May 19, 2006 – American and Chinese researchers just published the results of a study1 indicating that some commercial products offered as black cohosh may in fact contain another species of black cohosh.
The roots and rhizomes of black cohosh are effective in relieving symptoms of menopause, mainly hot flashes2. In recent years, the popularity of products containing it has been increasing.
Native to southeastern Canada and northeastern United States, where it grows in the undergrowth, this species of cohosh once called Cimicifuga racemosa, then renamed Actea racemosa, is mostly harvested in the wild. Its popularity had the effect of depleting the stands, which may have prompted manufacturers to resort to another species of cohosh grown in China.
The refinement of the methods of analysis of herbal products allowed the authors of the study to detect this species in four of the eleven products analyzed.
Asked about the meaning of this discovery for consumers, William Obermeyer, vice-president of research for the independent laboratory ConsumerLab.com, however put a damper. “Techniques for analyzing herbal products are undergoing unprecedented sophistication,” he says. It should be borne in mind, however, that our knowledge in this area is still relatively limited and that results like these should be taken with a grain of salt, ”he says.
According to him, these results only indicate that certain products could contain another species of black cohosh. “It is not known if this can have an impact on the effectiveness of the product. It could be that the product works just as well. For now, we must recognize our ignorance and continue to refine our analytical methods, especially in the case of black cohosh, which is a particularly complex plant, with compounds that are difficult to identify, ”he explains.
It should be noted that it is not yet clear which compounds of the plant produce the therapeutic effects observed in clinical trials. It is assumed that these are terpene compounds, but there are still doubts about this. The species of Asian cohosh identified by researchers contains terpenes similar to those of black cohosh.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to Reuters Health.
1. Jiang B, Kronenberg F, et al. Evaluation of the Botanical Authenticity and Phytochemical Profile of Black Cohosh Products by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Selected Ion Monitoring Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, J Agric Food Chem, 2006 May 3; 54 (9): 3242-3253.
2. Osmers R, Friede M, et al. Efficacy and safety of isopropanolic black cohosh extract for climacteric symptoms, Obstet Gynecol, 2005 May; 105 (5): 1074-83.
