Fennel may help ease menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and depression.
In “Sex and the City 2,” Samantha announces that she’s “leading the way through the menopause maze” with “my vitamins, my bioidentical estrogen cream, progesterone cream and a touch of testosterone.” When her creams and pills are confiscated at customs in Abu Dhabi, she is outraged. “I need to speak to an ambassador, or an embassy, or someone in menopause!”
While Samantha’s creams may have eased her symptoms, maybe she should have traveled with something less likely to rile the luggage police: fennel.
This licorice-tasting veggie is packed with phytoestrogens, food-based chemicals that mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. And a new tightly controlled study of 90 postmenopausal women found that those who took two capsules containing 100 mg of fennel daily for eight weeks had significant improvement in symptoms such as hot flashes and depression — with no negative side effects.
Although we have long said that starting hormone therapy soon after menopause (for 10 or even more years) using a Food and Drug Administrationapproved bioidentical estrogen and micronized progesterone is generally safe and effective as long as you take a low-dose aspirin morning and night with half a glass of warm water, it’s always great to hear about alternative approaches that might be helpful.
So if you’re suffering with symptoms of menopause, and can’t take HT with aspirin, ask your doc about trying fennel capsules. And while there are no large studies on the menopause-soothing effects of eating phytoestrogen-rich foods, they certainly won’t harm you. Try cooking up some soybeans, fennel, chickpeas, lentils and flaxseed.
Tend your relationships
The most memorable version of the song “That’s What Friends Are For” was sung by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder as a charity single for AIDS research and prevention. That rendition became the No. 1 single of 1986.
For millions (probably billons) of folks, singing — and thinking — about friends creates a feel-good moment. More research is showing that the benefits go far beyond temporary joy. In a new study published in Personal Relationships, researchers looked at data on over 270,000 people and found that close family and friend ties were associated with better health and happiness.
Folks without a network of friends/family and buddies that they could rely on were more likely to report high blood pressure; diabetes; cancer; lung disease; coronary heart disease, including heart attacks, angina and congestive heart failure; emotional, nervous or psychiatric problems; arthritis or rheumatism; or stroke.
The researchers also looked into a survey of 75,000 people and found that the quality of friendships matters, too. Those who found that friends/family often let them down or were a source of conflict reported more chronic illness.
So tend to your relationships — be the good friend you want others to be to you. And lean on your friends/family/buddies for support (it turns out people like to be relied on); carve out time to make fun memories.