Natural Perimenopause Remedies As HRT Alternatives

Given recent revelations with regard to the deadly risks, now its time to learn about alternatives to hormone replacement therapy. There are safe herbal perimenopause remedies and diet solutions that will help make your menopause easy.

The best current alternative to HRT with regard to relief of perimenopause related complaints is phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are estrogens made by plants. They're not identical to what our body makes, but similar. They are found in both herbs and specific foods.

Phytoestrogens as an HRTalternative

Phytoestrogens have weak estrogenic activity in the human body. There are as many specific phytoestrogens as there are plants that make them. Some plants have more concentrated phytoestrogen content, and these are the ones that have been traditionally used for menopause complaints. You've may be familiar with some herbal menopause remedies. Black cohosh, red clover, dong quai and chasteberry are just a few of the herbs that have estrogen like effects.

Some of the other herbs that you may have heard of, like ginko biloba, ginseng root and kava may each be beneficial in its own way. But these herbs don't work as phytoestrogens. While they can be beneficial in helping balance and support our system when we are experiencing the symptoms of progesterone and estrogen deficiency, they work in other ways.

Many different types of phytoestrogens are found in nature

As I said above, the different phytoestrogen containing herbs all work in different ways, have varying effectiveness and side effects. One study, published in the medical journal Menopause (Nov-Dec, 2009), compared the effectiveness of three herbs and HRT in reducing women's hot flashes. Four groups of women with hot flashes were given either red clover, black cohosh, HRT or a placebo (sugar pill).

The women scored their hot flashes and the reported improvement in hot flashes in each group was tallied. The women taking black cohosh reported 34% improvement, red clover 57% improvement, placebo (sugar pill) 63% improvement and hormone replacement therapy 94% improvement.

In this study the sugar pill did better than the herbs black cohosh and red clover. However, another study that was also published in the journal reported in the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (2009) revealed better results for another herb-Siberian rhubarb root extract.

In the study on Siberian rhubarb root extract 112 perimenopausal women experiencing hot flashes were given one tablet of the herb daily for 12 weeks. Women experienced a significant drop in their hot flashes during the time period, from 12 to 2 (median score) or a 72% drop on average. The benefit was the greatest in the women with the most severe hot flashes at the beginning.

Comparing perimenopause and menopause hormonal and natural remedies

Comparing these three menopause herbal remedies we see that Siberian rhubarb root out-paced the other two and the placebo, but didn't match the benefit of HRT. Thus far, the best non-hormonal perimenopause remedy seems to be Siberian rhubarb root extract.

• Black cohosh 34%


• Red clover 57%


• Placebo 63%


• Siberian rhubarb root extract 72%


• HRT 94%

While none of the herbs did as well as HRT in reducing hot flashes, consider this. When you use more than one natural remedy the results add up. A successful "natural" approach to making menopause easy uses herbs, diet and lifestyle changes and can get even better results that HRT (without the considerable risk).