Q: What is the best herbal product for a lady with low bone density who has been diagnosed with an early menopause at 42 years?  She wants to try and get her periods back. 

A: If there is no medical reason for the early menopause, it is well worth following a nutritional approach to try and get the periods back. A while back a lady of 40 came into the clinic because her periods had stopped suddenly and she was getting hot flushes.  She had been to see her doctor and blood tests showed she was menopausal. I asked her what had been happening around the time that her periods ceased and she said that she had been made redundant and had also lost her father.

I explained that the aim would be to ensure that she was as healthy as possible, addressing any problems with her diet, checking out any vitamin and mineral deficiencies, working on her stress levels and using some herbs to help balance her hormones. Within a couple of months, her periods returned and a further test at her doctors showed that she was no longer ‘menopausal’.

During times of stress, the body starts to shut down the reproductive system in order to give that woman the resources she needs to cope with what is going on.

Agnus castus is very much the herb of choice when trying to bring back periods as it has a balancing effect on hormones.  (The one I would suggest is Agnus Castus Plus which also contains other helpful herbs – see Resources the Page).

The humble tomato has been at the centre of a whirlwind of scientific activity for several years, mainly because of its high lycopene content. Lycopene, a carotenoid compound which is found in relatively few foods, gives tomatoes their deep red colour and is a potent antioxidant which can protect cells and DNA from free-radical damage. Significantly, cooked tomato products are even higher in lycopene than the raw fruit – 100g of canned tomato paste, for example, contains an astonishing 28,764mcg, which is more than any other food tested so far.

The latest research shows that the higher the levels of lycopene in the bloodstream the lower is the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, including rectal, pancreatic and ovarian. In one study eating lycopene-rich foods such as tomatoes was found to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 50 per cent, while another study showed that low levels of lycopene increased the risk of developing colorectal adenomas (a precursor for most colorectal cancers) by 230%.

 

Raw tomatoes are also a good source of lutein, which is important for eye health.  100g of tomatoes, which is about one small tomato, provides:

 

• 7.5% of our daily requirement for folate, which reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering blood levels of homocysteine. (NB it also protects a developing foetus from neural tube defects such as spina bifida)

• 7% for fibre.  Diets high in fibre can prevent heart disease, as well as constipation and colon diseases such as diverticulitis and cancer

• 7% for potassium which lowers blood pressure, reducing the risk of strokes in the long term

• 32% for vitamin C a powerful antioxidant which prevents oxidation of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol – a process that enables LDL to stick to artery walls, where it can eventually cause blockages, resulting in strokes, angina and heart attacks. 

 

Diabetics and people with insulin resistance could benefit from eating tomatoes. They are high in chromium which is important for regulating blood sugar levels – people with type 2 diabetes, for example, have lower blood levels of chromium than those without the condition.

 

 

 

Ingredients

¼ pint (150ml) olive oil

3 large onions, sliced

1 large aubergine diced

8oz (225g) French beans, sliced

2 different coloured pepper, sliced

Half a cauliflower, cut into florets

4oz shitake mushrooms

4 large tomatoes, cut into quarters

8oz cooked brown or green lentils

7oz (200g) frozen sweetcorn

2 tbsp garam masala

2 pts (1.2 litres) liquid (vegetable stock)

2 bay leaves

Method

Heat the oil gently in a large pan, cook the onions until soft.  Add in the aubergine and also cook until soft. Add the garam masala and stir well, then add the liquid and heat.  Then add all the other ingredients except the lentils and sweetcorn and cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the lentils and sweetcorn and simmer for another five minutes.  If you want to add a salty taste, then mix some miso paste with a little water and add at the final stages of cooking so that the miso does not boil.