Flaxseed Fights Flashes

Mayo Clinic physicians have evaluated the use of crushed flaxseed to reduce the number of hot flashes experienced by postmenopausal women; their findings are published in the Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Flaxseed, which is also known as linseed, is a popular herbal supplement that has not previously been proven to help hot flashes.

Thirty women, who reported at least 14 hot flashes a week for at least one month, and who didn’t want to take estrogen, were enrolled. They took 40 grams daily of crushed flaxseed for 6 weeks. Full information at the end of the trial was obtained from 21 of them; of 6 women who didn’t finish the trial, 5 blamed side-effects – abdominal distention and/or diarrhea, weight gain, and taste disturbances.

The frequency of hot flashes was roughly halved, from an average of 7.3 per day at the start of flaxseed to 3.6 per day after 6 weeks. This result was attributed to weak estrogenic properties of flaxseed – greater than those of soy; they are also a rich source of the omega-3 fatty acid precursor, alpha-linolenic acid.

If a postmenopausal woman has moderate to severe symptoms and wants to avoid taking estrogens (even in low doses), she may consider other alternative approaches: antidepressants, including venlafaxine (Effexor®) and gabapentin (Neurontin®), vasomotor-active drugs, such as clonidine or similar agents, and, of course, environmental and lifestyle changes.