Don’t mind being hijacked. Anyway I have been reading up on this and there have been some disturbing facts that I found. The first one like sleepy278 mentioned was the curbing of the libido and secondly the herb is known to cause tecticular atrophy. I looked up to see if this doctor really exists. I sent him an e-mail more or less telling him about the 2 side effects of the herb. He responded with this:
Good Thursday Evening, Mr.!
The evidence you cite is anecdotal and reflects a body of observation over time but nothing in the way of controlled studies. This is not to say it may not point to smoke in the woodpile, but until formal studies are carried out the issue is unsettled. Actually the hard science done to date on Vitex agnus-castus is very limited (See this mongraph .) Some were done using animal models and a handful with people. This leaves the whole issue of use open to interpretation and personal prerogatives. If you are reulctant to use this particular herb in standardized form I would go with that conviction.
There are, BTW, CAM physicians who are using high dose standardized Vitex agnus-castus on male patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy and reporting good results. Those I’ve dialogued with tell me they saw no real side effects including any adverse impact on libido or androgen levels with long term use. These reports like the body of Tibetan information you referred to is anecdotal and may or may not pan out if and when formal studies are carried out.
Sorry I can offer you nothing more definitive or reassuring. Many herbs and even some drugs amount to “catch-as-catch-can” when it comes to long term side effects across time.
Ciao for now,
Anthony G. Payne, Ph.D.
Skype I’M: phoenix2doc