Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Aug;25(2):74-82.
doi: 10.6118/jmm.18190. Epub 2019 Aug 5.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) Oil in Management of Female Ailments

Mohaddese Mahboubi  1
Affiliations
Review

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) Oil in Management of Female Ailments

Mohaddese Mahboubi. J Menopausal Med. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Oenothera biennis with the common name of "evening primrose" is containing a valuable fixed oil with commercial name of EPO. Evening primrose oil has two types of omega-6-fatty acid including linoleic acid (60%-80%) and γ-linoleic acid (8%-14%). Essential fatty acids are considered as essential compounds for body health, especially among women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of evening primrose oil in the management of women ailments. The document was prepared by investigation in scientific articles of electronic resources (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Wiley, Scopus, and Springer) by keywords of evening primrose oil and women. The results of our investigations showed that evening primrose oil has been the subject of several clinical studies, including premenstrual syndrome (PMS), hot flash, mastalgia, fibroadenomas, gestational diabetes, cervical ripening, and dilation. The major clinical studies are focused on mastalgia, followed by PMS. The results of studies confirmed the evening primrose oil's efficacy in women health, but the immediate response should not be expected from it, therefore, it should be regularly used up to 4 or 6 months.

Keywords: Evening primrose oil; Mastodynia; Premenstrual syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The potential of evening primrose oil in management of women ailments.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barrett M. The handbook of clinically tested herbal remedies. Birmingham (NY): The Haworth Herbal Press®; 2004.
    1. Barnes J, Anderson LA, Phillipson JD, Newall CA. Herbal medicines: a guide for healthcare professionals. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2002.
    1. Bamford JT, Ray S, Musekiwa A, van Gool C, Humphreys R, Ernst E. Oral evening primrose oil and borage oil for eczema. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(4):CD004416. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morse NL, Clough PM. A meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials of Efamol evening primrose oil in atopic eczema. Where do we go from here in light of more recent discoveries? Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2006;7:503–524. - PubMed
    1. Kerscher MJ, Korting HC. Treatment of atopic eczema with evening primrose oil: rationale and clinical results. Clin Investig. 1992;70:167–171. - PubMed