Image courtesy of Cleveland Clinic.
Lots of people love a good cup of tea! Whether you drink it to relax or to get some much needed caffeine in the mornings, drinking tea has a place in countless routines.
Many tea drinkers may not know that they can also get a lot of other added benefits from their daily cup. Depending on what kind of tea you go for, you may experience a wide variety of different positive effects.
Black cohosh tea in particular has become very popular in recent years, and for good reason! Keep reading to find out about what black cohosh is and why it can be so good for you.
What is Black Cohosh?
Before we delve into why you might want to pour yourself a cup of black cohosh tea, let’s get into some basic background information.
Scientifically known as Actaea racemosa or Cimicifuga racemosa, the black cohosh plant flowers with white blooms that give off a lovely smell. The stems of this perennial plant can grow to be up to five feet tall, and form a spiky shape.
The plant is known by many other names, too— black bugbane, fairy candle, black snakeroot, rattleweed, macrotys, and rheumatism weed.
Black cohosh has a history of use in traditional Native American medicine, particularly the flowers and roots, for the pain associated with menstruation and childbirth.It was used in traditional Chinese medicine as well, for reducing pain and supporting the liver, kidney, uterus, and nervous system.
Today, it’s used in many different women’s health supplements as an active ingredient.
This may be due to its function as a “phytoestrogen,” or an organic compound that mimics the estrogen hormone. Black cohosh has proved particularly useful in helping to alleviate symptoms of menopause or painful menstrual cycles.
The appropriate dosage of black cohosh will depend on how you ingest it, but for the most part a typical dose will be between 20-120 mg daily. Even the lower end of that spectrum has been proven effective in relieving menopause symptoms.
Of course it depends on the person, but there’s no harm in starting out small!
Both the extract and dried root of black cohosh are very popular for their medicinal benefits, but most often people purchase it already in supplement form. Many other healthy, organic ingredients are often paired with it.
These include red clover, soy isoflavones, chasteberry, Vitamin C, and several others. If you’re interested in introducing black cohosh into your daily routine, you’ll definitely want to conduct some research on what else is included, too.
But before you look into that, let’s get into why you might want to try black cohosh tea in the first place!
Black Cohosh for Menstruation
The benefits of black cohosh tea are numerous, so much so that we can’t possibly cover every potential positive effect it could have. Still, in order to understand why so many people have been raving about black cohosh lately, it’s important to know.
As mentioned above, one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of black cohosh is how much it has helped women experiencing menopausal symptoms. Those who suffer from hot flashes in particular have found it very helpful.
Hot flashes are the most frequently discussed menopausal symptom, since around 80% of people who menstruate will experience them at some point in their life. They can be caused by estrogen withdrawal, and result in various symptoms.
Anxiety, heart palpitations, and perspiration in addition to an actual increase in temperature are all common results of menopause.
A study on 80 people who struggled with hot flashes found that those who took just 20mg of black cohosh daily for 8 weeks reported experiencing fewer hot flashes, as well as a decrease in their severity.
Black cohosh can help with several other menstrual cycle-related symptoms, too. Both menstrual cramps and the dampened mood that are possible period symptoms may be lessened by black cohosh’s effects.
It may also help with polycystic ovarian syndrome, fibroids, premenstrual syndrome, and menstrual cycle regulation. Less research exists to support these findings, but more research is done every day, especially with the plant’s growing popularity.
Some women even claim that black cohosh has helped improve their fertility. More specifically, when taken in tandem with the fertility drug Clomid, black cohosh has resulted in increased ovulation and pregnancy rates. It's possible that black cohosh improves the medication’s effectiveness.
If you’re struggling with menopausal symptoms or even a particularly rough menstrual cycle, black cohosh could definitely help! Plus, it can have a lot of other great benefits.
Black cohosh can help reduce anxiety and depression in menopausal women, improve their quality of sleep, and even help them to lose weight. These are all things that can be made more difficult with menopause.
Potential Side Effects
Before you decide whether black cohosh is the right choice for you, you should definitely look into the possible negative effects it may have. Know what a bad reaction to black cohosh will look like, and what other medications it may interact poorly with.
Most side effects of black cohosh are fairly mild, but they’re still important to know about and keep an eye out for. Digestive issues such as nausea are the most common, but rashes, muscle pain, spotting, and other side effects are all also possibilities.
Some more concerning potential reactions that black cohosh has been linked to are damage to the liver and red blood cells, the latter of which can lead to anemia.
If you already struggle with a condition related to one of these areas, perhaps you would be better off choosing a different supplement.
Other potential side effects can include cramping, headaches, dizziness, breast pain, mild weight gain, sweating, muscle pain, and visual disturbances. Those who experience any of the above side effects after trying black cohosh tea should definitely get in touch with a healthcare professional.
You may also notice your menstrual cycle is affected if you suddenly stop taking black cohosh, since it will influence your body’s levels of estrogen.
Other than that, no other withdrawal symptoms have been found, so if you notice negative side effects you can just stop taking it.
Those who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid taking black cohosh, though it can help with fertility. Not much research has been done on the plant’s effect on pregnant women or children, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Especially due to the impact it can have on hormone levels, no children under eighteen should be using black cohosh.
You should also avoid black cohosh if you take a medication that could potentially interact with the supplement. Anyone with a prescription should consult with a healthcare professional before introducing a new medication into their system, whether it's over the counter or not.
Since it affects hormone levels, black cohosh can interact with other hormone medication. Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is an example of this.
Those experiencing menopause and undergoing HRT should definitely consult with their doctor before introducing black cohosh into the mix.
Likewise, since most birth control pills are made with estrogen or progesterone, black cohosh could interact poorly with them. Remember— black cohosh will produce phytoestrogen.
If your prescribed birth control is a particular amount of estrogen, then black cohosh altering your estrogen levels could also interfere with the effectiveness of your birth control.
Black cohosh has also been found to have potential interactions with daclizumab, nevirapine, tamoxifen, tenofovir DF, and zidovudine. Those who take any of these medications should also most definitely consult with their health care provider.
For those interested in trying black cohosh in order to relieve their menopausal symptoms, however, we may have just the solution!
Dr. Emil’s Menopause Support
Help alleviate some of the symptoms of menopause the natural way
If you’re looking for a supplement that will be able to help you with menopausal symptoms, you’ve come to the right place! Dr. Emil’s Menopause Support contains the right ingredients to ensure you can take control of some of the symptoms of menopause. Our product contains:
- Black cohosh. Menopause Support contains 250mg of black cohosh, which is the highest dosage on the market! Use the power of this plant to say goodbye to hot flashes and night sweats that prevent you from getting restful sleep.
- Chaste tree berry. This ingredient will work to balance the hormonal fluctuations that are so common with menopause. Entering this new phase, your hormones will take some time to adjust. However, that doesn’t mean you have to be uncomfortable! In addition to this helpful benefit, chaste tree berry may help reduce menstrual irregularities.
- Dong quai. Have problems with mood swings? No one wants to deal with this common symptom, and now you can work to reduce those with dong quai, which has long been used in Chinese medicine.
- Maca root. This adaptogen works hard to reduce fatigue, and improve your mood. You want to get back to feeling like yourself, and this powerful root can help you get closer to your goal.
We mentioned earlier how one of the things people going through menopause struggle with is sleep! Our Menopausal Support supplements could definitely help with this. If you don’t want to take our word for it—try them out yourself! Not getting enough rest can exacerbate your other menopausal symptoms, putting you in a never ending loop. Don’t miss out on the healing power of restful sleep, and reduce the occurrences of hot flashes and night sweats that are keeping you up.
So, let’s recap— black cohosh tea has several benefits that might make it worth a try, especially for those struggling with post-menopausal symptoms.
Hot flashes are one of the main reasons why people are deciding to try black cohosh tea, since the phytoestrogen can help with symptoms caused by estrogen withdrawal. If you’re experiencing severe or frequent hot flashes, black cohosh tea could help you!
For this reason, menstrual cycle-related cramps and mood swings may also be assuaged by black cohosh tea, as well as improve the mental health and sleep quality of post-menopausal women.
More research needs to be done on many other benefits of black cohosh tea, including polycystic ovarian syndrome, fibroids, premenstrual syndrome, menstrual cycle regulation, and even fertility.
If you are struggling with one or more of these issues, consider getting in touch with your medical healthcare professional. Discuss with them whether black cohosh tea or our Menopause support supplements may be a good choice for a potential solution.
For many people in the world, the difficult and sometimes debilitating symptoms of menopause are just an unavoidable fact of life. However, there are ways to lessen and potentially even eliminate these symptoms, if you know where to look!
