Natural Herbal Health

The number of eggs left in a woman's ovaries are like the grains of sand in an hourglass, ticking away the hours on her biological clock.

Researchers now say they may be able to predict when that clock will wind down.

And while doctors can't actually count the number of eggs in an ovary, they can measure ovarian volume. British researchers say there's a direct correlation between the two, and by measuring ovarian volume with transvaginal ultrasound, doctors should be able to predict when menopause will set in and how many fertile years a woman has left.

According to the study authors, this information will revolutionize the care of women looking for assisted reproductive technologies, including those who were treated for childhood cancers as well as women who want to put off starting a family for whatever reason.

Although information still needs to be validated in clinical studies, its benefit is most likely to start with women who are being treated for cancer and women attending fertility clinics, said Tom Kelsey, co-author of the study appearing June 17 in the journal Human Reproduction.

"If women looking for some sort of assisted conception and their physicians know that they've got a long time till menopause, then you could plan for a range of treatments," said Kelsey, who is a senior research fellow at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "If you knew menopause was likely in four to five years, you'd plan a different set of IVF [in vitro fertilization] treatments."

Others reiterate, however, that the findings should be treated with caution.

"Should a young woman who is 30 years old go for a test to figure out whether she's got three, five or 10 years left on her fertility? Should she make career decisions and life decisions? Are these data good enough to make those determinations?" asked Dr. Alan Copperman, director of reproductive medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. "The answer is obviously no to all of those questions. The predictive value of this test is not good enough to go and tell someone to change their life."

According to the article, eggs form in a female's ovary while she is still in the womb, peaking at several million about halfway through gestation and then starting a continuous decline. At birth, there are several hundred thousand and, when menstruation begins, about 300,000. At about age 37, a woman has about 25,000 eggs left, and at menopause only about 1,000.

The time at which menopause sets in is widely believed to be based on the number of eggs reaching a critically low threshold.

The authors of this study measured ovarian volume with transvaginal ultrasound, then looked at the relationship between ovarian volume -- ovaries shrink as a woman ages -- and number of eggs. They then applied mathematical and computer models to predict menopause.

The study authors are negotiating with a medical school to set up clinical trials. The idea would be to follow women to see if their predictions were indeed correct.

While these authors have come up with a tool to potentially help women plan their lives, a second study in the same issue of Human Reproduction warned that women might not want to leave it too late. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) could not be relied upon to fully compensate for lack of natural fertility after the age of 35, the article stated.

The authors used a computer simulation model to determine that the overall success rate of assisted reproductive technology would be 30 percent for those attempting to get pregnant from age 30, 24 percent for those trying from age 35, and 17 percent from age 40.

SOURCES: Tom Kelsey, Ph.D., senior research fellow, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland; Alan Copperman, M.D., director, reproductive medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York; June 17, 2004, Human Reproduction

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While you may experience the misery of hot flashes and mood swings as you enter menopause, one thing you can't blame on the "change" is memory loss.

In the latest study that exonerates menopause as a cause of impairing the ability to recall, Taiwanese researchers compared the memory of hundreds of women before they had any menopausal symptoms to their memory as they entered menopause.

They found the women who were going through the menopausal process scored as well or nearly as well on five different cognitive function tests. Results of the study are to be presented Oct. 4 at the American Neurological Association annual meeting in Toronto.

"When women go into perimenopause, they don't need to worry about cognitive decline," said Dr. Jong-Ling Fuh, an attending physician at Taipei Veterans General Hospital and an associate professor of Yang-Ming University School of Medicine.

The researchers said the myth of memory loss during menopause is a perception some women have because as they went through menopause, they felt their memory wasn't as sharp as it had been before. Studies suggesting that hormone replacement therapy might protect against dementia strengthened that belief. However, a large study later found that in older women, hormone replacement therapy not only didn't help protect women from dementia, but could actually increase the risk.

To try to answer the question of whether menopause did have any effect on memory, Fuh and her colleagues studied nearly 700 premenopausal women living on a group of rural islands between Taiwan and China. The Taiwanese government restricted access to these islands until the 1990s, so the authors report that the study's population was nearly homogeneous, which would help rule out other potentially causative factors of memory loss.

The women were between the ages of 40 and 54. None of them had had a hysterectomy, and none took hormone replacement therapy during the study.

All took five cognitive tests designed to assess their memory and cognitive skills at the start of the study, and then again 18 months later.

During the study period, 23 percent of the women began to have symptoms of menopause.

The researchers then compared the memory of the women who had entered menopause to those who had not, and found very little difference. In four of the five tests, there were no statistically significant differences in the two groups of women.

Only on one test was the difference statistically significant, and that difference, said Fuh, was very slight. This test was designed to assess verbal memory and involved showing the women 70 nonsensical figures. Some of the figures were repeated during the test, while most were not. The women were asked whether they had seen the figure earlier.

"For women, menopause does not mean you'll develop memory loss," said Dr. Raina Ernstoff, an attending neurologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. As you're going through perimenopause and experiencing symptoms like hot flashes, she said, you may feel lousy and have trouble sleeping, which might temporarily affect your cognitive skills.

"I don't think declining estrogen levels are what causes memory loss," said Dr. Steven Goldstein, an obstetrician/gynecologist at New York University Medical Center in New York City. "It's not like your memory is bopping along, doing fine and then takes this big dive during menopause, like bone density can."

Both Ernstoff and Goldstein said they weren't aware of many women who believed that menopause might cause significant memory loss. They also both felt that results from this group of women who were so homogeneous might not apply to different groups of women, such as those living in more industrialized society. And they both said that other factors that weren't studied could play a role in memory loss, such as hypertension, which can contribute to vascular dementia.

Ernstoff also pointed out that the education backgrounds can play a large role in memory loss. Fuh acknowledged the researchers did attempt to control the data for educational differences.

SOURCES: Jong-Ling Fuh, M.D., attending physician, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and associate professor, Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Steven Goldstein, M.D., obstetrician/gynecologist, New York University Medical Center, and professor, obstetrics/gynecology, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; Raina Ernstoff, M.D., attending neurologist, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich., and member, Alzheimer's Board of Detroit; Oct. 4, 2004, presentation, American Neurological Association, Toronto.

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Cause of Hair Loss in Teens and AdultsThere are many causes of hair loss. Both men and women can obtain it. It can be because of nutritional deficiency, hormone imbalance, stress, and diseases. But generally the most common cause of it is called adrogenetic alopecia. It is the medical term for hair loss or baldness.

Adrogenetic refers to the influence of androgens (male hormones), and genetic predisposition to balding can be the reason of such a hair loss.Genetic is not that simple, and also the hair loss case. Just the presence of someone in your family of balding is not enough to predict that you will also become bald. It is really hard to predict who will go bald and how fast will it be. That is why planning for hair restoration will be very important for those people who gets alarmed about it.

Normal man and women produce androgenic hormones. Dihydrotestosterone, androsteinedione, testosterone (DHT) is the most common. For men Testicles and adrenals are the one to produce it. For women ovaries and adrenal glands are the one to produce. These hormones are important for both sexes. But have different concentrations, and this is more predominant for males than females. This in part, differentiates the genders.

Exposure of hair follicles to DHT, in a susceptible person, in a period of time leads to male and female pattern to baldness or the so-called adrogenetic alopecia. There is no exact age for balding occurrence. Balding is a process, simple yet this fact is often ignored. This process can be slow or rapid. It usually starts at late teens. Illnesses and medical conditions is one of the causes of hair loss. Such as thyroid disease and diabetes, can cause hair loss. Those people with liver and kidney diseases and lupus can also have baldness.

Adult women and teen girls can have hair loss due to hormone imbalance in polycystic ovary syndrome.Medications such as acne medicines cause hair loss. Amphetamines in diet pills can also cause hair loss. And the very known medication that causes hair loss is chemotherapy.

Alopecia areata is a skin disease than causes hair loss on the scalp and sometimes on the body. It is an autoimmune disease. The own immune system is the one to damage the hair follicles. Alopecia areata starts as small bald patches and can progress to total baldness.Trichotillomania is a psychological disorder in which a person pulls his/her own hair that can also lead to hair loss.

Hair treatments and styling the hair gives tension to scalp and hair becomes damaged and leads to hair loss. Nutrition is also one factor of baldness because of lack of protein, vitamins and minerals that sustains the hair. Disruption of hair cycle growth is also a problem. Like delivering a baby, getting anesthesia, or having surgery.

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Anti-Hair Loss Shampoos : Rub-a-Dub Dub – But Gently PleaseOne easy-to-try option is a shampoo specifically designed to increase the health of existing hair and to reduce the rate of hair loss in both men and women. There are several sources to investigate specific shampoos, research studies which can be accessed to determine the effectiveness of many of these products.

Good professional sources include dermatologists and licensed cosmeticians who see hair loss conditions frequently and have had the opportunity to observe the efficacy of a variety of shampoos. As well, an Internet “Google” search will provide hundreds of products, complete with testimony and small research studies.It’s easy to get confused when investigating the hundreds of shampoos available.

With some background knowledge of what has shown to be effective in larger, previous studies, however, you can make more intelligent choices about the shampoos you choose for experimentation.

And that is the great thing about shampoos – they are relatively inexpensive in this maze of hair loss/regrowth methods, so you can try lots of them without breaking your budget!

1. Surfactants: People feel good when their shampoos lather up nicely. Lather, however, is just for psychological effect. Somehow we believe that the more lather a shampoo produces, the cleaner our hair must be getting. Hogwash! The ingredient that causes lather is call a surfactant and does not have cleaning properties. Other ingredients in shampoos actually do the cleaning. Surfactants are, however, pretty harsh, and, for someone who is experiencing more-than-normal hair loss, surfactants should be avoided. There are lots of shampoos out there without it – try some.
2. Herbal Ingredients: The most notable herb with some success in hair loss difficulty is Saw Palmetto. Shampoos with this ingredient are certainly worth a try. Saw Palmetto seems to inhibit the production of DHT in men, for example, and DHT causes hair follicles to shrink and close up.
3. Nettle and bay have also been helpful to some people. Shampoos which include these might help you too.
4. Essential Oils: These oils are concentrated ones which come from plants such as lavender. From ancient times, these have been used to stimulate healthy hair and to decrease the rate of hair loss. We know that we have much to learn from early medicine men and healers. Perhaps this is another example.
5. Tea Tree Oil: Many swear by this ingredient, and there are several brands of this on the market. So popular are these shampoos, you can find them at most any drug store as well as health product retailers. As an aside, tea tree oil has also been found to be effective in the prevention of head lice infestations.
There are no definitive studies to show that shampoos can actually result in regrowth of hair that is caused by what we all “permanent” conditions, largely the result of heredity and hormones. However, early prevention is important, and experimenting with shampoos during these early stages may provide invaluable help in reducing the rate of loss.

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Historical or traditional use (may or may not be supported by scientific studies) Maca root has been an important food for the native people in the Andes of Peru, including the Incas, for at least 2,000 years.1 It is eaten baked, dried, mixed with milk, or in a variety of other forms and dishes. It is also traditionally believed to enhance strength, endurance, libido, and fertility.

Active constituents: Maca contains substantial quantities of protein, fat, fiber, and minerals including iron, which also contribute to its nutritional value. It also contains glucosinolates, the strong-smelling compounds that are responsible for the pungent smell and taste of mustard family plants. Neither these nor any other constituents in maca have definitively been shown to contribute to its actions.

Preliminary studies have shown that maca can increase libido in healthy men. It does this without influencing levels of testosterone or any other sex hormones. Healthy men who take maca have also been shown to have increased semen volume, increased sperm counts, and enhanced sperm motility.

Numerous animal studies show that maca extracts can increase sex drive and improve fertility. Other studies support that it can relieve the negative effects of stress reactions. The red cultivar, though not the black or cream, also reduced enlarged prostates in rats.

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Maca is Peru's Natural Viagra

The South American country of Peru is home to numerous beneficial plants, including maca, a legendary sex-enhancing root passed down from the Inca. I'd heard about maca for years. It has been dubbed "Peruvian ginseng," even though it bears no relation to ginseng. But like ginseng, the plant is employed to increase strength, energy, stamina, libido and sexual function, a winning combination of health benefits if there ever was one.

To investigate maca's health benefits and understand the role that maca plays in Peruvian culture, my wife and I headed down to Peru to explore the maca trail. In the process we met with maca traders, growers and scientists, and came back tremendously impressed by this plant, which is now available as a supplement in U.S. health food stores.

What is Maca? Maca, Lepidium meyenii, is an annual plant which produces a radish-like root. The root of maca is typically dried and stored, and will easily keep for seven years. The plant is cultivated in the Junin plateau of Peru's Central Highlands, and was highly revered by the Inca.

During the height of the Incan empire, legend has it that Incan warriors would consume maca before entering into battle. This would make them fiercely strong. But after conquering a city the Incan soldiers were prohibited from using maca, to protect the conquered women from their powerful sexual impulses. Thus as far back as 500 years ago, maca's reputation for enhancing strength, libido and fertility was already well established in Peru.

Today, maca's popularity is very much on the increase, as people discover that the plant really does boost libido, sexual function and overall energy. Acreage in Peru dedicated to Maca cultivation is increasing every year to meet demand, and a number of scientists have turned their attention to the properties of the root. In Peru, maca is used by men and by women who want to put more fire into their sex lives. And in the U.S., Europe and Japan, dietary supplements containing maca are gaining ardent devotees.

Maca Nutrition: What natural ingredients in maca promote its reputed sex-enhancing effects? In-depth analysis of maca conducted in 1998 by Dr. Qun Yi Zheng and his colleagues at PureWorld Botanicals shows that maca contains about 10 percent protein, almost 60 percent carbohydrate, and an assortment of fatty acids. These ingredients are common and nothing special. But the investigators also discovered two groups of novel compounds, the macamides and the macaenes. These agents are believed to be directly responsible for maca's sex-boosting powers.

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This Brazilian herb Muira puama, also referred to as murapuama, is mostly known for its effective help with erectile dysfunction and increasing libido and as an aphrodisiac - but is also an excellent tonic for increasing general well-being and mental tiredness.

Muira puama is a bush / small tree up to 5 meters in height and produces pungent flowers with a jasmine like fragrance.

The indigenous tribes in Brazil have used the roots and bark internally in a tea as an aphrodisiac, for treating sexual debility and erectile dysfunction, nervous system disorders, neuralgia, baldness, impotency, gastrointestinal disorders, neuromuscular problems and rheumatism.

Murapuama has been used as a herb in Europe for some time and is listed in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, a source on herbal medicine from the British Herbal Medicine Association, and is recommended for the treatment of dysentery and impotence.

It is from the Olacaceae family, and the genus is Ptychopetalum (species olacoides) and is also known as Muira Puama, Marapuama, Marapama, Potency Wood and Potenzholz. The bark and roots are used in herbal treatments.

vAlthough many people are skeptical about sexual stimulants or "herbal viagra" as such, the muira puama herb has been shown by Dr. Jacques Waynberg, a world authority on sexual functioning, of the Institute of Sexology in Paris, France, that it is effective in assisting in increasing sexual desire as well as attaining and maintaining an erection.

The action of the muira puama herb is not fully understood but it seems to assist with both the psychological as well as the physical aspect of sexual function.

Muira puama contains: The active constituents are free long-chain fatty acids, sterols, coumarin, alkaloids and essential oils. Chemically, it contains .05% muirapuamine, .4% fat, .5% alkaloids, .6% pholbaphene, .6% alpha-resinic acid, .7% beta resinic acid, .5% of a mixture of esters including behenic acid, lupeol and beta-sitosterol, as well as tannin, volatile oils and fatty acids.

Muira puama is considered a safe herb, whereas another herbal sexual stimulant called yohimbine can induce anxiety, panic attacks, and hallucinations in some individuals, as well as elevated blood pressure, high heart rate, dizziness, headache, and skin flushing.

Although some people maintain that muira puama is just a general tonic, there are far more confirmations out there in the real world from satisfied users, to the fact that it is great for assisting with erectile dysfunction and increasing sexual enjoyment.

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Herbal Sex Boosters

Woody Allen's late 1970s film Love and Death was eerily prophetic, if in name alone, about the Viagra dilemma. The drug enables many men to achieve an erection and regain lost sexual function, but it can also exact a stiff penalty from users. The Food and Drug Administration has reported dozens of deaths among Viagra users. This seems an unnecessarily severe side effect. Concerns about the drug have spurred interest in effective, natural aphrodisiacs without deleterious side effects. Responding to this interest, I set off for the Amazon rain forest in search of sex-enhancing plants. I traveled in the company of a Brazilian shaman named Bernie Peixoto, a man skilled in tribal wisdom and the use of plant medicines. There in the world's greatest jungle, we encountered two potent sex-boosting plants with a long history of safe use.

Our flight into Brazil put us into the Amazon city of Manaus, where we met with Antonio Matas, the most highly respected herbalist in that area. Antonio shared stories with us about his decades of healing work using rain-forest plants.

Catuaba and Muirapuama: Sex Enhancers?

"What about catuaba and muirapuama?" I inquired. "Are they really effective sex enhancers, or is that just a myth?" He laughed at the question and spread his hands wide open. "There is nothing that compares with catuaba and muirapuama together. I can tell you, I have used these plants with hundreds of people. The old become sexually young again. I have seen impotent men who can have sex for the first time in years. Even healthy couples find that these plants put extra fire in their sex life. These plants are good for men and women."

I asked Antonio if he used these plants himself. He smiled again. "Sometimes. After all, I've been married to the same woman for 43 years."

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