Pairing up two commonly used herbal medicines is "very effective" for easing physical and psychological symptoms of menopause, German researchers report.
St. John's wort is widely used to treat mild to moderate depression, while women have traditionally taken black cohosh for menopausal complaints, Dr Joerg Gruenwald of Analyse & Realise, a Berlin-based botanical consulting company, and colleagues write in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.
To see if a fixed combination of the herbal medicines could offer an alternative to hormone replacement therapy, the researchers studied 301 women who had been experiencing menopausal symptoms for at least three months, along with depressed mood. Half took the St. John's wort and black cohosh combo, while the other half took placebo pills.