Chasteberry Extract

What Is Chasteberry Extract?

Chasteberry is the dried fruit of Vitex agnus-castus, a shrub of the Mediterranean coast that botanists file with the mints, though it looks nothing like one. The berries dry hard and dark, about the size of a peppercorn. This is a concentrated 4:1 extract of that fruit.

How It Works in the Body

Vitex is a traditional botanical rather than a nutrient, so the plain account is what the fruit is made of. Its markers are iridoid glycosides, agnuside above all, with aucubin beside it. Flavonoids such as casticin sit alongside, with labdane diterpenes in the oily fraction and an aromatic oil carrying cineole and beta-caryophyllene.

A 4:1 extract means four parts of dried fruit were concentrated into one part of extract, which is why two numbers describe the same material: the extract, and the dried fruit behind it.

What It Supports

• The monthly cycle: Vitex is the herb European practice turns to for the monthly cycle, and that is what it has long been taken to support.
• The midlife years: The berry has a long record of traditional use through the years around menopause as well.
• A single-herb formula: Chasteberry is the only active in it, so the extract is the whole formula.
• Marker compounds: Agnuside is the iridoid a vitex extract is measured by.

Who It May Suit

Women who want vitex on its own rather than folded into a multi-herb women's formula, whether in the cycling years or the years after. Worth knowing before you choose: the capsule shell is gelatin, so this one is not vegetarian.

Good To Know

There is 820 mg of chasteberry fruit per serving, delivered as 205 mg of a 4:1 extract, and a serving is two capsules. Talk with your healthcare provider before use, especially if you take a hormonal medication, a fertility medication or a drug that acts on dopamine, and do not use it while pregnant or nursing.