fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

(SSRI), with that

of the chaste berry extract, a natural choice.

 

After a period of 2 screening months to screen the

patients for

suitability, 41 patients with PMDD according to DSM-IV

were recruited

into the study. The patients were randomized to

fluoxetine or chaste

berry for 2 months of single-blind, rater- blinded and

prospective

treatment period. The outcome measures included the

Penn daily symptom

report (DSR), the Hamilton depression rating scale

(HAM-D), and the

clinical global impression-severity of illness

(CGI-SI) and

-improvement

(CGI-I) scales.

 

At endpoint, using the clinical criterion for

improvement, a similar

percentage of patients responded to fluoxetine (68.4%,

n = 13) and

chaste berry (57.9%, n = 11). There was no

statistically significant

difference between the groups with respect to the rate

of responders.

 

This preliminary study suggests that patients with

PMDD respond well to

treatment with chaste berry.

 

Evidence for estrogen receptor beta-selective activity

of Vitex

agnus-castus (chaste berry) and isolated flavones.

Planta Med. 2003 Oct;69(10):945-7.

 

Recent cell culture experiments indicated that

extracts of Vitex

agnus-castus (chaste berry) may contain yet

unidentified

phytoestrogens.

 

 

Estrogenic actions are mediated via estrogen receptors

(ER).

 

To investigate whether chasteberry compounds bind to

the currently

known isoforms ERalpha or ERss, ligand binding assays

(LBA) were

performed. Subtype specific ER-LBA revealed a binding

of chasteberry to

ERss only. To isolate the ERss-selective compounds,

the extract was

fractionated by bio-guidance.

 

The flavonoid apigenin was isolated and identified as

the most active

ERss-selective phytoestrogen in chasteberry . Other

isolated compounds

were vitexin and penduletin.

These data demonstrate that the phytoestrogens in

chasteberry are

ERss-selective.

 

Evaluation of estrogenic activity of plant extracts

for the potential

treatment of menopausal symptoms.

J Agric Food Chem 2001 May;49(5):2472-9

 

Eight botanical preparations that are commonly used

for the treatment

of

menopausal symptoms were tested for estrogenic

activity.

 

Methanol extracts of red clover (Trifolium pratense

L.), chaste berry

(Vitex agnus-castus L.), and hops (Humulus lupulus L.)

showed

significant competitive binding to estrogen receptors

alpha (ER alpha)

and beta (ER beta).

 

With cultured Ishikawa (endometrial) cells, red clover

and hops

exhibited estrogenic activity as indicated by

induction of alkaline

phosphatase (AP) activity and up-regulation of

progesterone receptor

(PR) mRNA.

 

Chasteberry also stimulated PR expression, but no

induction of AP

activity was observed. In S30 breast cancer cells, pS2

(presenelin-2),

another estrogen-inducible gene, was up-regulated in

the presence of

red

clover, hops, and chasteberry.

Interestingly, extracts of Asian ginseng (Panax

ginseng C.A. Meyer) and

North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.)

induced pS2 mRNA

expression in S30 cells, but no significant ER binding

affinity, AP

induction, or PR expression was noted in Ishikawa

cells.

 

Dong quai [Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels] and

licorice (Glycyrrhiza

glabra L.) showed only weak ER binding and PR and pS2

mRNA induction.

Black cohosh [Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt.] showed

no activity in any

of the above in vitro assays.

 

These data suggest a potential use for some dietary

supplements,

ingested by human beings, in the treatment of

menopausal symptoms.

 

Treatment of cyclical mastalgia with a solution

containing a Vitex

agnus

castus (chaste berry) extract: results of a

placebo-controlled

double-blind study.

Breast. 1999 Aug;8(4):175-81.

 

 

In a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind

study the efficacy of

a chaste berry extract-containing solution was

investigated in patients

suffering from cyclical mastalgia.

 

Patients had mastalgia on at least 5 days in the

pre-treatment cycle.

During this cycle and during treatment (3 cycles; 2 x

30 drops/day),

the

intensity of mastalgia was recorded once per cycle

using a visual

analogue scale (VAS).

 

After one/two treatment cycles, the mean decrease in

pain intensity

(mm,

VAS) was 21.4 mm /33.7 mm in women taking chaste berry

(n=4 and 10.6

mm/20.3 mm with placebo (n=49).

The differences of the VAS-values for chaste berry

were significantly

greater than those with placebo (p=0.018; p=0.006).

 

After three cycles, the mean VAS-score reduction for

women taking

chaste

berry was 34.3 mm, a reduction of 'borderline

significance' (p=0.064)

on

statistical testing compared with placebo (25.7 mm).

 

There was no difference in the frequency of adverse

events between both

groups (chaste berry: n=5; placebo : n=4). chaste

berry appears

effective and was well tolerated and further

evaluation of this agent

in

the treatment of cyclical mastalgia is warranted.

_________________

---

 

Post subject: Chaste Tree Berry (vitex agnus

castus)

 

--

 

 

Chaste Tree Berry (vitex agnus castus)

 

Chaste Tree Berry (vitex agnus castus) are the berries

of the chaste

tree, a large shrub indigenous to southern Europe, the

Mediterranean

region, and Asia.

 

Chaste Tree Berry has been used since ancient Greek

times as a

treatment

for menstrual problems.

 

It is the fruit (dried ripe berries) that contains a

mixture of iridoid

glycosides (agnoside and aucubin), fatty oils, and

flavonoids.

 

Chaste Tree Berry has medicinally active components

that act upon the

pituitary gland, specifically on the production of

luteinizing hormone

to influence progesterone levels during the luteal, or

late, phase of

the menstrual cycle.

 

A 1997 double-blind, placebo-controlled study found

that Chaste Tree

Berry offered significant relief for women suffering

from symptoms of

PMS, especially breast tenderness, cramping, and

headaches (Lauritzen

et

al. 1997).

 

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled

trial reported in the

January 20, 2001 British Medical Journal, German

researchers assigned

170 women diagnosed with PMS to a daily dose of Vitex

agnus castus

(chaste tree berry) extract or to placebo for three

menstrual cycles.

 

The women assessed themselves before and after

treatment on measures of

irritability, mood, anger, headache, bloating, and

breast fullness.

Clinicians evaluated symptom severity and treatment

effects.

 

More than half of the women taking chaste tree fruit

extract (chaste

tree berry) had a 50% or greater improvement in PMS

symptoms (with the

exception of bloating).

 

The researchers concluded that the dry Vitex Agnus

Castus extract of

agnus castus fruit is an effective and well-tolerated

treatment for the

relief of symptoms of PMS.

 

It is important to note that the German government's

Commission E,

which

evaluates herbal remedies prescribed in conventional

medical practice

in

Germany, has approved chasteberry for menstrual

irregularities, breast

pain, and premenstrual complaints (Schellenberg R.,

2001).

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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