This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2001;285:725.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

An extract from the fruit of the chaste tree, Vitex agnus castus, is an effective treatment for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), according to researchers at the Institute for Health Care and Science, Hüttenberg, Germany (BMJ. 2001;322:134-137). The plant, which contains iridoids and flavonoids (in the fruit) and compounds with biochemical similarity to sex hormones (in the leaves and flowers), has been used traditionally to treat PMS symptoms.

In the study, 170 women with PMS were randomly assigned to receive a daily tablet containing V agnus castus extract or a placebo and evaluated for changes in symptoms (from baseline) after three menstrual cycles. The investigators found that patients taking the extract experienced significant improvement in five of the six self-assessment measures (irritability, mood alteration, anger, headache, and breast fullness); other menstrual symptoms, including bloating, remained unchanged by treatment.

Physicians' ratings (of overall severity of a woman's condition, global . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?