Traditional Chinese Medicine For Hormone Imbalance

Let’s talk about hormone balance and Chinese herbalism’s role.

It’s obviously a very big topic. I want to zoom in on one thing in particular, because it will let me talk about an important larger concept underneath.

Herbs That Help With Hormone Imbalance

We’re going to talk about the herb dāng guī (當歸), or Angelica Sinensis. It is one of the more used and more important herbs when dealing with, and let’s just shorthand it and say, perimenopausal issues. Though, of course, the herb’s got wide function in other areas.

They did some mouse studies where they removed the ovaries of the mice, and then they wanted to test its effect on bone density because estrogen has much to do with bone remodeling. They removed the ovaries of all the mice and gave nothing to the control group. Some of the mice were given Estradiol (E2). Then they gave an extract of the main active ingredient in Angelica (Ligustilide, or LIG) to the third group.

They found, after waiting a period of time, they checked the bone density of all the mice. As expected, the control group’s bones were less dense And, maybe as expected, in the Estradiol group the bone density was pretty much normal.

They found in the mice to which they gave the extract (Angelica Sinensis), bone density was pretty much equivalent that of the Estradiol group.

The Benefits of Angelica Sinensis

I picked these studies because they commented on the biochemical targets in the pharmacokinetics. They found at least two things going on:

1.) The extract from Angelica Sinensis (Ligustilide) inhibited Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). These two chemical messengers stimulate activity of osteoclasts, the cells that break down the bones.

2.) This same chemical (Ligustilide) increased osteoblastic activity (that’s the cells that make the bone) through the GPR30-EGFR cell signaling pathway.

So there you go. At least this one chemical in Angelica Sinensis (Ligustilide) can do at least one of the things that Estrogen can do for you.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

Now the larger point.

There are more than 70 active components in Angelica Sinensis. If you really wanted to prove what Angelica Sinensis did, you would need to do a series of studies on every target of every active ingredient in there. There’s more than 70 of ’em, right? So that would take a long time. And to even further blow it out, dāng guī is one of dozens of herbs that they use for this purpose.

Not that you shouldn’t go out and try to prove these things in Western pharmacological terms, but let’s work smarter, not harder. Why wait for all this proof to come out if the writing’s on the wall? It’s pretty clear that this stuff is useful.

If you want to learn more about this and what Chinese herbalism can do for you, give us a call today.

Supporting Articles:

Anti-Osteoporotic Effects of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels Extract on Ovariectomized Rats and Its Oral Toxicity in Rats, Nutrients, October 16th, 2014

Ligustilide, a major bioactive component of Angelica sinensis, promotes bone formation via the GPR30/EGFR pathway, Sci Rep, May 6th, 2019

Who is Dr. Perez?

Dr. Dan Perez is both a Western-trained physician and a graduate of the AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine. Based in Austin, Texas, AOMA is recognized as one of the leading schools in Chinese Medicine. Being both an expert in Western medicine and Chinese medicine, Dr. Perez offers his patients natural, minimally invasive and integrative medical options for treating a variety of chronic medical conditions.