Cathleen,

That's an interesting question that I have pondered. Carol Reeder's study looked at prolactin and did not find a change. They also did not find efficacy, unlike Huggins or Swafford.  Janabi looked at prolactin levels in lactating goats and found an elevation, while Alamer found elevated growth hormone in lactating goats. Shim found that fenugreek stimulated GH release in rats.  I am particularly interested in the latter two because growth hormone is a known galactogogue (Trott, Forinash, Gunn). Growth hormone is also able to cross-over and bind to prolactin receptors (Somers, Kelley). I would love to see someone do a new fenugreek study that looked at both prolactin and growth hormone.



Lisa Marasco, MA, IBCLC, FILCA



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Reeder, C. (2010). Effect of Fenugreek on Milk Production & Prolactin Levels in Mothers of Preterm Infants. Poster Study. St. Luke's Hospital. Cedar Rapids, Iowa.



Swafford, S., & Berens, P. (2000). Effect of fenugreek on breast milk volume. Paper presented at the 5th International Meeting of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, September.



Huggins, K. Fenugreek: one remedy for low milk production.   Retrieved from http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/fenuhugg.shtml



Janabi, A. (2012). Feeding effects of fenugreek seeds (Tringonella foenum-graceum) on lactation performance, some serum constituents and prolactin hormone level in damscus crossbred goats. Diyala Agricultrual Sciences Journal, 4(1), 1-8.



Alamer, M. A., & Basiouni, G. F. (2005). Feeding Effects of Fenugreek Seeds (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) on Lactation Performance, Some Plasma Constituents and Growth Hormone Level in Goats. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 8(11), 1553-1556.



Shim, S. H., Lee, E. J., Kim, J. S., Kang, S. S., Ha, H., Lee, H. Y., . . . Son, K. H. (2008). Rat growth-hormone release stimulators from fenugreek seeds. Chem Biodivers, 5(9), 1753-1761. doi:10.1002/cbdv.200890164



Trott, J. F., Vonderhaar, B. K., & Hovey, R. C. (2008). Historical perspectives of prolactin and growth hormone as mammogens, lactogens and galactagogues--agog for the future! J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia, 13(1), 3-11. doi:10.1007/s10911-008-9064-x



Forinash, A., Yancey, A., Barnes, K., & Myles, T. (2012). The Use of Galactogogues in the Breastfeeding Mother (October). Ann Pharmacother.



Gunn, A. J., Gunn, T. R., Rabone, D. L., Breier, B. H., Blum, W. F., & Gluckman, P. D. (1996). Growth hormone increases breast milk volumes in mothers of preterm infants. Pediatrics, 98(2 Pt 1), 279-282.



Somers, W., Ultsch, M., De Vos, A. M., & Kossiakoff, A. A. (1994). The x-ray structure of a growth hormone prolactin receptor complex.



Kelly, P. A., Ali, S., Rozakis, M., Goujon, L., Nagano, M., Pellegrini, I., . . . et al. (1993). The growth hormone/prolactin receptor family. Recent Prog Horm Res, 48, 123-164.



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