Black cohosh may not be safe alternative therapy for breast cancer patients.

2003 AUG 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study by researchers at the Mylan School of Pharmacy at Duquesne University indicate that the dietary supplement herbal extract black cohosh, one of the most widely used alternative therapies for women experiencing menopause symptoms, may not be a safe alternative therapy for women with breast cancer and may be undesirable for women who could have undetected breast tumors.

The study was funded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and was presented on July 12, 2003, at the 94th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in Washington, DC.

"Although it is unfortunate to be eliminating another option for women needing therapies to relieve menopausal symptoms, our findings suggest that women who may be at high risk of having an undetected breast tumor and certainly those who do have breast cancer should proceed with great caution - or simply avoid - taking black cohosh until we learn if there are ways to circumvent these adverse effects," said Vicki Davis, PhD, lead researcher and assistant professor, Mylan School of Pharmacy and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Duquesne University.

Researchers used a transgenic mouse model in which the female mice spontaneously develop mammary tumors through the activation of an oncogene common ...