Study finds Hormone Therapy is Safe & Effective

January 19th, 2012 in General Health
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Ladies, I’ve got good news! The year 2011 wrapped up with the publication of much anticipated research – hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is safe and effective!!

Over the past 20 years, researchers and experts have debated whether or not hormone therapy was safe for women.  In 1991, a large study known as the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) set out to uncover the mystery of hormone therapy.  Women and doctors everywhere were astounded and fearful when the study was prematurely halted in 2002 because subjects were showing an increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer with treatment. This set off a cascade of controversy and made hormone therapy taboo in many circles.

Today, after years of analysis of this study and new studies being completed each month, experts now agree that hormone replacement therapy is not only safe and effective, but it actually reduces the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis.

In the March 2011 issue of the medical journal, “Menopause,” researchers learned through a survey of more than 70,000 women of varying ages and on using various forms of HRT that heart disease risk is reduced when began between the ages of 36 and 59.

In November 2011, “Menopause,” published another study that analyzed the results of the WHI study and compared them to the results of another study of 80,000 women. This study concluded that discontinuation of HRT results in decreases in bone density and increases the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture.  The longer a woman was off HRT, the greater the decline in bone density – after a little more than six years off HRT, the risk of hip fracture increased 55 percent due to lost bone mass.

So, ladies, if you have been living in fear of HRT – fear no more – you can have it all!!  Good health and freedom from the discomforts of aging is possible!

I would also like to take this moment to note that the WHI study tested the effects of synthetic hormones, not bioidentical hormones, while the 2011 studies received data from women on various forms of HRT – bioidentical or synthetic. I, personally, am a fan of bioidentical hormone therapy. In my experiences, I have come to learn the differences between bioidentical and synthetic hormones and from a logical standpoint, bioidentical just makes sense. For those not familiar with the differences, the best way to explain it is that bioidentical hormones, unlike synthetic hormones, are derived from plant sources and designed to have the exact same molecular structure as the hormones produced within our bodies. This replication makes bioidentical hormones functional on multiple levels and alleviates the harmful side effects, like breast cancer, which is a common risk associated with synthetic hormone therapy.

Learn more about these studies and bioidentical hormone therapy for Menopause MANIAC expert, Dr. Jennifer Landa, M.D. at www.drjenniferlanda.com.

 

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