The point of this thread was originally that there would only be reports of research on soy and black cohosh because so little is known and there's so much so much half-information and mis-information out there. I thought it would help pin down the facts as science advanced small step by small step. Since I'm not a hostess anymore and have a fraction of the time I used to, this thread has of course changed to more general discussion.
Surferbabe and the others who actually know stats etc. can maybe help with whether my quickie early morning survey makes sense.
First of all, I believe that the warning that is being reported is from a small preliminary report presented at a conference. It is good that women are cautious but this isn't a proven connection yet reported in a peer-reviewed article. If I'd already had BC I'd have a long talk with my doc before taking it as Buhla says.
The report was up on
www.breastcancer.org This is their summary--
Vicki L. Davis et al., American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, July 11-14, 2003, Washington, D.C., abstract #R910
August 2003 Research News
Study design: Researchers in this study used more than 200 female mice that are especially prone to developing breast cancer (all the mice had genetic abnormalities equivalent to HER2/neu abnormalities in humans). For most of the animals' adult life, half were fed a standard diet plus a daily amount of black cohosh. The other half received just a standard diet, without any black cohosh. The amount of black cohosh given to the first half was comparable to the amount that women take to relieve menopausal symptoms (45 milligrams for every 1800 calories in the diet). Researchers then looked at how many breast cancers developed in the mice receiving the black cohosh compared to those who got the standard diet. They also checked how many mice had breast cancers that spread to the lungs in each of the two groups of animals.
Study results: The animals that got the black cohosh did not have significantly more breast cancers than those that did not get this supplement. But nearly three times more breast cancers had spread to the lungs in the animals fed the black cohosh (27%) as compared to those given the standard diet (11%).
Conclusion: These results suggest that black cohosh supplements might not affect your risk of developing breast cancer. But if breast cancer does develop, black cohosh may make it more aggressive and likely to spread to other organs or tissues.
Remember that this is an early small study, done on mice. It's very hard to take information from animal studies and apply it to people. Still, based on these conclusions, researchers may consider it potentially unsafe for women with breast cancer to even try black cohosh.
Take-home message: This small study was done in animals, so its findings are not as reliable as those of larger studies done in women. But it suggests that you may want to think twice before taking black cohosh supplements to relieve your hot flashes or other symptoms. This herbal remedy may NOT be a safer alternative to standard HRT, especially if you have already had breast cancer.
So, that's the warning that's being repeated. One of the things I'm noting in the research is that there are different ways of preparing black cohosh, which adds to the confusion. One way has an estrogenic or perhaps stronger estrogenic effect, the other seems to have no estrogenic effect or even an anti-estrogenic effect. Asian researchers report estrogenic effects. Western researchers do not. To avoid the estrogenic effects--I'd stick with Remifemin and Menofem, the brands used in the Western studies involving humans.
Third, one of the ways that the presence of estrogenic activity is tested is whether massive doses in the test tube (in vitro) alter estrogen receptive breast cancer cells. If inhumanly large massive doses have no effect, then there are no phytoestrogens present. That doesn't mean that a humanly possible dose has an effect on breast cancer. It doesn't say that it doesn't either, of course. It's just that that hasn't been studied in that kind of test.
So, I decided to do a survey of the latest medical research on the connection of Cimicifuga racemosa (black cohosh) and breast cancer. I did a simply search in Medline and simply ran down every abstract that was a an actual study for the first 10 (I'm running out of time). This represents the last 5 years of research. These are studies that are peer reviewed--though the better the journal, the better the review process. Frankly, the fact that I couldn't find the Davis research in Medline makes me wonder. Medical journals usually have faster turnaround in the review process than seven months, but there are various things that affect medical publishing so it might not be flaws in the study.
I've sorted what I found out below.
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NO CONNECTION
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This is the best quality study at first glance so I am including the whole abstract:
Cancer Research. 2002 Jun 15;62(12):3448-52. "Lack of promotion of estrogen-dependent mammary gland tumors in vivo by an isopropanolic Cimicifuga racemosa extract." by Freudenstein J, Dasenbrock C, Nisslein T.
Abstract: Cimicifuga racemosa (CR) is widely used in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Mechanistic studies suggest that unlike hormone-replacement therapy, CR does not stimulate estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer cells. To evaluate CR safety, we performed an in vivo investigation of a clinically tested isopropanolic CR extract. Mammary tumors were induced in Sprague Dawley rats (n = 75) by the application of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene. Five to nine weeks later, the animals were ovariectomized, allowed to recover, and administered daily doses of CR extract (0.714, 7.14, or 71.4 mg/kg body weight per day) or control substances (estrogen/positive control: 450 microg/kg/day mestranol; or CR vehicle/negative control). The animals were sacrificed 6 weeks later, and tumor number, size, plasma hormone levels, and the weight of estrogen-sensitive organs were analyzed. In contrast to mestranol treatment, CR treatment did not stimulate cancerous growth. There were no significant differences in tumor number or size between the CR groups and the vehicle control. Likewise, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone levels and organ weights and endometrial proliferation were unaffected. The lack of mammary tumor-stimulating effects of this extract is of great significance in establishing the safety of CR extracts for treatment of menopausal symptoms in women with a history of breast cancer in which hormone-replacement therapy is contraindicated."
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[I'm putting this one in the no connection category because it would seem that if the black cohosh had any effect in changing breast cancer status, it would have shown up. I'll try to find the article later and check waht was tested.]
Maturitas. 2003 Mar 14;44 Suppl 1:S59-65. "Cimicifuga racemosa for the treatment of hot flushes in women surviving breast cancer." by Hernandez Munoz G, Pluchino S.
Conclusion: The combined administration of tamoxifen plus CR BNO 1055 for a period of 12 months allowed satisfactory reduction in the number and severity of hot flushes.
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Maturitas. 2003 Mar 14;44 Suppl 1:S39-50. "Pharmacology of Cimicifuga racemosa extract BNO 1055 in rats: bone, fat and uterus." by Seidlova-Wuttke D, Jarry H, Becker T, Christoffel V, Wuttke W.
Conclusion: The CR extract BNO 1055 exerted estrogenic effects in the bone (particularly in osteoblasts) and in fat tissue, but not in the uterus of ovx rats. The extract appears to contain rat organ-specific selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), and if these findings can be approved in human it may be an alternative to HRT.
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PREVENTS/INHIBITS BREAST CANCER
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Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2004 Mar;84(2):151-60. "Cimicifuga racemosa extract inhibits proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive and negative human breast carcinoma cell lines by induction of apoptosis." by Hostanska K, Nisslein T, Freudenstein J, Reichling J, Saller R.
Conclusion: "These results indicate that C. racemosa extract exerts no proliferative activity, but kills the estrogen receptor positive MCF-7 as well as estrogen receptor negative MDA-MB231 cells by activation of caspases and induction of apoptosis."
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Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2004 Feb;83(3):221-31. "Growth inhibitory activity of extracts and purified components of black cohosh on human breast cancer cells." by Einbond LS, Shimizu M, Xiao D, Nuntanakorn P, Lim JT, Suzui M, Seter C, Pertel T, Kennelly EJ, Kronenberg F, Weinstein IB.
Conclusion: Specific chemicals found in black cohosh were extracted and were found to inhibit growth of the MCF7 human breast cancer cells and induced cell cycle arrest at G1. Further studies are in progress to identify the mechanisms by which actein and related compounds present in black cohosh inhibit growth of human breast cancer cells.
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Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. 2002 Nov 20;50(24):7022-8.
"Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa L.) protects against menadione-induced DNA damage through scavenging of reactive oxygen species: bioassay-directed isolation and characterization of active principles."
by Burdette JE, Chen SN, Lu ZZ, Xu H, White BE, Fabricant DS, Liu J, Fong HH, Farnsworth NR, Constantinou AI, Van Breemen RB, Pezzuto JM, Bolton JL.
Conclusion: Six of these antioxidants were found to reduce menadione-induced DNA damage in cultured S30 breast cancer cells with the following order of potency: methyl caffeate (2) > caffeic acid (1) > ferulic acid (3) > cimiracemate A (9) > cimiracemate B (10) > fukinolic acid (5). These data suggest that black cohosh can protect against cellular DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species by acting as antioxidants.
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ACCELERATES/ESTROGEN-LIKE
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[there were three Asian studies that were all similar in minor journals--finding that there is estrogenic effect on BC cells in the test tube: Their conclusions were all like this:
J Med Food. 2001 utumn;4(3):171-178.
"Estrogenic Effects of Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohosh) in Mice and on Estrogen Receptors in MCF-7 Cells." by Liu ZP, Yu B, Huo JS, Lu CQ, Chen JS.
Conclusion: CR extracts produced an estrogenic action [using the measure of estrogen receptor breast cancer cells]..
Studies about Soy and Black Cohosh - INFORMATION ONLY DO NOT REPLY
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