J Altern Complement Med. 2003 Jun; 9(3): 403-9.

Morning/evening menopausal formula relieves menopausal symptoms: a pilot study.

Sun J.

Enzymatic Therapy, Inc., Green Bay, WI 54311, USA. jidong@enzy.com

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to determine the efficacy of a morning/evening menopause formula (morning capsule contains panax ginseng, black cohosh, soy, and green tea extracts; evening capsule contains black cohosh, soy, kava, hops, and valerian extracts) for relieving menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and sleep disturbance. METHODS: Healthy postmenopausal women, between 45 and 65 years of age, were asked to take the menopause formula orally, one capsule of the morning formula every morning and one capsule of the evening formula every evening for 2 months. The Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to determine the efficacy. RESULTS: Morning/evening menopause formula significantly reduced the number of hot flashes. The reduction in the number of hot flashes was observed as early as at the end of the second week. At the end of the second week, the number of hot flashes was reduced by 47%. The morning/evening menopause formula also significantly reduced the GCS total and subscale scores. At the end of the eighth week, the vasomotor, anxiety, and depression scores of GCS were reduced by 50%, 56%, and 32%, respectively. Furthermore, the morning/evening menopause formula significantly reduced global PSQI score and scores in five components (sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction) by 18%-46%. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the morning/evening menopausal formula is safe and effective for relieving menopausal symptoms including hot flashes and sleep disturbance.