Your patients don’t have to choose between taking risky hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or simply suffering through life-disrupting menopause symptoms. And black cohosh alone may not provide the relief your patients are looking for.
Fortunately, clinical research shows that black cohosh combined with rhodiola provide a much better choice. These two botanicals have shown a synergy for even greater menopause symptom relief than using black cohosh alone.
Working together, these botanicals:
- Stop hot flashes and night sweats
- Reduce irritability
- Improve restorative sleep
- Increase daily physical energy and mental resilience
- Promote adaptation in the face of stress
Effective Synergy for Menopause Relief
Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) is an attractive choice for treating menopause symptoms for many reasons.
For example, while it does appear to have estrogenic effects as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), unlike soy or red clover, it does not appear to have any phytoestrogen content. This lack of phytoestrogens makes it safe for use by women who have had breast cancer. Scientific study has found that unlike standard hormone replacement therapy, black cohosh does not bind to estrogen receptors and does not have estrogenic effects on mammary cancer cells due to its mild modulating activity. For this reason, it has been considered an excellent intervention for breast cancer survivors who need to reduce menopause symptoms, but don’t want to deal with the risks of standard hormone therapy.
So for decades prior to research investigating its phytoestrogen content, black cohosh has long been considered the “go to” herb for reducing menopause symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and restless sleep. Most of the time, it seemed to be effective. But not always. And this may be the case with your patients as well.
Unfortunately, many women find that black cohosh alone just can’t relieve their menopause symptoms as much as they’d hoped. Or, the herb may have worked for a little while after they’d passed the eight-week average for the botanical to take full effect, but then its benefits started to fade.
And that’s not necessarily unusual.
The effectiveness of black cohosh depends on its quality, concentration and spectrum of key compounds, dosage levels, and individual patient response—all of which can be highly variable. Even hundreds of milligrams of black cohosh, with the wrong extraction or concentration, may not work. In fact, European clinical studies have found that, in some cases, an effective dose of black cohosh is much lower than might be expected—from a range of 6.5 to 13 mg daily—despite the fact that long time practice recommended much higher levels.
MEASURING MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS
The Kupperman Menopausal Index (KMI) and the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) are two established ways of measuring effective menopause symptom relief. Both report physical and psychological aspects of menopause symptoms.
There’s quite a bit of overlap between the two, so they can provide a detailed picture of what’s happening. In either rating scale, when patient scores go down, the symptoms have improved; if the scores go up, their symptoms are worse.
Menopause symptoms the KMI evaluates include:
- Hot Flashes
- Fatigue
- Restless Sleep
- Nervousness
- Stress
- Libido
Menopause symptoms the MRS measures include:
- Psychological symptoms: irritability and nervousness
- Somatic/Physical symptoms: hot flashes, restless sleep, and muscle complaints
- Urogenital symptoms: libido, vaginal health, and urinary tract function
But regardless of the reason, women often find that black cohosh doesn’t fully address some of the most problematic and stubborn menopausal concerns such as mood changes, low energy, lack of libido, and stamina.
Rhodiola Enhances Black Cohosh
That’s why a clinical study was conducted to see if adding an herbal assist from clinically studied rhodiola would enhance the herb’s actions and help more fully alleviate symptoms.
Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) is well known as an herbal adaptogen with an excellent record of helping people remain more resilient in the face of stress, remain focused during long hours on the job, and feel physically robust for demanding tasks.
Not surprisingly, a clinical study found that rhodiola reinforces the restorative power of black cohosh for menopause as well.
In this study, a black cohosh/rhodiola combination was compared to two other black cohosh extracts (one at 6.25 mg, two caps per day for a total of 13 mg, one high dose 500 mg at two capsules daily for a total of 1000 mg) and placebo, also two capsules daily, for 12 weeks.
The botanical combination surpassed them impressively: It reduced KMI scores by over 71 percent and MRS scores by over 67 percent.
Both the low-dose black cohosh and the high-dose black cohosh used in the study are considered effective levels depending on the response of the patient. And yet, neither of them could match the combination of black cohosh and rhodiola.
Black Cohosh + Rhodiola versus Black Cohosh Alone
- 71% reduction in menopausal symptoms
- An estrogen and soy-free alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the relief of menopause symptoms
- Black cohosh PLUS rhodiola addresses a wider spectrum of menopause symptoms
Recommend Enhanced Menopause Relief
It’s very likely that there are times when your patients feel that menopause has hijacked their lives. After all, it can bring a host of symptoms—sometimes severe, and sometimes not—that need to be addressed in order to keep a healthy, vibrant life and a positive perspective.
But it’s also understandable that they’d want to avoid conventional choices for treating menopause symptoms; many of them carry the risk of serious consequences, including an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, and heart attack.
You can recommend a better way to relieve the irritability, night sweats, hot flashes, lack of libido, and low energy that come with this time: a combination of black cohosh and rhodiola that help your patients navigate through the challenges of menopause with peace of mind and body.
Look for: A clinically studied complex of Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) root extract standardized to contain ≥ 3% rosavins and ≥ 1% salidroside combined with black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) rhizome extract daily.
