What You Should Know About Hormone Replacement Therapy

For women entering menopause, the decision to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be extremely difficult. On the one hand, HRT promises to

• Eliminate hot flashes, insomnia and other menopausal symptoms.

• Relieve recurring vaginal and urinary tract infections.

• Prevent osteoporosis.

• Keep skin and muscle firm.

• Enhance muscle tone.

• Diminish arthritis pain.

• Substantially reduce the risk of heart attack, senility and Alzheimer’s disease.

With all these benefits, what drawback could possibly dissuade a woman from choosing HRT? While there are some unpleasant side effects for some women, including withdrawal bleeding, fluid retention, bloating, headache, nausea, anxiety and irritability, vaginal discharge and even allergy, many women who say “no” to HRT do so for one compelling reason: increased breast cancer risk.

Because most physicians are ignorant of natural alternatives, women are often left with little opinion but to weigh the risks and make a choice. Not surprisingly, many reason that a slightly increased risk of breast cancer is better than a certain increased risk of atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, senility and Alzheimer’s disease. In 1996, more than 22 million prescriptions were written for Premarin in the United States. If there were no other choices available, HRT would be a reasonable gamble. But there are viable alternatives and who wants to gamble with her life?

Help from your doctor

Replacing hormones makes a great deal of sense if you replace the actual hormones that diminish during menopause. Unfortunately, conventional HRT does not do this. Conventional HRT most often replaces human women’s estrogens with horse estrogens (Premarin), and less commonly with estradiol (Estraderm patch), the most carcinogenic of the three major naturally occurring estrogens in women’s bodies. To replace lost progesterone, conventional HRT relies on medroxyprogesterone, a synthetic molecule never found in women’s bodies (or on planet Earth) before the 1940s.

Human ovaries secrete three estrogens – estrone, estradiol and estriol. Estriol, the “weakest” of the three, is generally considered to be anti-carcinogenic, and makes up more than 80 percent of circulating human estrogens. Estradiol and estrone are both generally considered pro-carcinogenic, but together make up fewer than 20 percent of circulating human estrogens.

Natural hormone replacement (NHR) consists of replacing these hormones with a balanced combination of estrogens, progesterone and, in many cases, testosterone and DHEA. These natural hormones are made by chemical techniques from precursor molecules found in soy and dioscorea (a giant yam). Once the chemical process is complete, the resulting molecules are identical to human hormone molecules and perform all the same functions. A doctor can prescribe these human hormone replacements (they have been available since 1982) and two hormones – DHEA and progesterone – are even available in natural food stores as supplements and creams, respectively.

Hormones from plants

Phytoestrogens – Herbs and foods that contain phytoestrogens (literally, “plant estrogens”) can augment and support your natural hormone replacement therapy. Here are some of the most useful products available to consumers:

Soy products are known to contain large amounts of phytoestrogens. When ingested, phytoestrogens appear to function much like natural estrogens in many ways. Studies indicate, for example, that phytoestrogens increase cell growth in vaginal walls in post-menopausal women, raise HDL (the “good”) cholesterol, and reduce the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis, all without increasing the risk of cancer. In fact, evidence suggests that phytoestrogens may actually decrease the risk of breast and endometrial cancer.

According to one estimate, about two ounces of soy products per day may be sufficient to ward off hot flashes and other symptoms and perhaps even protect against cancer and heart disease. If adding soy products to the diet is possible, a reduction in menopause symptoms may follow.

By the way, phytoestrogens cannot replace human estrogens because they are structurally very different. This does not mean that herbal menopause remedies containing phytoestrogens are useless. A very long tradition of human use tells even the most skeptical research scientist that there is probably something there. This is proving to be the case with several items available at natural food stores, such as:

Chaste Berry (Vitex agnus)

Chaste berry increases progesterone and decreases estrogens. Because progesterone production often falls off before estrogen, this herb is particularly valuable for treating the symptoms of peri-menopause.