Efficacy of Cimicifuga racemosa, Hypericum perforatum and Agnus castus in the treatment of climacteric complaints: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The systematic review examines whether Cimicifuga racemosa (CR), Hypericum perforatum (HP), Agnus castus, vitamins and minerals, either as monotherapy or in combination, have an evidence-based impact on vasomotor, genital and psychological climacteric complaints. DATA SOURCES AND METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: We searched in the databases EMBASE, OVID and PubMed using the keywords "vasomotor symptoms, hot flashes, vaginal atrophy, psychological problems, endometrium, sleep, concentration, cognition in combination with vitamins, multivitamins, minerals, multiminerals, black cohosh, Cimicifuga, Agnus castus, chasteberry, chaste tree, monk's pepper and menopause" for randomized controlled trials (RCT). Relevant studies were reviewed by four independent reviewers qualitatively. RESULTS: Most of the studies with a comparison of CR vs. placebo do not show an evidence-based significant effect of CR on climacteric symptoms. The combination of CR and HP shows an improvement of climacteric complaints in comparison to placebo. In some RCTs, there was no significant difference between CR and hormone-replacement therapy. The combination of HP and Agnus castus showed no significant difference in the treatment of climacteric complaints. CONCLUSION: CR monotherapy as well as HP and Agnus castus showed no better effect than placebo. The combination of CR with HP demonstrated a positive effect on climacteric complaints.

Impact of maternal supplementation with probiotics during pregnancy on atopic eczema in childhood--a meta-analysis.

In the present study, we sought to conduct a literature review of randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, which assessed the impact of probiotics intake during pregnancy on the development of eczema in children. A meta-analysis was conducted for comparison of the development of atopic eczema in children whose mothers took probiotics during pregnancy v. placebo. Study selection, quality appraisal and data extraction were performed independently and in duplicate. The studies were rated according to their size in order to calculate the influence of individual studies on the meta-analysis. A total of seven randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, published between 2001 and 2009, were selected from the PubMed and Ovid databases for the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was performed with statistical software Stata/SE11.0. The completed meta-analysis of the seven studies shows a significant risk reduction for atopic eczema in children aged 2-7 years by the administration of probiotics during pregnancy (reduction 5·7 %; P = 0·022). However, this effect was only significant for lactobacilli (reduction 10·6 %; P = 0·045), but not for a mixture of various bacterial strains as probiotics (difference 3·06 %, P = 0·204). In conclusion, the meta-analysis shows that the administration of lactobacilli during pregnancy prevents atopic eczema in children aged from 2 to 7 years. However, a mixture of various bacterial strains does not affect the development of atopic eczema, independent of whether they contain lactobacilli or not.