Probable effects of fenugreek seed on hot flash in menopausal women

Abstract

Background: The most popular problem in menopausal women is hot flash. Hot flash disturbs sleep and decreases woman's power for coping to daily problems. Currently, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is the most common method for treatment of menopausal complications. However, HRT can increase risk of tumor development in the estrogen-sensitive tissue. Phytoestrogens are one of the alternative therapies in HRT. Phytoestrogens are herbal compounds that have estrogenic activity. Objective: Fenugreek is one of the herbs that contains phytoestrogen compounds, but its effect on early menopausal symptoms hasn't been assessed yet. This study investigates the effect of fenugreek seed on vasomotor symptoms. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, two groups of postmenopausal women were selected, each containing 25 patients. Women in control group received two 25-day treatments of 0.625 mg conjugated estrogen and 10 mg medroxy progesterone acetate. Women in fenugreek group received 6 g fenugreek seed powder in granule dosage form for 8 weeks. Vasomotor symptoms were assessed at baseline and after four and eight weeks of treatment. Mann-withny test was used for comparison between control and fenugreek groups and Freidman and Wilcoxone tests were used for comparison within the groups. Results: Number of hot flashes and vasomotor symptoms between control and fenugreek group at baseline were not significantly different. Number of hot flashes and vasomotor symptoms showed significant decrease four and eight weeks after treatment on control group compared to fenugreek group. Number of hot flashes and vasomotor symptoms within control and fenugreek groups significantly decreased after four and eight weeks. Conclusion: Use of fenugreek seed for four and eight weeks caused to decrease number of hot flashes and vasomotors, but the effect was smaller than that of HRT. It seems that more studies are necessary before a final conclusion can be reached. Another investigation can be carried out using double blind method with placebo.