Effect of Pueraria mirifica on the sexual skin coloration of aged menopausal cynomolgus monkeys.

To investigate the estrogenic effect of Pueraria mirifica (PM), a Thai herbal plant that contains many phytoestrogens, sexual skin coloration was studied in cynomolgus monkeys. Aged menopausal monkeys were divided into three groups. Each group (n=3) was fed 10, 100, or 1,000 mg of PM daily. The treatment schedule was divided into three periods, a 30-day pre-treatment period, 90-day treatment period, and 60-day post-treatment period. The results show that the sexual skin exhibited reddish coloration within 24 h after PM-treatment and remained this way for the first half of the PM-feeding period. The changes in sexual skin coloration were not dose-dependent. The present results indicate that PM had estrogenic action by increasing reddish sexual skin coloration in aged menopausal monkeys.