Safe, Natural HRT Alternative

Recent medical reports have profoundly shaken popular beliefs about the safety of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for women in menopause. You may be one of the six million women who are searching for alternatives.

Source Naturals Hot Flash is the leading natural menopause formula to contain clinically substantiated potencies of soy isoflavones and standardized black cohosh extract. These ingredients are combined with time-tested traditional women's herbs. The result: a safe, natural HRT alternative for addressing normal menopausal discomforts such as hot flashes, night sweats and irritability.

Major HRT Study Halted

Public confidence in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) suffered a major blow in July 2002, when the government halted a large clinical trial out of concern for the safety of participants. The study, conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, was ended three years early because researchers found a small but unacceptable increase in the rate of breast cancer among women taking the estrogen/progestin combination.

The study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (7/17/02), also showed an increase in heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in the lungs and legs.

Menopause and HRT

Women are looking for natural alternatives to risky HRT - and Hot Flash can help. Hot Flash relieves normal menopausal discomforts by addressing the hormonal fluctuations that bring on the first disturbing hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and other complaints. These fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone, which being in pre-menopause (as early as the age of 40) can have a profound influence on the body's internal balancing act.

During a hot flash, the pituitary gland releases luteinizing hormone (LH), in a futile attempt to restore estrogen levels. Surges of LH trigger sudden expansion of blood vessels in the face, neck, and upper body. Skin temperature rises and sweat glands are activated.

Key Hot Flash Ingredients: Soy and Black Cohosh

A recent comprehensive scientific review of natural menopause products (Annals of Internal Medicine 11/19/02) singled out soy isoflavones and black cohosh for their benefits in addressing hot flashes. Unlike most products on the market, Source Naturals Hot Flash contains clinical potencies of both soy isoflavones and standardized black cohosh extract.

In addition, Hot Flash contains additional herbs, renowned for use in menopause: vitex, licorice root and dong quai. These three botanicals have a long history of traditional use.

Dong quai is the premier herb used in Traditional Chinese herbalism to optimize female reproductive health. It is usually used in combination with supportive herbs such as licorice.

Vitex (chaste berry) is a European traditional herb. Modern research suggests vitex affects the hypothalamus and pituitary glands, thus influencing hormone balance.

Phytoestrogens from Soy

Hot Flash contains a high-potency soy concentrate, rich in the isoflavone genistein. Soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, plant compounds with a weak estrogenic effect, which can help balance estrogen levels.

When the body is low in estrogen, as during menopause, phytoestrogens such as genistein may substitute for the lack of human estrogen, mitigating the effects of its absence. Soy isoflavones may help reduce hot flashes by minimizing the compensatory increase in luteinizing hormone. Each serving provides 63 mg of soy isoflavones.

Black Cohosh and Hot Flashes

Each serving of Hot Flash also contains 40 mg of black cohosh extract standardized to 2.5% triterpene glycosides, expressed as 27-deoxyactein. This family of beneficial compounds may help reduce the occurrence of hot flashes.

Double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials have shown black cohosh to be beneficial for treating menopausal complaints, including hot flashes, sweating outbreaks and anxiety, when taken in the dosage and forms used in clinical research.

However, more research is needed to clarify the mechanisms. Some studies suggest an estrogenic effect, while other researchers propose that black cohosh may affect the hypothalamus or neurotransmitters.

Source: Source Naturals

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Scientific References

Bradley, P.R. (ed.). 1992. British Herbal Compendium. 1: 34-36.

Cassidy, A. et al. 1994. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 60: 333-340.

Faure, Evelyne Drapier et al. 2002. Journal of the North American Menopause Society. 9(5): 329-334.

Knight, D.C. & J.A. Eden. 1996. Obstertrics & Gynecology, 87: 897-904.

Kronenberg F and A. Fugh-Berman. 2002. Annals of Internal Medicine. 19; 137(10): 805-13.

Morazzoni, P. et al. 1998. Fitoternapia, LXIX (Suppl. al No. 5):47-8.

Writing Group for Women's Health Initiative. 2002. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298(3): 321-329.