Menopause: Natural alternative to HRT for relieving menopause symptoms

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Hops, or humulus lupulus, is a native British plant with heart-shaped leaves and cone-like flowers. The Romans used to eat its roots as a vegetable to help with a variety of conditions such as anxiety and sleep problems. Beer-makers in Holland were the first to use hops as an additive to beer in the 1300s. But cutting edge research is emerging that shows us that hops and its individual chemical ingredients are able to improve sexual hormone production, and can be useful in the menopause.

Scientists from the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois, US, have confirmed that hops is a herbal remedy with oestrogenic activities.1 This simply means that the extracts of hops can stimulate the production of oestrogen hormones.2

Remember that low oestrogens in the body are blamed for the symptoms of the menopause such as hot flushes, night sweats, headaches, irritability and even depression. In addition, low oestrogen production can contribute to several age-related diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease and memory problems. So, any herbal remedy that improves the production of oestrogens is believed to also improve all of the above symptoms and illnesses.

Natural alternative to HRT: Flavonoid helps restore cellular balance, keeping your system normal

Looking at the individual ingredients of hops more closely, scientists have discovered that it contains special plant chemicals called prenylflavonoids.3 These are members of the general flavonoid family which are known to help not only during the menopause but also in other situations such as protection against toxins and environmental poisons. A unique member of prenylflavonoids is the natural chemical called prenylnaringenin which is responsible for most of the beneficial actions of hops.4

Normally, the oestrogen hormones attach onto special sites (called receptors) found on the outside of your cells, and then activate the individual components of the cells, just like a key fits into its own unique keyhole to activate a mechanism. But with the menopause, this matching of the oestrogen hormone to its unique receptor becomes unbalanced due to a variety of causes including falling hormone levels and free radical damage to receptors. This unbalancing leaves the cell unstimulated. The good news is that hops (particularly its ingredient prenylnaringenin), acts like a matchmaker and facilitates the union of the oestrogen hormone with its unique receptor. In this way, the cell becomes suitably stimulated and everything returns to normal.

Natural alternative to HRT: Hops could be a possible alternative to HRT

The important consequence of this matchmaking action is that hops may be beneficial as a potential alternative to conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to control the symptoms of the menopause. According to BUPA, HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer. The Million Women Study, carried out by scientists from Cancer Research UK, involved one million women between the ages of 50 and 64, and investigated the link between HRT and breast cancer.

Analysis confirmed a slightly increased risk of breast cancer for women taking oestrogen-only HRT, but also found that the risk of breast cancer with combined HRT is higher than previously thought.

The increased risk of breast cancer starts within one to two years of starting HRT and increases the longer its taken. However, as soon as HRT is stopped, the risk reduces and, after five years, the risk is the same as for women who have never used HRT.

In the last few years, many women have been increasingly worried about HRT due to this news. So hops could be an alternative for women to try instead of turning to HRT.
In addition, hops contain vitamin B complex and minerals such as magnesium, zinc, iodine, manganese and iron, all of which are essential for good general health during the menopause.

However, if you are currently on HRT, you should check with your doctor before stopping your treatment or adding hops to your supplement regime.

Natural alternative to HRT: Hops could have beneficial actions on other conditions like cancer and IBS

German researchers, after reviewing 10 years of scientific evidence, believe that another ingredient of hops called xanthohumol, may be useful against cancer, particularly oestrogen-related cancers such as breast cancer.5 If this theory proves to be true, it could mean that hops may be actively able to decrease the risk through its anti-cancer ingredients. However, this is just one studys conclusion, so more research is needed to back up their results. 

Because of its oestrogen-regulating benefits, hops can be used on other conditions where an imbalance of oestrogen hormones is to blame.

These conditions include painful or heavy periods, absence of periods (not including pregnancy of course), and perhaps general tension, restlessness and irritable bowel syndrome.

Natural alternative to HRT: What to take for best results

As a tea, using dried hop plants, the recommended dose is 1-2g in a cup of boiling water, taken three times a day. The recommended dose for a tincture preparation is 2ml three times a day. If you are taking hops in tablet or capsule form, try 500mg-1,000mg twice a day.  

Contraindications: Some doctors believe that hops may worsen non-menopause related clinical depression. Also, because hops is an oestrogen stimulator, it follows that it should not be used by pregnant women, whose oestrogen hormones should be allowed to follow a natural pattern.

Sources:

1. Phytomedicine 2006;13(1-2):119-31
2. Phytochemistry 2004;65(10):1317-30
3. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2004;92(1-2):107-10
4. J Agric Food Chem 2005;53(16):6281-8
5. Eur J Cancer 2005;41(13):1941-54