Exercise helps older women maintain their bone density, but adding supplements to the routine does not have any extra benefit.
Exercise helps older women maintain their bone density, but adding supplements to the routine does not have any extra benefit.
Black cohosh extracts are marketed as a natural form of hormone replacement therapy and most commonly used to treat hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. Some lab research, but not all, suggests the herb may have oestrogen-like activity in the body.
To look at the effects of black cohosh vs. exercise on bone density, researchers recruited 128 women from America who had gone through menopause within the past one to three years. They randomly assigned 86 women to an exercise programme that involved six weeks of higher-intensity activities designed to protect bone mass - like high-impact aerobics and strength training and 10 weeks of moderate exercise designed to improve heart health. The latter included activities like brisk walking and step aerobics.
Half of the exercisers also took a 40-milligram black cohosh supplement each day. The remaining 42 women were assigned to a wellness group that performed low-intensity activities, like light walking, stretching and balancing exercises, for one hour a week.
After a year, women in both exercise groups showed no significant change in bone density at the spine, while those in the wellness group showed a 2 percent decline, on average. Exercisers had a slight increase in bone mass at the hip - about 0.5 percent - versus an average dip of 0.6 percent in the wellness group; however this difference was not statistically significant. No significant bone-mass differences were found between exercisers on black cohosh and those who did not take the supplement.
The researchers also looked for any changes in the study participants' Framingham risk scores - an estimate of a person's risk of suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease in the next ten years. The score is based on age, smoking history, blood pressure and cholesterol levels and whether a person has diabetes. Overall, no clear effects of exercise or exercise-plus-supplement were found on the women's risk scores. At the end of the study, women in the exercise-only group were estimated to have a 6 percent chance of suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease in the next 10 years; that risk was 7 percent and 7.8 percent in the black cohosh and wellness groups, respectively. However, the differences in the groups' score changes over time were not significant statistically.
The above findings support the positive effects of exercise on postmenopausal women's bones. Whether supplements like black cohosh have any bone-health benefits, however, remains in question.
Black cohosh extracts are marketed as a natural form of hormone replacement therapy and most commonly used to treat hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. Some lab research, but not all, suggests the herb may have oestrogen-like activity in the body.
To look at the effects of black cohosh vs. exercise on bone density, researchers recruited 128 women from America who had gone through menopause within the past one to three years. They randomly assigned 86 women to an exercise programme that involved six weeks of higher-intensity activities designed to protect bone mass - like high-impact aerobics and strength training and 10 weeks of moderate exercise designed to improve heart health. The latter included activities like brisk walking and step aerobics.
Half of the exercisers also took a 40-milligram black cohosh supplement each day. The remaining 42 women were assigned to a wellness group that performed low-intensity activities, like light walking, stretching and balancing exercises, for one hour a week.
After a year, women in both exercise groups showed no significant change in bone density at the spine, while those in the wellness group showed a 2 percent decline, on average. Exercisers had a slight increase in bone mass at the hip - about 0.5 percent - versus an average dip of 0.6 percent in the wellness group; however this difference was not statistically significant. No significant bone-mass differences were found between exercisers on black cohosh and those who did not take the supplement.
The researchers also looked for any changes in the study participants' Framingham risk scores - an estimate of a person's risk of suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease in the next ten years. The score is based on age, smoking history, blood pressure and cholesterol levels and whether a person has diabetes. Overall, no clear effects of exercise or exercise-plus-supplement were found on the women's risk scores. At the end of the study, women in the exercise-only group were estimated to have a 6 percent chance of suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease in the next 10 years; that risk was 7 percent and 7.8 percent in the black cohosh and wellness groups, respectively. However, the differences in the groups' score changes over time were not significant statistically.
The above findings support the positive effects of exercise on postmenopausal women's bones. Whether supplements like black cohosh have any bone-health benefits, however, remains in question.
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