Written by Dr. Sandra Miranda, ND

One of the best tools that I have in my practice to balance my patient’s hormones is the use of topical Bio-Identical hormones.  They are also known as BHRT and they are hormones that are identical to the ones that we naturally have in our bodies.  These natural hormones are very different to the synthetic hormones normally used by conventional medicine and therefore, they don’t have the same side effects.  However, women have a big fear of using “hormones”.  They automatically think it is going to cause cancer. So, where does this fear come from?

This fear comes forom WHI – Women’s Health Initiative study.  WHI was a long term national health study focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer and osteoporotic fractures in post-menopausal women.  It was launched in 1993 and it enrolled 161,808 women ages 50 to 80 yrs old.  The results changed the way health care providers prevent and treat some major health concerns impacting menopausal women.

Here were some of the finding related to using hormone therapy in post-menopausal women:

• Hormone therapy decreased hip fracture (5 in 10,000 women) 
• Hormone therapy decreased total fractures (44 in 10,000 women)
• Hormone therapy decreased colorectal cancer (6 in 10,000 women)

But it also showed that:

• Hormone therapy increased breast cancer (8 in 10,000)- interestingly enough this is the same risk as statin drugs (drugs to lower cholesterol). Why have doctors stopped recommending hormones and not stating drugs? 
• Hormone therapy increased incidence of strokes (8 in 10,0000 women)
• Hormone therapy increased heart disease (6 in 10,000)

So in spite of these findings, the WHI study has been highly criticized for many reasons and it doesn’t reflect our current practice of BHRT with post-menopausal women.  Consider the following:

• WHI study used animal derived and synthetic hormones and not the bio-identical hormones that are currently used by Functional Doctors. 
• The average age of women in the WHI study was 63 years (ages were between 50-80)
• Only 10% of women that took part of the WHI study were between 50 and 54 years old
• 50% of the women were current or post smokers, and 35% of the women had already pre-existing high blood pressure
• 70% of the women were 60-79 years old

In short, we cannot generalize the effects of all “hormones” on all women of different ages and with different pre-existing conditions. It is just not a fair comparison.   So let’s put the WHI study to rest and let’s talk about the good aspects of balancing our hormones. 

For more information, call us for a 10 minute free “Meet&Greet” to find out if you are a good candidate for Bio –Identical Hormone Therapy.  Don’t suffer unnecessarily, we have the knowledge and the natural tools to help you.