Fenugreek seed is a medicinal and therapeutic herb whose use dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. The uses of the fenugreek seed were actually quite diverse, but primarily this natural seed was used for an array of "female problems", including the stimulation of milk production in mothers who were having difficulty producing enough breast milk to feed their infants.
Fenugreek is still used for this purpose to this day, and you might be surprised to find out how it actually works.
The fenugreek seed is usually taken as a standardized ground mixture that is then encapsulated, and can usually be purchased at a very reasonable price at your local health food store, GNC or other health supplement outlet.
It is actually considered a part of the legume family, like the soybean, and is fairly easy to grow in various areas of the world, hence it's reasonable price. The dosage per individual may vary, but generally a fairly high dosage is required to spur the milk production adequately.
Fenugreek is purported to work as a milk production enhancing supplement in new moms because it actually stimulates the sweat glands to produce sweat, and your mammary glands are basically just one big modified sweat gland.
It is said that your sweat should start to take on a sweet scent similar to that of maple syrup when the fenugreek is starting to work.
Generally women report a noticeable increase in their milk production within 36-72 hours of taking the fenugreek supplement, and they also notice an engorgement in their breasts.
It only works correctly though if both of the breasts are competely emptied out regularly when nursing your infant or pumping.
Many physicians and obstetricians will recommend fenugreek as a natural milk production stimulant, and most of them say the majority of their patients notice a marked improvement in their volume of milk production. However, it does not work on everyone who tries it.
My best friend actually tried fenugreek supplements in large doses, and she said that it did not help her, and she also mentioned that she never noticed the maple syrup smell in her sweat or urine, so perhaps the herb just did not work with her particular bodily chemistry.
As with any other herb or natural supplement, fenugreek may not work the same on every woman, and it may not work at all on some women. It's unfortunately an exercise in trial and error many times to figure out the right dosage as well as to figure out if it will even work for you.
Fenugreek actually has other therapeutic and medicinal uses as well. There are specific compounds in the fenugreek seed that are actually very beneficial when applied topically to the skin (but these need to be expelled and manipulated professionally).
It also is thought to be beneficial to those with high blood sugar, as it has hypoglycemic properties and can be useful in lowering blood sugar.
Another possible use for fenugreek may be to help lower one's cholesterol, and also to help thin the mucous since it has been used in the past to help people with asthma to breathe easier with continued therapy.
While there are other therapeutic and medicinal purposes for the fenugreek seed, it's number one and most well known use is to help women who are breast feeding, and there's a reason for that - it actually works.
Copyright 2006 Danna Schneider
