Evening
Primrose
Evening Primrose Oil: Recently
a pharmaceutical firm in Canada invested a $80 million in research with
incredible findings regarding the use of Evening Primrose Oil as a Natural
Menopause and PMS therapy. However, the FDA will not allow the label on
evening primrose to state it's use as a natural remedy for menopause or PMS.
For this reason, it is not approved for that use in the USA.
The oil of evening
primrose has a high content of gammalinolenic acid (GLA), which is converted by
your body into prostaglandins (fatty acids that act a lot like hormones)
producing a wide range of effects on your body. It supplies many
essential fatty acids the body needs to maintain optimal health.
Essential fatty acids are as important to good health as vitamins
and minerals.
The problem with most menopausal women is that they
generally don't get an adequate supply of essential fatty acids. Evening
Primrose can supply it and the benefits are tremendous.
Additionally,
studies show that evening primrose oil might help lower blood
cholesterol, can reduce the discomfort associated with premenstrual
syndrome, is used to treat eczema and is a traditional remedy for
arthritis. Evening primrose oil may even correct the body's imbalances
that cause mood swings, irritability and breast tenderness. The strongest
evidence for efficacy is in the treatment of atopic dermatitis when the
skin is itchy, red, scaly, dry, and inflamed.
Evening primrose to be used
for herbal medicines is commercially cultivated and carefully bred to yield
constant levels of the essential fatty acids in the seeds. Growers in the
United States and Canada alone produce three hundred to four hundred tons of
seeds each year. Oil from the seeds is the only part of the plant currently
used. Approximately 70 percent of the oil is cis-linoleic acid, and as much as
9 percent cis-gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) which is a rare find in
plants.
Most over-the-counter pain
relievers and many prescription arthritis medicines work primarily by blocking
prostaglandin synthesis, however prostaglandins play an important role in many
biochemical reactions.
Evening primrose oil is available in 500-mg
capsules. Most of the clinical trials have utilized doses of one or two
capsules two or three times a day, with the maximum adult dose of 4 g daily. Up
to three months may be needed to see a response in some conditions. Usual
dosage is around 500-1,000 mg a day.
An old Native American herb. The
evening primrose grows like a weed. Not really a primrose, it is sometimes
called "sun drop." The large yellow flower opens late in the day and last only
one evening, then produces lots of small seeds. Presumably, these seeds were
carried to Europe early in the history of colonization of North America because
evening primrose now grows wild in many parts of the continent.
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