What Is Chasteberry Used for?

Chasteberry (vitex angus-castus) has been a common herbal remedy, helping men and women for hundreds of years. There are many uses for chasteberry because of its helpfulness in balancing hormones with no known side effects.

History

• Chasteberry was used in ancient China to control infertility. It was believed that the herb would cause the sexual desires in women and men to decrease.

Function

• Today, the chasteberry is used as a natural herbal remedy to help the body's balance of hormones. Chasteberry can be used as a natural anti-androgen by men to lower their testosterone level when fighting the onset of prostate cancer.

Significance

• Because of its anti-androgen properties, it is used as a natural supplement by the transgender community in male-to-female individuals to help keep their testosterone levels down.

Identification

• Chasteberry can be identified by its Latin name as well--Vitex Angus-Castus. In some natural herb and vitamin stores, you can find chasteberry in capsules and sold as Vitex or as a liquid as Chasteberry extract.

Benefits

• Chasteberry can be used to help the body's natural progesterone levels, and is looked upon as a natural progesterone. It can be beneficial for perimenopause (the early stages of menopause) and help ease breast pain, heavy bleeding and PMS symptoms.

Effects

• The effects of chasteberry are positive. The only know side effect is headaches when ingesting too much. For safety and maintaining health, you should always contact your family practitioner before taking any kind of supplement.