Hi,

A number of times this herb, a leguminous annual Asiatic one according to my
dictionary, has been suggested as a remedy to help increase milk supply.

Does anyone have any literature on this? Is this all anecdotal? Or does
someone have hard core evidence?

I have found in my "Reader's Digest Herbs Home Handbook" the following about
fenugreek."Fenugreek is one of the herbs whose medicinal use and commercial
cultivation is at present on the increase. Its seed contains not only
mucilage but also diosgenin, which is important in the synthesis of oral
contraceptives and sex hormone treatments. Its leaves contain coumarin,
which gives them a sweet hay scent when dried, so they are sometimes used to
mask inferior hay. Foenum-graecum, in fact, is the Latin for Greek hay and
it is a well-known fodder crop. pp 93.

As a League Leader, I can read to a mother drug information from appropriate
sources that will be useful to a mother in her discussions with her doctor,
but I can not prescribe.

Most doctors, I suspect, are not at all familiar with "fenugreek capsules".
Neither am I. I would like hard information on its benefits to the
breastfeeding mother, to be able to read to a mother, and addition
information sources to tell a mother about so that she and her doctor can
have a helpful discussion about fenugreek. I suspect most doctors will react
negatively to a drug or herb about which they know nothing.

There are "natural" herbs that can cause harm, despite however natural they
are, if too much is taken, i.e. too much tea brewed from Rosemary leaves.
This I learned from a friend's herbal book when checking out herbs that grow
freely in my garden.

Unfortunately there is not enough information known about herbs. If someone
out there has hard source information on fenugreek, please share it with us.

Thanks.

Devorah from Israel
LLLLeader and APL