Effect of Fenugreek Seed on Early Menopausal Symptoms.

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Per-menopausal and post-menopausal stage companion with difficulties such as: hot flash, anxiety, depression, muscle and joint pain which can threaten women's life. At present Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is most common method in treatment of menopausal complications but HRT can increase risk of tumor development in estrogen –sensitive tissue. Phytoestrogens are one of the alternative therapies in HRT. Phytoestrogens are herbal compounds that have estrogenic activity. Fenugreek one of the herbs that contains phytoestrogen compounds but hasn't assessed it effect on early menopausal symptoms yet. This study investigate the effect of Fenugreek seed on early menopausal symptoms. Materials and Methods: In this quasi experimental study, 4 group of per -menopausal and post –menopausal women were selected. Each group contained 25 patients. Women in control group received 2 period consist 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. The Greene menopausal scale was used to assess change in early menopausal symptoms at baseline and after 4, 8 weeks of treatment. Student t test of Mann Whitney tests were used for comparison between control and fenugreek group and ANOVA and paired t test or Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used for comparison within group. Results: In both per -menopausal and post –menopausal women, hot flash between control and fenugreek group at baseline had not significantly different. But after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment hot flash showed significantly decrease in control group in compared of fenugreek group. In per –menopausal and post –menopausal women after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment hot flash within control and fenugreek group showed significantly decrease. Greene score between control and fenugreek group at baseline had not significantly different in per-menopausal and post-menopausal women. After 4 and 8 weeks after treatment in per-menopausal women on control group compared to fenugreek group Greene score showed significantly decrease. In post-menopausal women after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment no significantly different between Fenugreek and control groups was observed. In both per-menopausal and post –menopausal women Greene score within control and Fenugreek groups showed significantly decrease after 4 and 8 weeks. Conclusion: Use of Fenugreek seed for 4 and 8 weeks causes to decrease of hot flash and total Green menopausal score. But this effect on frequency of hot flash both of per-menopausal and post –menopausal women was seen to be less than hormone replacement therapy. It was also observed that this effect on total early menopausal symptoms in per –menopausal women was less than HRT. It seems that more investigations are necessary before final conclusion can be reached. Another investigation can be carried out using double blind method with placebo.