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I caught a clip the other night on the [1] CBS Evening News - Menopause Therapy Sparks Controversy.

Suzanne Somers has a new book out: Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones.

I haven’t read the book yet, so I’m not going to comment on it.

The news clip focused on conventional “Hormone Replacement Therapy” versus “Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy”.

Let’s cover a little background…

There are three forms of Estrogen:
Estradiol - is the most potent and predominant in PRE-menopausal women
Estrone - is predominant in POST-menopausal women
Estriol - is the least potent. It’s mainly made by the placenta and most abundant during pregnancy.

Estrogen is made in the body from cholesterol (see, it does have a necessary purpose) primarily in the ovaries and adrenal glands, or, it’s converted from testosterone (yes, women have some of that too) and androstenedione in individual organs.

Additionally, the balance between Progesterone and Estrogen is also important.

OK.
Menopause is NOT a disease, it’s a natural process during which time there’s a significant change in your hormonal profile. As is the case with puberty - both for men and women.

Some women don’t experience a lot of symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, lowered sex drive, vaginal dryness, short term memory problems and brain fog.

Some women do.

Any type of “Hormone therapy” should NOT be considered lightly. I would also submit, that the preferred goal of any hormone therapy should be short term symptom management and transition rather than lifetime subscription. That’s my opinion. I’m not prescribing. I’m not a doctor (tho I sometimes play one with myself).

OK.
Conventional Hormone therapy. The source of the hormone is from horses. Equines if you prefer a fancier word. More specifically, the urine from pregnant equines. Yes that does seem odd, but we won’t go there now.

There was a large, multi-tiered clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health called the Women’s Health Initiative.
The results of the study reported “HRT” posed more health risks than benefits.
Specifically, Prempro an estrogen-progestin therapy increased the risk of:
- Heart Disease
- Breast Cancer
- Stroke
- Blood clots
- Dementia
- Mammography abnormalities in the form of increased false positives

Premarin an estrogen only therapy increased:
- Stroke
- Mammography abnormalities in the form of increased false positives

So you have the fact that you deriving the hormone from “equines” and then you have some scary research data.

Next.
Bioidentical Hormone Therapy. Bioidentical hormones are derived from plants (phytoestrogens) - wild yam and soy. Through a pharmaceutical process they’re made into a powdered form of active hormone which is molecularly identical to our natural hormone.

A compounding pharmacist can create a blend specifically for you.

That all sounds good - yes?

I want to point out two things:
Well first, I agree - it “sounds” good.

Now, the two things…
1> testing, testing, testing. There just isn’t much in the way of data out there.
We’re just speculating on the effects. Since it’s “bio-identical”, we’re assuming it’s completely interchangeable. Maybe, maybe not.

2> the “marketing” of menopause
a) suggests a deficiency… hormone REPLACEMENT. This presumes we need hormones REPLACED, i.e., we’re lacking the proper amount.
b) And it presumes illness which requires THERAPY.

Before asking the question is bioidentical hormone therapy superior to conventional hormone therapy, shouldn’t we first look at the presumption that a POST-menopausal women is better off with a PRE-menopausal hormone profile.
Isn’t that presuming nature is wrong.

I don’t disagree that folks significantly bothered by symptoms shouldn’t work with her naturopathic or allopathic Doctor and explore hormone treatment.

But I don’t think one should presume lifelong hormone treatment should be the standard.

Also, while bioidentical hormones logically sound a lot better than equine hormones, one should keep in mind that hormones are potent. We don’t have much in the way of testing on bioidentical hormones so weighing on your decision is some level of unknown risks.

Controversy or not, this brings attention to a subject that should be getting a lot of attention. 5,700 women enter menopause every day. That’s a lot of people that need to know what that means to them on an individual basis so they can make educated choices.