Dong Quai for Menopause Support

Research suggests that dong quai, used as a standalone supplement, does not appear to meaningfully relieve common menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness, with the most directly relevant evidence coming from a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial that found no significant differences between dong quai and placebo on any measured outcomes after 24 weeks. The broader body of evidence — drawn largely from narrative reviews and one review of controlled trials — consistently places dong quai among the herbal supplements with insufficient or unsupportive evidence for vasomotor symptom relief, and one 2007 structured review of 58 trials explicitly found the evidence did not support its effectiveness for hot flashes. A 2002 laboratory study raised a notable safety concern, finding that dong quai stimulated the growth of human breast cancer cells through non-estrogenic mechanisms, though the clinical significance of this finding is not fully established. Overall, the available research does not support dong quai as an effective standalone option for menopausal symptom management, and some findings suggest reasons for caution, though researchers have noted that better-designed clinical trials and clearer understanding of its biological mechanisms are still needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.