Herbs to Prevent Breast Cancer, Heart Disease and Menopausal Symptoms

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"Red clover dietary supplements are sold as a phyto 'plant]estrogen source and a 'natural' form of 'Hormone Replacement Therapy.]" So wrote Dr. Fugh-Berman and F. Kronenberg in the journal Menopause, vol. 8, 2001. That certainly perked our interest, not only because of our search for plant sources for menopausal problems but also because we knew Dr. Fugh-Berman when we were researching Tamoxifen for a major publication. We disagreed, by the way, but still feel that she is one of the better physicians around.

We still respect her, but her report notes some studies that she admits are invalid for various reasons. We usually prefer to cite studies that are valid and helpful for our readers.

So we did our own researching and collected reports from the following:

Chemical Res. Toxical.
Atherosclerosis
Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis.
Ann. Ital. Med. Int.
J. of Agric. Food Chem.
J. of Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.

One report observed that there were plants that affected estrogen receptors (ER) in the breast and those that affected progesterone receptors (PR), some having effects that promoted and others that discouraged cancer cell growth.

"The highest estrogen-receptor-binding herbs that are commonly consumed were soy, licorice, red clover, thyme, tumeric, hops, and verbena.....In general, we found that ER-binding herbal extracts were agonists 'inducers], much like estradiol, whereas PR-binding extracts were neutral or antagonists."
We should explain here that the principle behind the anti-cancer drug Tamoxifen as well as estrogen-binding plants is that they occupy the estrogen receptor, thus preventing the activity of the woman's own estrogen and thereby reducing the risk of breast cancer.

We concluded from the report that the PR-binding plants were safer than the ER, though both had anti-cancer effects. PR-binders included oregano, verbena, turmeric, thyme, red clover and damiana.
Another study, this time of cardiovascular risk, was done on women measuring the elasticity of their large arteries 'a good test of risk] before and after taking red clover. They observed that there...."was significant... improvement] with red clover isoflavones 'ingredients.]"

Another report, evaluating plant extracts for the potential treatment of menopausal symptoms, found that red clover, chasteberry and hops had potentially the strongest effects of the plants tested. The scientists were surprised, as were we, that the ingredient with the most potent effect was genistein in the red clover. This is a factor present in soy as well.

Herbs to Prevent Breast Cancer, Heart Disease and Menopausal Symptoms Bibliography:

Chemical Res. Toxical.
Atherosclerosis
Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis.
Ann. Ital. Med. Int.
J. of Agric. Food Chem.
J. of Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.