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Study, 2008

Can plants help treat women's health problems like PMS?

This describes a research center's process for testing plant-based treatments for PMS and other women's health problems. The article explains their methods but does not report results from completed studies.

Early or limited evidence Not applicable. This describes a research center's methods, not a study of patients.

What they did

Describes a research program that tests plants for women's health. The process starts with obtaining and identifying plants, then extracting and studying active ingredients in the laboratory to understand how they work, and finally conducting early-stage and mid-stage clinical trials with women. Black cohosh is given as an example.

What they found

This article describes how the research center operates, not the results of their studies. No findings about whether plants help PMS or other conditions are reported.

What it means for you

Many traditional plants have been used to treat PMS, but they need careful testing to know if they really work and how they work. This describes one approach to doing this, starting in the lab and progressing to trials with women. To know whether these plants actually help PMS, we would need to see results from completed clinical trials.

1999

Year the research center was founded

About the study

Original title
The University of Illinois at Chicago/National Institutes of Health Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research for Women's Health: from plant to clinical use
Authors
Farnsworth NR, Krause EC, Bolton JL et al.
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2008
Study design
Study
What was tested
Botanical supplements for women's health
Open access
Yes

Topics