Written by Jessica Patella, ND. This study found evening primrose oil to be safe and effective for treating the psychological symptoms associated with menopause in women.
An estimated 1.3 million women in the United States enter menopause each year. Menopause is defined as cessation of menstruation for at 1 year and typically occurs around the age of 50 1. Approximately 45% of women experience psychological symptoms of menopause, including anger, irritability, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, loss of concentration and loss of self-esteem or confidence 1. Recent research has found that supplementing evening primrose oil may help alleviate psychological symptoms associated with menopause 2.
Evening primrose oil is an herbal medicine from the seeds of the Oenothera biennis plant. The oil is rich in linoleic acid (70%, omega-6) and gamma-linolenic acid (8-14%, omega-3) and studies have found it is helpful for mental health, specifically depression 2-4. Although it is often used in wholistic medicine for menopausal symptoms, there is little research. Because evening primrose oil has been found previously to help mental health, it was researched to determine the effects on mental health in menopausal women 2.
The research included 200 menopausal women that were randomly divided into a placebo group (n=100) or evening primrose oil group (n=100, 1000 mg/day) for 8-weeks. Psychological symptoms were measured via the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS; items 4-7). The subscale for psychological symptoms includes depressive moods, irritability, anxiety, and mental and physical exhaustion. Each symptom is scored from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (severe symptoms) and then added together for a total psychological score.
The results were as follows:
- Psychological scores decreased significantly after consuming evening primrose oil compared to baseline (9.14 +/-2.17 to 5.03 +/- 1.79; p<0.01). While there was no significant change in the placebo group.
- The psychological scores also were significantly improved in the evening primrose oil group compared to the placebo group (mean difference -3.44; 95% CI -4.01 to -1.20; p<0.01).
- Psychological scores across all categories (depressive mood, irritability, anxiety and mental exhaustion) improved in the evening primrose oil group.
- Evening primrose oils was considered safe, with no major adverse effects and only 1 participant stopped using it due to an upset stomach.
In conclusion, evening primrose oil was found to be effective in decreasing the psychological symptoms of menopause including, depressive moods, irritability, anxiety and mental exhaustion 2. Future research could look at different doses of evening primrose oil to determine if there is an optimal effective dose 2.
Source: Sharif, Seyedeh Nazanin, and Fatemeh Darsareh. “Impact of evening primrose oil consumption on psychological symptoms of postmenopausal women: a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial.” Menopause 27, no. 2 (2020): 194-198.
@ 2020 The North American Menopause Society. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
Posted December 21, 2020.
References:
- Peacock K, Ketvertis K. Menopause.[Updated 2019 Nov 22]. StatPearls [Internet] Treasure Island (FL): Stat Pearls Publishing. 2020.
- Sharif SN, Darsareh F. Impact of evening primrose oil consumption on psychological symptoms of postmenopausal women: a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial. Menopause. 2020;27(2):194-198.
- Timoszuk M, Bielawska K, Skrzydlewska E. Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) Biological Activity Dependent on Chemical Composition. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland). 2018;7(8).
- Saaki M, Jariani M, Saaki K, Delfan B, Tarahi M, Gholami M. Effect of primose oil in Treatment of depression in depressed patients referred to a psychiatric clinic in Khorramabad. J Ilam Univ Med Sci. 2008;16(4):46-54.
