Friday 24 December 2010

Hormone Replacement for Hot Flashes Not Safe

Hormone Treatment in Older Women Questioned

by Susan Okie
In older women, taking the sex hormones estrogen and progestin does not improve emotional well-being except among those suffering from hot flashes, a new study suggests. In women without hot flashes, the hormones may actually worsen physical functioning.
The researchers called the results surprising and said they cast doubt on the popular belief, encouraged by drug advertisements, that taking hormones after menopause can make most women feel more youthful, active and vibrant.
"These findings are challenging that perception," said JoAnn E. Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women Hospital. "This study would suggest that perhaps we should remove quality-of-life benefits from the risk/benefit equation" when women are considering whether to take hormones after menopause.
Thirty-eight percent of U.S. women between the ages of 50 and 74 take hormones after menopause, according to a national survey published in 1999. However, the new findings are the latest in an array of studies that have raised questions about whether such treatment confers a net health benefit.
For example, estrogen increases the risk of blood clots, gall bladder disease, uterine cancer and breast cancer.
Manson and other experts emphasized that the new study confirmed that women suffering from frequent hot flashes do obtain relief from hormone treatment. Hot flashes - sudden episodes of skin flushing, sweating and a sensation of uncomfortable warmth - occur in 70 percent of women during menopause and are sometimes severe enough to cause insomnia, fatigue and irritability.
unless you had your head buried under the sand for the last few years, you should be aware that excess estrogen is one of the main causes of breast cancer.
The key here is excess. Women do need estrogen. The problem is that most western women have excessive amounts. Many women also have total hysterectomies in which their ovaries are removed. This is one of the few times where estrogen replacement therapy is appropriate.
However, in addition to estrogen increasing the risk of breast cancer, the study shows it increases insulin levels.
This is important, since increased insulin levels are associated with not only increased risk of cancer, but high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity.
Estrogen has also been promoted for many years to decrease the risk of heart disease. Well folks, this is simply not true.
Although estrogen does appear to lower cholesterol levels, heart disease prevention is clearly far more complex than cholesterol levels alone. It seems quite clear that estrogen supplementation, in postmenopausal women who still have their ovaries, does not lower the risk of heart disease.
Additionally, estrogen is not the cure for bone loss that it is commonly promoted to be, and estrogen does not decrease a women's risk of Alzheimer's disease.
It is interesting to note that the study found that women who did not benefit from the hot flash improvement, actually did worse when put on hormone replacement, than women who did not take anything.
I found a great product that not only eliminates hot flashes altogether but gives your body the extras it needs, besides your daily vitamin and mineral intake, I assume you already know is necessary also with improving your digestives enzymes and protection from free radicals with super antioxidants.
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