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Recent scientific research includes:

One hundred and sixteen post-menopausal women with symptoms of vaginal dryness, itching or burning were allocated to oral sea buckthorn oil or placebo oil (3g daily) for 3 months. The integrity of vaginal epithelium was significantly improved in the sea buckthorn group, indicating a beneficial role in vaginal atrophy (see full text).

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) was shown to be effective at reducing heavy menstrual bleeding in a placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial of 92 young women (see full text).

A small placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial of 16 overweight healthy women, between the ages of 45 and 70 years, found that women taking 5g of cinnamon Cinnamomum verum daily (3 capsules, bid) showed a significant reduction in body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumferences, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, resting heart rate and IL-4 levels compared to placebo. No differences in levels of other cytokines i.e.IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, EF, IFN, MCP-1, TNF-α and VEGF were detected. These results suggest beneficial effects of cinnamon on obesity, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and inflammation (see conference abstract: p184, abstract 838).

Nasal dryness, obstruction and crusting in elderly individuals was significantly improved in elderly patients with intranasal application of black seed (Nigella sativa) oil compared to standard treatment with isotonic sodium chloride solution (see abstract).

A small randomised controlled trial involved 38 individuals with body mass index (BMI) over 27 and aged 18-65 years allocated to Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa) extract (n=19) or placebo (n=17) for 12 weeks. Rosella extract was found to reduce body weight, body mass index, body fat and waist-to-hip ratio, serum free fatty acid and improved liver steatosis: and thus may have a beneficial role in non-fatty liver disease and obesity (see abstract).

Saffron (Crocus sativus) extract (30 mg/day) as an adjunct to timolol and dorzolamine treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma was found to have a significant ocular hypotensive effect compared to placebo after 3 weeks treatment with no side effects. This pilot study enrolled 34 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma randomised to Saffron extract or placebo capsules for a period of one month. (see full text).