Research concludes that black cohosh may have no effect on liver function

CHICAGO According to research presented at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical Meeting this week, black cohosh has no effects on liver function, Enzymatic Therapy, distributors of Remifemin, announced Tuesday.

Black cohosh has been widely used in Europe and also in North America to treat menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, occasional irritability and mood swings. While extensive research has been published on this botanical, the question of liver safety has arisen in a few isolated cases, Enzymatic Therapy noted.

According to research from Rolf Teschke, black cohosh is not connected to liver problems.

“Teschke’s re-evaluation of four … cases considered by the European Medicines Agency as having a 'possible' or 'probable' causality, concluded that there was in fact no evidence for a causal relationship between treatment with black cohosh and the observed liver problems," stated Belal Naser, head of drug safety at Schaper & Brummer, which manufactures Remifemin in Germany.

Teschke said that, “due to incomplete data, the case of one patient was not assessable. In the remaining three cases, one patient diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis had a favorable course under continued steroid therapy. The two other patients, who required liver transplants, received a final diagnosis of herpetic hepatitis. In none of these four was there any causality between treatment with black cohosh and liver disease.”