Black cohosh

SUMMARY: commonly used for menopausal symptoms. Dosage – 40 mg black cohosh root/rhizome (extracted with isopropyl alcohol) per daily dose of two tablets

What Do We Know About Safety? Dosage – 40 mg black cohosh root/rhizome (extracted with isopropyl alcohol) per daily dose of two tablets. 1 mg triterpene glycosides per daily dose [10].

While black cohosh has been used safely in research studies that lasted as long as a year and is generally well tolerated, concerns have been raised that it may cause liver damage in some people.

Cases of liver damage—some very serious—have been reported in people taking products labeled as black cohosh. These problems are rare, and it’s uncertain whether black cohosh was responsible for them. If you take black cohosh, consult your health care provider if you develop symptoms of liver damage such as dark urine and fatigue.

NIH – Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa or Cimicifuga racemosa), a member of the buttercup family, is a perennial plant native to North America. Other, mostly historical, names for this herb include snakeroot, black bugbane, rattleweed, macrotys, and rheumatism weed [1,2]. Black cohosh has a long history of use. Native Americans used it, for example, to treat musculoskeletal pain, fever, cough, pneumonia, sluggish labor, and menstrual irregularities [3]. European settlers used black cohosh as a tonic to support women’s reproductive health [4].

Today, black cohosh is most commonly used for menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes (also called hot flushes) and night sweats (together known as vasomotor symptoms), vaginal dryness, heart palpitations, tinnitus, vertigo, sleep disturbances, nervousness, and irritability [5,6]. Menopause, which typically occurs in women at about 51 years of age, is the cessation of menstruation and the end of a woman’s reproductive period [5].