Chaste Tree Berry (Vitex Agnus Castus) Herbal Tea – Improves Fertility

RESULT MAY VARY FROM PERSON TO PERSON

Health Benefits of Vitex
1. Relieves PMS Symptoms
With about 75 percent of women experiencing PMS, it’s definitely a health topic on a lot of minds. If you suffer from PMS, you are among the many women who experience a number of unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms each month that last anywhere between two to 14 days before your period. The symptoms of PMS can greatly be reduced or even eliminated by making an effort to get your hormones in proper balance. Vitex is one of the top — if not the top — herbal recommendations when it comes to natural PMS relief.
For a woman, inappropriately increased production of prolactin may be a factor in cyclic breast tenderness and other PMS symptoms. Vitex is believed to work well at reducing PMS symptoms because it suppresses the release of prolactin from the pituitary gland. Numerous studies suggest that chasteberry may help reduce symptoms of PMS, including breast tenderness, headache and irritable mood. (4) In one review conducted by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University in Australia, five out of six studies found vitex extracts to be superior to a placebo for treating PMS. (5)
2. Reduces Uterine Fibroids
Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous tumors found within the uterine walls, often resulting in a change in the size or shape of the uterus as well as several unpleasant symptoms. A key way to prevent and reduce uterine fibroids is to maintain a proper balance of hormones. Chasteberry can help to balance the ratio of estrogen to progesterone.
3. Improves Female Fertility
Vitex has been shown to improve fertility, particularly for women with luteal phase defect (shortened second half of the menstrual cycle). These women have trouble because their ovaries don’t release enough progesterone.
In one trial, 48 women (ages 23 to 39) who were diagnosed with infertility took chasteberry once daily for three months. During the three-month trial period, seven women became pregnant and 25 women experienced normalized progesterone levels, which can increase the chances for pregnancy. (6)
Another study evaluated 52 women with luteal phase defects due to latent hyperprolactinemia (higher than normal levels of the hormone prolactin in the blood). Each woman received a daily dose of 20 milligrams of Vitex agnus castus preparation or a placebo. The study was aiming to prove if it could reduce the elevated pituitary prolactin and also normalize the deficits in luteal phase length and luteal phase progesterone synthesis.
Results were excellent. After three months, the women treated with vitex had a reduction in prolactin release, shortened luteal phases were normalized and deficits in the luteal progesterone synthesis were eliminated. Two women in the treated group also got pregnant during the course of the study, and no negative side effects of were seen. (7) These results show chasteberry can be utilized as a natural infertility treatment in women.
4. Clears Up Acne
Hormone imbalances and fluctuations can be a the root of acne, especially if you’re a woman. If you experience monthly outbreaks of acne, especially along your jawline and chin, vitex might be a perfect acne natural remedy. It can balance your hormones, which can reduce acne formation in women. Preliminary research suggests that it might help clear premenstrual acne, as well, possibly by regulating hormonal influences. (8)
5. Treats Endometriosis
Endometriosis is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus grows outside your uterus. It most commonly involves your ovaries, bowels or the tissue lining your pelvis. No one is sure of the exact cause of endometriosis, but some contributing factors include hormonal imbalances and genetics.
You can’t do anything about the genetics factor, but the hormonal imbalance can possibly be overcome with the use of vitex. To naturally treat endometriosis, chasteberry is usually taken long term (12 to 18 months) for maximum effectiveness.
6. Remedies Amenorrhea
Amenorrhea is a medical condition in which a woman of reproductive age has her menstrual cycle stop suddenly. If you’re not pregnant and your period has stopped, it’s a solid indication that something isn’t right.
Amenorrhea can be caused by a number of factors with one possibility including having too much prolactin in your body, which can cause hypoestrogenism or estrogen deficiency. Vitex supplementation can help to modulate prolactin and get a healthy balance of estrogen and progesterone back on track. (10)
7. May Promote Lactation
In Europe, chasteberry is one of the most highly acclaimed herbs for promoting lactation. One study found that supplementation with a vitex tincture could increase the amount of milk produced by mothers with or without pregnancy complications, as noted by the University of Michigan Health System. Herbs like vitex that promote or increase the flow breastmilk flow are known as galactagogues. An older German clinical trial found that 15 drops of a it in tincture form three times per day could increase the amount of milk produced by mothers with or without pregnancy complications, as compared with mothers given vitamin B1 or nothing at all.
There is not a lot of evidence to support vitex being safe or unsafe for women who are actively breast-feeding their babies so check with your doctor before taking it.
8. Lowers Menopause Symptoms
Menopause is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility, defined as occurring 12 months after your last menstrual period. It can happen in your 40s or 50s, but the average age is 51 in the U.S. Vitex is often combined with other herbs, such as black cohosh or dong quai, for maximum benefits.
One 2007 study published in Gynecological Endocrinology found that an herbal supplement containing chasteberry provided safe and effective relief of hot flushes and sleep disturbances in pre- and postmenopausal women. (11) Another 2015 study found that a supplement containing vitex as a key ingredient was able to reduce moderate to severe menopause symptoms. (15)
9. Treats Enlarged Prostate
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is an age-associated prostate gland enlargement that can cause urination difficulty. A 2005 study conducted by the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Basel in Switzerland showed that extracts of Vitex agnus-castus fruits can be useful for the prevention and treatment not only of an enlarged prostate, but also prostate cancer. Data showed that vitex contains components that inhibit proliferation and kills prostate cancer cells. (12)
Vitex History & Interesting Facts
Vitex is technically the name for the largest genus in the family Verbenaceae, which comprises 250 species distributed all over the world. The vitex species are deciduous shrubs.
The most common variety of vitex used medicinally is chaste tree, which produces chasteberry (Vitex agnus-catus), a small brown berry fruit about the size of peppercorn. Chastetree is actually a deciduous shrub native to the Mediterranean and Asia and has been naturalized in North America. Chasteberry is frequently called by its Latin names: vitex or agnus-castus.
As scientistis search for potential biologically active compounds from medicinal plants, 18 compounds have been found in the fruits of Vitex agnus-castus. To date, more than 20 vitex species have been investigated for chemical and biological properties. The results have included the isolation and characterization of approximately 200 compounds, mainly flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, iridoids and lignans. (13)
In ancient times, vitex was believed to be an anaphrodisiac (the opposite of an aphrodisiac) or something that lowers the libido. It makes sense that chasteberry originally got its name from its ability to counter sexual desire. The Romans used a drink prepared from the plant’s seeds to decrease libido. In ancient Greece, young women celebrating the festival of Demeter wore chasteberry blossoms to show that they were remaining chaste in honor of the goddess. For monks in the Middle Ages, chasteberry was used for similar purposes, which lead to the common name “monk’s pepper.”
The modern use of vitex began in the 1950s when the German pharmaceutical firm Madaus Co. first produced a standardized chasteberry extract.
In Iranian traditional medicine, vitex leaves and fruits are used for increasing milk production in women. The fruits of Vitex rotundifolia have been used as a folk medicine for the treatment of headache, cold, migraine, eye pain, female hormonal disorders, asthma, chronic bronchitis and gastrointestinal infections, such as diarrhea and bacterial dysentery. Vitex trifolia has been used as an anti-inflammatory and sedative for headache, rheumatism and for common cold in Asian countries. In China, vitex is even a folk medicine for the treatment of cancers.