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Home > Anti-aging Research > Estrogen

Estrogen/Progestin

Related Topics:

• HRT in general / Female Sexuality / hot flashes / PMS / menopause / contraception / osteoporosis
• Conjugated estrogens - Cenestin / Estrace / Ogen / Premarin
• Esterified estrogens - Menest
• Estrogen (estradiol) patches - Alora / Climara / Estraderm / Vivelle / Menostar
• Vaginal estrogen - Estring / Premarin
• Combination estrogen and methyltestosterone - Estratest
• Medroxyprogesterone - Cycrin / Provera
• Estrogen progestin tablets - Activella / Femhrt / Prempro
• Estrogen and progesterone patch - Combipatch
• Estrogen cream - Estrasorb
• Drospirenone and estradoil - Yasmin / Angeliq
• Transdermal - EstroGel® (estradiol gel) / Elestrin™/Bio-E-Gel® (estradiol gel)

Popular Supplements:

• red clover / isoflavones / wild yam / flaxseed oil / omega-3 / I3C / soy / DHEA

Alternative News:

• Female Hormone Replacement Therapy - Life Extension Foundation
• A Different Side of Estrogen - Science News Online, 1/508 - "estrogen-like compounds called phytoestrogens are found in foods including soy and coffee. Some scientists have speculated that phytoestrogens played a key role in the lower incidence of prostate and breast cancers found for many years in Asian populations with soy-based diets"
• 'Natural' Menopause Hormones: Hype or Hope? - WebMD, 11/4/05
• Alternatives to Estrogen? - Dr. Weil, 7/12/05
• Natural Female Hormone Replacement - Life Extension Magazine, 4/05
• Sizing Up Alternatives to Hormones - Intelihealth, 3/30/05
• Safe Hormone Strategy? - Dr. Weil, 5/10/04
• Grape Seed Extract May Be A Useful Supplement To Blunt Hypertension In Postmenopausal Women - Intelihealth, 4/10/03 - "a diet moderately high in grape seed extract can blunt salt (sodium chloride)-sensitive hypertension to about the same extent as treatment with either plant estrogens or 17ß-estradiol. This suggests that mechanisms other than the estrogen receptor activation actually provides the beneficial effects of estrogen therapy and that grape seed extract may be a useful supplement to blunt hypertension and other cardiovascular symptoms in postmenopausal women" - See iHerb or Vitacost grape seed extract products.
• Red Clover May Tame Hot Flashes - WebMD, 8/16/02 - "Promensil is an isoflavone supplement produced from red clover and contains the same key isoflavones commonly found in soy foods. Isoflavones are plant compounds -- found commonly in soy -- that act like weak form of the female sex hormone estrogen ... Only red clover contains all four isoflavones that women need ... 30 women were given either 40 mg of Promensil or a placebo for 16 weeks. The group taking Promensil reported a 48% reduction in frequency of hot flashes, whereas the control group had an 11% decrease" - See iHerb and Vitacost Promensil products.
• Alternatives to HRT - Dr. Janson's Newsletter, 8/02
• Hormone Replacement: What Now for Women? - Dr. Weil, 7/18/02 - "You can protect against bone loss with weight bearing exercise and strength training, by making sure you get 1,500 mg of calcium plus 400 IU of vitamin D daily, by not smoking and minimizing your intake of caffeine, sodas, and excessive protein. If you’ve already lost bone, Evista (raloxifene) the first of a new generation of drugs -- selective estrogen receptor modifiers, or SERMs – seems to protect against bone loss while actually reducing the risk of breast cancer ... Many women get relief from hot flashes and other menopausal discomforts with black cohosh (Cimifiuga racemosa) plus 800 IUs of Vitamin E daily"
• Alternatives to HRT - WebMD, 7/10/02 - "A powerful class of drugs called statins reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood -- especially LDL, the so-called "bad" cholesterol. Statins have also been found to reduce stroke, may reduce osteoporosis, could be an adjunct treatment for cancer ... different proteins found in natural soy appear to interact with phytoestrogens -- plant estrogens -- to increase their cholesterol-lowering activity ... Limiting salt in the diet -- and walking 30 minutes a day -- can also lower blood pressure ... Fosamax and similar bisphosphonate medications are designed to prevent or treat osteoporosis ... Calcium and vitamin D supplements -- to the tune of 1,500 mg a day -- are recommended for older women and men ... 30 minutes of weight-bearing and strength-training exercise ... Soy seems to be an effective short-term treatment to quell hot flashes and night sweats ... Several studies published this year found evidence in favor of black cohosh, which is an herb and an ancient Native American remedy for hot flashes ... Antidepressants -- including Prozac and Effexor -- have been shown to cool hot flashes"
• Black Cohosh Controls Menopausal Symptoms - Medscape, 6/24/02 - "In double-blind fashion, the women received daily treatment for three months with commercially available black cohosh (Klimadynona or Menofema, 40 mg), conjugated estrogens (0.6 mg), or placebo ... Both black cohosh and estrogen reduced major climacteric complaints significantly more than did placebo (P<.05). Black cohosh improved blood lipid and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase levels. Although estrogen increased endometrial thickness, black cohosh did not"
• Serum Folate And Estradiol Levels Interact In Alzheimer's Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/13/02 - "a high ratio of estradiol to total estrogens is linked with AD. At the same time, in women with a high ratio, the severity of dementia is lower in those with high serum folate levels ... If this association is causal, then supplementation with folic acid may have a role in future studies of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) in Alzheimer's disease (AD)"
• Tofupill Phytoestrogen Preparation Relieves Menopausal Symptoms without Unwanted Estrogenic Effects - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/02
• Some Herbs Can Mimic Estrogen - WebMD, 4/10/02 - "Motherwort leaf, saw palmetto berry, Rhodiola rosea root, and red clover blossom interacted strongly with the rats' estrogen receptors, indicating that they have a strong estrogen-like effect in the body. Dang gui root, black and blue cohosh, vitex berry, hops flower, wild yam, and licorice root also showed some estrogen-like effects. Maca root, cramp bark, and turmeric root showed the weakest estrogen effect"
• Herb Fights Menopause Symptoms - WebMD, 3/28/02 - "New research suggests that a black cohosh extract, marketed as Remifemin, works differently from estrogen, which has been linked to an increase in breast cancer risk ... As many as 80% will experience menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats, and bouts of insomnia ... These days, many different manufacturers market black cohosh supplements. But Remifemin is the only one that has been extensively studied"
• Estrogen's Two-Way Street - Nutrition Science News, 11/01 - "Studies show that when 2-hydroxylation increases, the body resists cancer, and that when 2-hydroxylation decreases, cancer risk increases ... Cell-culture studies and human clinical trials have shown that I3C at doses of 200­400 mg/day can influence estrogen metabolism and promote formation of 2-OH-estrone, and therefore may be useful in breast cancer prevention"
• Is Soy Better Than Estrogen for Heart Health After Menopause? - WebMD, 7/2/01 - "This research is interesting as it suggests soy can favorably affect cholesterol without adversely affecting blood clotting, which is a potential concern with estrogen replacement ... benefits were seen equally in men and women, [and] soy treatment did not affect male sexuality"
• Soy Does Not Activate Blood Clotting Mechanisms - Doctor's Guide, 6/22/01 - "We know that soy reduces cholesterol and blood pressure, so it appears to be a healthy intervention, and it does not appear to increase the risk of blood clotting, so it continues to be a safe dietary recommendation for patients"
• The Replacements - Nutrition Science News, 8/99
• Estrogen Therapy? Don't Worry - Life Extension Magazine, 10/99
• Extra Calcium Benefits Women On Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 1/15/98 - "women who consumed high levels of calcium in conjunction with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had much greater increases in bone mass than those who used either estrogen or calcitonin alone"

CME:

• Medscape HRT CME courses
• Doctor's Guide HRT CME courses
• Update on Hormonal Treatment Options - Medscape, exp. 12/30/04

General Information:

• HRT - American Academy of Family Physicians
• HRT - emedicine.com
• HRT - familydoctor.org
• Hormone Replacement Therapy - Intelihealth
• Should I be taking estrogen plus progesterone to prevent heart disease after menopause? - Drugstore.com
• Treatments for hormone replacement - Medifocus.com

Other News:

• Estrogen Reduces Risk Of Fracture After Menopause, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 9/19/08
• Sex Hormones Link To Heart Risk - Science Daily, 8/31/08 - "one of the sex hormones - estradiol - was associated positively with total cholesterol and negatively with HDL-cholesterol. Circulating concentrations of another sex hormone - estrone - showed strong positive associations with both total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol ... Thus, men with the highest concentrations of estrone and estradiol may have the highest level of cardiovascular risk as their levels of detrimental LDL-cholesterol are high whilst their cardio-protective HDL-cholesterol is low" - See my aromatization page for ways to reduce these.
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Improves Sleep, Sexuality And Joint Pain In Older Women - Science Daily, 8/21/08 - "post-menopausal women on HRT gain significant improvements in quality of life ... For most women with significant menopause symptoms the benefits of HRT outweigh the risks. The latest analyses of the main long-term randomized control trial of HRT (The Women's Health Initiative) show that breast cancer is not increased by oestrogen-only HRT and is only increased in women using combined oestrogen and progestogen HRT after seven years of use. This increased risk is less than 0.1% per year of use"
• Risk Of Gall Bladder Disease With Hormone Replacement Therapy Patches Lower Than With HRT Pills - Science Daily, 7/10/08
• Estrogen May Be Neuroprotective After All - Medscape, 6/18/08
• Estrogen Helps Drive Distinct, Aggressive Form Of Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 5/27/08 - "Now, we show for the first time that this natural estrogen can stimulate the production of the cancer-linked TMPRSS2-ERG transcript, via the estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha and ER-beta ... We now believe that agents that dampen estrogen activity (ER-beta antagonists) could inhibit fusion-positive prostate cancers" - That raises the question whether aromatase inhibitors might help prevent prostate cancer.  I've always felt they do and have been taking a quarter tablet of letrozole every other day (OffshoreRX).
• Non-estrogen Option for Menopause - WebMD, 5/23/08 - "a non-estrogen drug called Ophena significantly improves symptoms of vaginal dryness and painful intercourse in postmenopausal women, raising hopes of an alterative to estrogen replacement therapy ... Ophena is a type of drug called a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM)" - The article makes it sound like it's on the market so I was wondering why I never heard of it.  I Googled it and found the company site and it's not on the market.  It's in a phase III pivotal study.
• Relationship of sex steroid hormones with bone mineral density in a nationally-representative sample of men - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2008 May 14 - "Men in the lowest quartile of free estradiol had 70% increased odds (OR=1.69, 95% CI 0.95-2.98) of osteopenia compared with men in the highest quartile. Men in the lowest quartile of free testosterone had nearly four times the odds of osteopenia than those in the highest quartile (OR=3.82; 95% CI 1.87-7.78). Lower concentrations of SHBG appeared protective against osteopenia (p-trend=0.01). Neither total testosterone nor total estradiol was associated with BMD, although men with clinically low estradiol (<20 ng/l) had lower BMD (0.930 g/cm(2), 95% CI 0.88-0.98) than men with normal-range estradiol (1.024 g/cm(2), 1.01-1.04; p=0.004"
• Hormone Therapy May Cut Risk of AMD - WebMD, 4/14/08 - "Current hormone users were found to have a 48% lower risk for developing the neovascular, or wet, form of AMD, compared with women who had never taken postmenopausal hormones"
• Why Synthetic Estrogens Wreak Havoc On Reproductive System - Science Daily, 3/31/08
• High Levels Of Estrogen Associated With Breast Cancer Recurrence - Science Daily, 3/6/08
• After HRT, Some Health Risks Remain - WebMD, 3/4/08
• Hormone Therapy May Skew Mammograms - WebMD, 2/26/08 - "Women who take combined hormone therapy, even for a short time, are at significantly increased risk of having suspicious mammograms and undergoing breast biopsies as a result"
• FDA Goes After 'Natural' HRT Claims - WebMD, 1/9/08 - "The agency warned the pharmacies to cease marketing HRT containing estriol and to stop making claims that their products are "natural" or "bioequivalent" to standard HRT"
• What Is The Link Between Women's Hormones And Mood Disorders? - Science Daily, 12/17/07
• Altered Sex Hormone Levels, Higher Body Temp Affects Sleep Quality In Postmenopausal Women - Science Daily, 12/1/07 - "lower estradiol (E2) and higher luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were significantly correlated with indices of poor sleep quality, with relationships between LH and quality of sleep being stronger than those for E2"
• Too Much Sugar Turns Off Gene That Controls Effects Of Sex Steroids - Science Daily, 11/21/07 - "This discovery reinforces public health advice to eat complex carbohydrates and avoid sugar ... Glucose and fructose are metabolized in the liver. When there’s too much sugar in the diet, the liver converts it to lipid. Using a mouse model and human liver cell cultures, the scientists discovered that the increased production of lipid shut down a gene called SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), reducing the amount of SHBG protein in the blood. SHBG protein plays a key role in controlling the amount of testosterone and estrogen that’s available throughout the body"
• The Pill Raises Cervical Cancer Risk - WebMD, 11/8/07
• Cardiovascular Benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy May Depend on Timing - Doctor's Guide, 11/8/07 - "Naturally menopausal women initiating hormone therapy (HT) prior to age 45 were better protected against coronary artery disease (CAD) compared with those starting it later and non users"
• Cervical Cancer Risk Decreases After Stopping the Pill - Doctor's Guide, 11/7/07 - "Cervical cancer risk for women up to the age of 50 in developed countries such as the UK who have never used the pill is 3.8 in 1,000. This increases to 4.0 per 1000 in women who use the pill for 5 years, and to 4.5 per 1000 for those who take the pill for 10 years"
• Artery Plaque Risk From the Pill? - WebMD, 11/6/07 - "every decade of use was associated with a 42% increase in carotid plaque and a 34% increase in femoral plaque"
• Women Taking Hormones Sleep Better and Have Less Vaginal Dryness - Doctor's Guide, 10/10/07 - "There is an upside for postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) -- better sleep patterns, less vaginal dryness, and fewer aches and pains"
• Transdermal Estradiol Spray Improves Vasomotor Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 10/9/07
• Hormone Hoax: No Extra Benefit From Bioidentical Hormones - Doctor's Guide, 10/9/07 - "bioidentical compounded hormones (BCHs) ... conventional hormone therapy (CHT) ... Symptom relief from CHT and BCHs was similar except regarding sexual issues, where the response was significantly better for BCH than CHT"
• Hormone Therapy Boosts Sexual Interest But Not Memory, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 9/24/07
• Sex Boost From Late Hormone Therapy - WebMD, 9/24/07 - "Hormone therapy did not help the women's memory ... The level of sexual interest reported by women on hormone therapy increased 44%"
• Estrogen Linked To Breast Cancer - Science Daily, 8/24/07
• Estrogen Tells Brain Where Fat Goes - WebMD, 8/20/07
• Revealing Estrogen's Secret Role In Obesity - WebMD, 8/20/07
• Breast Cancer Decline Linked to HRT - WebMD, 8/14/07 - "For instance, between 2002 and 2003, HRT use fell by 34%. That lines up with a 13% drop in the women's rate of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer"
• Age Is Important In Hormone Therapy Use, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 8/3/07
• Hormone Therapy Not for Older Women - WebMD, 7/11/07 - "Hormone therapy is a two-edged sword. It seems to help the earliest stages of heart disease, but may increase the risk of blood clots and arterial plaque rupture if continued into older age"
• Estrogen Therapy Gives Aging Brain Cells A Boost - Science Daily, 6/25/07 - "estrogen significantly improved cognitive function in older animals but not in young monkeys"
• Hormone Therapy: Heartening News - WebMD, 6/20/07 - "Estrogen protects the hearts of women who take the hormone early in menopause ... about 7.5 years after starting hormone therapy -- and more than a year after the trial ended -- women taking estrogen were 30% less likely to have serious hardening of the coronary arteries ... there is no increased risk of breast cancer with estrogen alone, only with estrogen plus progesterone, and the risk is tiny"
• Estrogen Is Important For Bone Health In Men As Well As Women - Science Daily, 5/10/07 - "As for men - new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that low amounts of active estrogen metabolites also can increase their osteoporosis risk"
• Estrogen Use Before 65 Linked To Reduced Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease - Science Daily, 5/2/07 - "women who used any form of estrogen hormone therapy before the age of 65 were nearly 50 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or dementia"
• Estrogen Therapy May Protect Brain - WebMD, 5/2/07
• Strong Link Between Breast Cancer And Hormone Replacement Therapy Found - Science Daily, 4/18/07 - "At best, based on this analysis, an individual woman could reduce her individual risk of developing breast cancer by one in 60, or about 1.7 percent, if she stopped using hormones"
• HRT linked to ovarian cancer risk - BBC News, 4/18/07 - "The new analysis of 948,576 postmenopausal women showed a 20% increased risk of developing and dying from ovarian cancer in HRT users, compared with those who had never used the treatment"
• Timing Key in Hormone Heart Risk - WebMD, 4/3/07 - "The researchers found no increased risk of heart disease among women who begin hormone therapy within 10 years of the onset of menopause. Taking hormones 20 or more years after menopause or taking them after age 69 was associated with increased heart risk"
• Study: Hormone patch safer than pill - USA Today, 2/25/07 - "Hormone skin patches and gels, it seems, are far less likely than pills to cause dangerous blood clots"
• Birth Control Pills - Weight Gain - The Claim: The Pill Can Make You Put On Weight - New York Times, 1/30/07
• Breast Cancer Rates Fall Sharply - WebMD, 12/14/06
• Hormone Therapy May Improve Memory - WebMD, 11/17/06
• Hormone Replacement Therapy May Improve Visual Memory - Science Daily, 11/16/06 - "Those who were taking combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy showed significantly increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that is critical in memory tasks, compared with those on placebo"
• Hormone Therapy Does Not Improve Quality Of Life For Women, Finnish Trial Finds - Science Daily, 11/11/06 - "The women receiving hormone therapy showed slightly more cardiovascular disease, cerebral circulatory disease and cancer in comparison to the women who did not take hormones. However, these differences were not statistically significant. The hormone recipients had less fractures and less hot flashes and night-time sweating than the comparison group, but they also had more flow. There were no differences in depression, sleep disorders, fatigue, dizziness or bloating"
• New form of hormone therapy sparks debate - MSNBC, 11/1/06
• Hormone therapy may damage hearing - MSNBC, 9/5/06 - "those taking hormone replacement therapy that included progestin had poorer speech understanding than women who were not taking hormones or who were using estrogen only"
• Menopause Treatment a Cancer Risk? - WebMD, 7/24/06 - "women who had gone through menopause naturally and took estrogen plus testosterone had 2.5 times the risk of breast cancer than those who had never used hormone therapy. Estrogen-only therapy showed a 23% increased risk and estrogen-plus-progesterone therapy was linked to a 66% increased risk in those women with natural menopause"
• Ultra Low-Dose Estrogen Shown Safe for Post-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 7/14/06 - "It's thought that estrogen in pill form might stimulate the liver to produce substances that can lead to clotting or other adverse side effects. With a patch, you bypass the liver and go straight to the blood"
• Hormone Therapy: For Whom? How Long? - WebMD, 6/1/06 - "Doctors agree that hormone therapy can help women whose lives are disrupted by menopausal symptoms. Doctors agree the treatment -- estrogen plus progestin for women with a uterus, and estrogen alone for women who have had a hysterectomy -- carries risks. Doctors agree that for some women, the risks of hormone therapy outweigh the benefits ... Doctors disagree over which women need hormone therapy, and why they might need it. They disagree over when it's best to start hormone therapy. And they disagree over when to stop hormone therapy"
• Estrogen-Only HRT Safe for 15 Years - WebMD, 5/8/05 - "The finding applies just to estrogen-only HRT prescribed for women who have had a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). For women with a uterus, estrogen alone greatly increases the risk of uterine cancer. To avoid this risk, HRT for women with a uterus balances estrogen with progesterone. But adding progesterone to estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer"
• Hormone Therapy May Prevent Heart Attacks for Women in Their 50s - Doctor's Guide, 4/20/06 - "HRT can reduce heart attacks by about one-third in women under age 60 but has mixed results for older women"
• Estrogen, progestin questioned - USA Today, 4/12/06 - "women's risk of breast cancer began rising between three and four years after going on estrogen plus progestin ... Women who take 0.625 milligrams of estrogen, the dose tested in the Women's Health Initiative, "have a real risk of endometrial cancer" if they don't also take progestin"
• New Data From the Women's Health Initiative Study Show No Increased Risk of Breast Cancer with Conjugated Estrogens Alone - Doctor's Guide, 4/12/06
• Estrogen HRT: No Breast Cancer Risk - WebMD, 4/11/06 - "After hysterectomy, estrogen-only hormone therapy does not increase a woman's risk of breast cancer"
• Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Appears to Increase Risk of Blood Clots in Veins - Doctor's Guide, 4/11/06
• Beyond Women's Health Initiative: When and How to Treat Menopausal Symptoms with Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 4/10/06 - "Treat moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes -- night sweats associated with menopause -- with low dose, short-term [HRT], but this comes with risk ... Treat vulvar and vaginal atrophy as well but treat instead with topical estrogens because of lower level of estrogens delivered"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy May Prevent Heart Attacks in Women Under 60, Analysis of 23 Studies Concludes - Doctor's Guide, 4/4/06 - "HRT can reduce heart attacks by about one-third in women under age 60 but has mixed results for older women"
• BIO-E-GEL Decreases Postmenopausal Vasomotor Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 3/10/06
• The latest flip-flop on hormone therapy gives new hope to younger women - US News, 3/6/06 - "women like Smith who take hormones when they're relatively young and closer to menopause may actually be protected against heart disease--not at higher risk"
• Estrogen questions linger - USA Today, 2/22/06
• Estrogen-progestin Menopausal Hormone Therapy And Risk Of Lobular And Tubular Breast Cancer - Science Daily, 2/20/06
• Is Hormone Therapy Helpful After All? - WebMD, 2/13/06
• Study: Estrogen-Only Hormone Therapy Is Safe - ABC News, 2/13/06 - "Estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy probably won't help women's hearts, but it might not harm them, either"
• A New Look at HRT Highlights the Value of Early Initiation Relative to Menopause Onset - Doctor's Guide, 1/31/06 - "Results of this study found a distinct advantage to treating women close to menopause with HRT when compared to women initiating HRT a decade or more following menopause"
• Rethinking Hormones, Again  - New York Times, 1/31/06
• Timing May Be Key to Hormone Therapy - HealthDay, 1/24/06
• Low Brain Estrogen May Boost Women's Alzheimer's Risk - Intelihealth, 12/19/05
• Study That Discredited Hormone Replacement Therapy Was Flawed, Experts Say - Intelihealth, 12/16/05 - "The Massachusetts expert says he's convinced that transdermal estrogen, given in patch form, is superior to oral estrogen. "Oral estrogen passes through the liver and stimulates the blood-clotting factors too much, leading to heart attacks,""
• Estrogen And Exercise Promote Leanness In Similar Ways - Science Daily, 11/5/05 - "Scientists long have known that fading estrogen levels lead postmenopausal women to accumulate more fat and sometimes develop insulin resistance or diabetes. The study demonstrates that estrogen may reduce body fat in animals and may explain some of the reasons behind the association of menopause with increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes"
• Oral Estradiol Therapy May Worsen Insulin Resistance in Obese Menopausal Women with Metabolic Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 10/21/05 - "After 12 weeks, there was significant worsening of insulin resistance in women taking oral estradiol ... The researchers observed no significant changes in markers of insulin resistance in women receiving transdermal estradiol, except for a decrease in glucose to insulin ratio from 7.13 to 5.77"
• Breast Cancer Risk With HRT Lower Than Believed - Physician's Weekly, 10/3/05 - "HRT increases a woman’s cumulative breast cancer risk, but only slightly"
• Estrogen's Antioxidant Power May Play Key Role In Cerebral Blood Vessel Health - Science Daily, 8/29/05 - "In rats treated with doses of estrogen, however, vascular mitochondria produced energy more efficiently with lower amounts of damaging free radicals"
• Fewer Wrinkles And Firmer Skin Linked To Earlier Use Of Estrogen Therapy - Science Daily, 8/26/05 - “We don’t believe hormone therapy will make wrinkles melt away once they’re already there, but the results of our study shows that hormone therapy can prevent them. Hormone therapy makes wrinkles less severe and keeps skin more elastic,”
• Risk of Breast Cancer with HRT May Be Lower than We Think - Doctor's Guide, 8/5/05
• Breast Cancer, Hormone Link Clarified - WebMD, 8/4/05 - "combination of estrogen and progestin ... the risk in a 50-year-old woman increased from 6.1% to 6.7% if she took combined hormones for five years. The risk for the same woman who took hormones for a decade was estimated to be 7.7%"
• Menopause Symptoms Return When Hormones Stop - WebMD, 7/12/05
• Menopausal Hormone Therapy: A New Debate - WebMD, 7/12/05
• Breast Cancer Easier To Miss In Women On HRT - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/25/05 - "found an increased chance that cancer may be missed among women on HRT. That may be because some of their breast tissue is more dense, making the cancer more difficult to find"
• Estrogen Could Affect Memory, Learning - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/19/05 - "estrogen stimulates the hippocampus – the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, but this happened only in female rats, not in males"
• Can Breast Cancer Survivors Take Hormones? - WebMD, 8/27/06
• Teen Estrogen Therapy May Affect Fertility - WebMD, 10/21/04
• Study: Pill Cuts Cancer, Coronary Risks - Intelihealth, 10/20/04 - "the type of hormones and the stage of life when they're used may be what makes them helpful at one point and harmful at another ... there's an 8 percent risk reduction of ever having cardiovascular disease ... Women on The Pill also had a 7 percent lower risk of developing any form of cancer"
• Stopping Hormone Replacement Therapy Results in Rebound of Vasomotor Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 10/13/04
• Four Osteoporosis Drugs Show No Difference in Impact on Endothelial Function - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/04
• Ultra-Low Dose Estradiol Good for Bone Health, and Appears to Have No Impact on Endometrium - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/04 - "14 mcg of estradiol patch ... By the end of 2 years, there was a 2.6% increase in bone mineral density of the lumbar spine over baseline, and a 0.4% increase in BMD at the hip. By comparison in the placebo group, the increase in BMD of the spine was 0.6% and there was a loss in BMD at the hip of 0.8% ... These ultra-low doses of estradiol should be sufficient to preserve bone health in women over the age of 60 years"
• Finnish Study Shows Very Low Incidence of Cardio- and Cerebrovascular Events From Long-Term Hormone Replacement Therapy Use - Doctor's Guide, 10/8/04 - "As to why the results of this study may be different from what was seen in the Women's health Initiative, the only significant difference in baseline data was that women in this study were somewhat younger (mean age 56 years) than those in the WHI"
• Study Links Estrogen Pills, Blood Clots - Intelihealth, 10/6/04
• Gynecologists Issue New Hormone Therapy Guide - WebMD, 10/1/04
• No Decline in Dementia Risk With Estrogen Use - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/04
• EstroGel (Estradiol Gel) Transdermal Gel for Estrogen Therapy Now Available in US - Doctor's Guide, 7/27/04 - "EstroGel® (estradiol gel), the first transdermal estrogen gel in the country, is now available with a prescription to treat moderate to severe hot flashes and moderate to severe dryness, itching, and burning in and around the vagina"
• Younger Women May Benefit From HRT - WebMD, 7/15/04 - "The study, however, was limited to older women who were years past the menopause. Now a review of smaller studies concludes that the benefits of HRT probably outweigh the risks for many younger women"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy in Early Menopause Could Have More Benefits Than Risks - Doctor's Guide, 7/14/04 - "When women begin HRT before age 60, their risk of death is 39 percent less than women not on hormones"
• Hormone Therapy Associated with Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment and Appears to Adversely Effect Cognition in Women 65 Years and Older - Doctor's Guide, 6/23/04
• Estrogen-Alone Hormone Therapy Could Increase Risk Of Dementia In Older Women - Science Daily, 6/23/04 - "At the end of the study, the risk of dementia in the estrogen-alone group was 49% higher than the risk in women using the placebo ... 12 extra cases of dementia in every 10,000 women using estrogen alone each year"
• Postmenopausal Estrogens Therapy May Protect Against Parkinson Disease - Doctor's Guide, 6/22/04
• Hormone Loss at Menopause May Cause Weight Gain - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/04 - "Loss of estrogen and progesterone at menopause could predispose women to weight gain due, in part, to a decrease in resting caloric expenditure"
• Estrogen and Estrogen-Related Drugs May Protect Against Alzheimer's Disease - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/04 - "the researchers believe the results support the use of estrogen, or SERMs, for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease"
• Birth Control, HRT, and Sex Drive - WebMD, 6/9/04 - "adding natural progesterone moderately reduced estrogen's libido-stimulating effect, but adding MPA [medroxyprogesterone] completely eliminated it ... aggression levels increased when they were on the estrogen/MPA combination ... Oral delivery has more of an effect on libido than transdermal or transvaginal delivery"
• Research In Monkeys Suggests Estrogen Therapy May Lower Androgens In Postmenopausal Women - Science Daily, 5/17/04 - "Our findings suggest that it might be important for women taking estrogen after menopause to also take androgen supplements – which can include testosterone"
• Postmenopausal Women Show Significantly Reduced Incident Fracture Risk While on Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 5/12/04 - "We found a significantly reduced risk of fracture a year or so after women had started using hormone therapy, with the risk decreasing further with increasing duration of use"
• Ultra-Low Dose Estrogen Patch Helps Bones - WebMD, 5/4/04
• Ultra-Low-Dose Estradiol Patch Stops Bone Turnover, Increases Bone Density - Medscape, 5/4/04 - "The patch dose is "roughly one fourth of the standard 0.625-mg dose usually prescribed for menopause symptoms ... That minimal increase translated into a "3% increase in BMD at the spine compared to placebo and a 1.5% increase at the hip compared to placebo ... All women received 800 mg calcium and 400 IU vitamin D daily"
• Fewer Side Effects With Estrogen Replacement Therapy, No Increased Risk of Breast Cancer or Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 4/28/04 - "Women taking estrogen-only replacement therapy (ERT) for up to seven years have no increased risk of breast cancer or heart disease ... These findings differ from those of the first arm of study in women taking a combination of estrogen and progestin"
• Low-Dose Transdermal Estrogen Viable Short-Term Option for Treating Menopausal Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 4/19/04
• Conjugated Equine Oestrogen Associated with Increased Risk of Stroke, Decreased Risk of Fracture, and No Effect on Coronary Heart Disease in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 4/13/04
• Estrogen Discouraged for Disease Prevention - WebMD,  4/13/04
• NIH Asks Participants in Women's Health Initiative Estrogen-Alone Study to Stop Study Pills, Begin Follow-up Phase - Doctor's Guide, 3/2/04 - "estrogen alone does not appear to affect (either increase or decrease) heart disease, a key question of the study. At the same time, estrogen alone appears to increase the risk of stroke and decrease the risk of hip fracture. It has not increased the risk of breast cancer during the time period of the study"
• HRT Heart Risk Long Suspected - WebMD, 2/26/04
• HRT Raises Asthma Risks Among Older Women - WebMD, 2/23/04
• Postmenopausal Health: Estrogen and SERMs - Physician's Weekly, 1/26/04
• Estrogen Users Fared Better Than Nonusers on Cognitive Testing - Clinical Psychiatry News Online, 1/04 - "Estrogen users performed significantly better on every test than did nonusers. After adjustment for possible confounders, the difference in performance scores between the estrogen users and nonusers had a mean effect size of 1.13. Effect size is the standardized difference between two means. An effect size of 0.2-0.3 is considered small, one of 0.3-0.7 is considered moderate, and one of 1.1 is considered large"
• Estrogen Plus Progestin Doubles Risk of Venous Thrombosis - Doctor's Guide, 12/16/03
• Stopping HRT Difficult for Many Women - WebMD, 12/10/03
• Estrogen Is Involved in Stress Response - WebMD, 12/3/03
• Menopause and Midlife Weight Gain - WebMD, 11/12/03 - "monkeys who had their ovaries removed, resulting in a more rapid drop in female hormone levels as oppose to the gradual drops changes seen during the menopausal transition, had an almost immediate and dramatic increase in appetite that led to weight gain"
• Estrogen Might Improve Memory in Post-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 11/10/03 - "New data provides further positive evidence that estrogen treatment might provide positive long-term effects on memory and learning in post-menopausal women"
• Hormone Hysteria? -- Hormone replacement therapy may not be so bad - Scientific American, 10/03 - "A growing number of researchers believe that Provera is a poor substitute for progesterone. For example, medroxyprogesterone will bind in the breasts to progesterone receptors, which causes breast cells to divide after puberty and during the menstrual cycle, and also to glucocorticoid receptors, which causes cell division during pregnancy. This double-barreled assault on breast cells, explains C. Dominique Toran-Allerand, a developmental neurobiologist at Columbia University, probably led to the high rates of breast cancer in the study. "With Provera you are activating two receptors involved with cell division in the breast," she says, "and that's the culprit, not estrogen.""
• More than 50% Have Dropped HRT Treatment - WebMD, 10/9/03
• Hormone Replacement Replaced - WebMD, 10/8/03
• Conjugated Oestrogens/Trimegestone Improve Quality Of Life For Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 10/3/03 - "All of the groups of patients taking OE/TMG had a significantly greater improvement than those on placebo in terms of vasomotor symptoms, sleep difficulty, physiological symptoms, memory concentration, sexual behavior and attractiveness (p<0.05). However, depressed mood and anxiety or fear related symptoms were not impacted by OE/TMG therapy"
• Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy May Increase Risk of Ovarian Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 10/2/03
• Hope That Hormone Therapy Helps Heart - WebMD, 9/30/03 - "Women with heart failure who take hormone therapy are 40% less likely to die over a 3-year period. Adjusting for other heart risk factors, taking hormone therapy increased a woman's chances of 3-year, heart-failure survival from 58% to 78%"
• Postmenopausal Women Find New Vaginal Ring Delivery System Easy to Use - Doctor's Guide, 9/24/03 - "Postmenopausal women who tried a new vaginal ring delivery system find it is easy to use, comfortable, and highly acceptable"
• Estrogen Increases Bone Density Equally Regardless of Age or Race - Doctor's Guide, 9/24/03
• Possible Decreased Risk of Breast Cancer Mortality Among Users of Oestrogen Alone - Doctor's Guide, 9/23/03
• Oestrogen/Progestin Combination Does Not Improve Post-Menopausal Cognitive Function - Doctor's Guide, 9/23/03
• Increased Risk of Dementia in Postmenopausal Women on Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 9/19/03
• FDA Offers HRT Guidance - CBS News, 9/9/03
• Cessation of Hormone Replacement Results in Rapid Increase in Bone Turnover, Bone Loss - Doctor's Guide, 9/2/03 - "HRT withdrawal was followed by significant bone loss, with an annual rate ranging from -0.7 to -1.6% ... These findings have important implications for women who are given HRT for preventing the risk of osteoporosis"
• Low-Dose Oestrogen Increased Bone Density in Older Women Without Increasing Oestrogen-Associated Adverse Effects - Doctor's Guide, 8/26/03 - "They randomised 167 women, older than 65 years of age, to receive either 0.25 mg/day micronized 17beta-estradiol or placebo for 3 years ... patients treated with low-dose estradiol showed bone mineral density increases of 2.6% at the femoral neck, 3.6% of the total hip, 2.8% at the spine, and 1.2% in total body measurements. Similar bone mineral density changes were seen between those who received and did not receive progesterone"
• Oestrogen Plus Progestin May Increase The Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Post-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 8/26/03
• Obesity, Estrogen Linked to Breast Cancer - WebMD, 8/19/03
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Beneficial in Post-Menopausal Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis - Doctor's Guide, 8/14/03 - "Women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) show greater improvements in disease activity, inflammation, bone mineral density, and radiological progression than women not receiving HRT ... Treatment with HRT also led to better control of inflammation"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Associated with Increased Risk for Breast Cancer; Risk is Higher with Oestrogen-Progestagen Combinations - Doctor's Guide, 8/12/03 - "Compared with women who had never used HRT, those who were users of HRT at the time of recruitment had a 1.66 adjusted relative risk to develop breast cancer and a 1.22 adjusted relative risk to die from breast cancer. Conversely, women who had used HRT 5 to 9 years previously, compared with never users, did not show an increased risk for incident breast cancer ... or fatal breast cancer"
• Oral, but Not Transdermal, Oestrogen Replacement Therapy Associated with Increased Risk of Venous Thromboembolism - Doctor's Guide, 8/12/03 - "Women currently using oral oestrogen-replacement therapy (ERT), compared with those using transdermal ERT and those not using ERT, show an increased risk for venous thromboembolism"
• Oral but not Transdermal Estrogen Replacement Therapy may Increase CRP Levels - Doctor's Guide, 8/11/03 - "Transdermal oestrogen appears to have no effect on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels after 6 months. In contrast, oral oestrogen may significantly increase CRP concentrations ... CRP is thought to promote the inflammatory component of atherosclerosis, and increased levels may be a strong predictor of cardiovascular events"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Does Not Offer Protection Against Coronary Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 8/7/03
• Estrogen Patch May Have Lower Clot Risk - WebMD, 8/7/03 - "the odds of having a venous thromboembolism for users of oral HRT was more than three times greater than the risk found among estrogen patch and gel users or women who weren't on HRT"
• Sorting Out HRT Risks and Benefits - WebMD, 8/6/03
• Hormone Therapy May Hurt Heart Rhythm - WebMD, 7/30/03 - "When the QT interval gets longer, it's a sign that the heart may be developing rhythm problems, or arrhythmia ... Women taking estrogen-only HRT -- but not women taking combination estrogen/progestin HRT -- had twice the risk of prolonged QT interval compared with women who never took HRT"
• Estrogen Replacement Increases Risk Factors For Arrhythmia And Sudden Death - Doctor's Guide, 7/29/03
• Combo HRT Tied to Dementia in Older Women - Clinical Psychiatry News, 7/03
• Use Of Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy for 15 years or More Increases Breast Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 7/8/03
• Estrogens as Antioxidants – Reducing Heart Disease in Younger Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 7/4/03 - "If LDL becomes oxidised its ability to cause heart disease increases. If HDL becomes oxidised its ability to protect against heart disease is lessened ... estrogens can act as antioxidants, which neutralise free radicals, and hence protect HDL from oxidation. In addition, high levels of HDL are able to protect LDL from oxidation, and this ability is strongly enhanced when estrogens are present ... Although recent randomised control trials have shown that HRT in older women may not reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease, Dr. Bhavnani believes that this is not the whole story"
• The Hormone Replacement Decision in Light of Study Findings-Women's Responses Differ - Doctor's Guide, 7/2/03
• New Low Dose Hormone Therapy Prempro (Estrogen/ Medroxyprogesterone) Available in US - Doctor's Guide, 7/1/03
• Oestrogen Plus Progestin Therapy Ups Risk of Breast Cancer, Risk of Advanced Stage at Diagnosis - Doctor's Guide, 6/25/03 - "randomly assigned to receive daily equine oestrogens (0.625 mg) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (2.5 mg) ... postmenopausal oestrogen plus progestin use significantly increases the incidence of breast cancer within a 5-year period"
• Menopausal Estrogen-Related Bone Loss Much Greater than Age-Related Bone Loss - Doctor's Guide, 6/25/03 - "In middle-aged women, age-related bone loss has a minor impact on the metabolic activity of bone compared to the impact of estrogen loss that accompanies menopause, which affects metabolic activity and bone density to a larger degree"
• Making the Case for HRT & Breast Cancer - WebMD, 6/24/03
• Specific Type of Cognition Improves with Hormone Replacement in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 6/24/03 - "The oestrogen therapy had no effect on overall verbal recall; however, it reduced perseverative errors -- the repetition of words already recalled -- by almost half. Perseveration is an important part of verbal learning, representing either inability to inhibit a previously stated response or true forgetting that a response was already given"
• Managing Menopause: What to Do? - WebMD, 6/20/03 - "Hot flashes, mood changes, lost sleep, decreased sexual interest, vaginal changes such as dryness -- "Quality of life is big issue for many women," ... The vast majority of women, more than 60%, take hormone replacement therapy to relieve these symptoms ... Here's what works and what does not: ..."
• Low-Dose Birth Control Pill May Have Less Stroke Risk For Young Women - Doctor's Guide, 6/13/03
• Low-Dose Pill Doesn't Raise Stroke Risk - Doctor's Guide, 6/12/03
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Reduces Risk of Cataracts in Post-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 6/11/03 - "Women who do not use hormone replacement therapy are twice as likely to develop lens opacities, and cataracts compared with women who do use HRT/oestrogen"
• FDA Approves New Strength of Prempro, Low Dose Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 6/9/03 - "Prempro 0.3 mg/1.5 mg is approved for the treatment of moderate to severe symptoms associated with menopause, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness; and for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis."
• Alendronate/Hormone Replacement Therapy Combination Safe, More Effective Treatment for Osteoporosis in Elderly Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/30/03 - "after 3 years total hip BMD increased an average 5.9% in the combinatorial group, 4.2% in the alendronate only group, 3.0% in the HRT only group and was maintained in the placebo group"
• Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy May Increase Risk Of Dementia In Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/03
• Older Women Taking Combination Estrogen/Progestin May Be At Higher Risk For Probable Dementia - Doctor's Guide, 5/28/03
• HRT Now Linked to Alzheimer's, Dementia - WebMD, 5/27/03 - "Progestin has been shown to modify the beneficial effects of estrogen -- possibly increasing the risk of heart disease and dementia ... A woman's age when she begins taking HRT, how long she takes it, and if she gets it from a patch or a pill -- all could have an effect on her risk"
• Hormone Therapy: Steering the Middle Course - Physician's Weekly, 5/26/03 - "After reviewing the study design, I think the intent was to maximize resources and minimize expenses. To that end it was deliberately designed to recruit women who were older; two-thirds of the women in that study had to be older than 60 and the average age of the women was 63. Furthermore, because it was a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial, individuals with moderate to severe menopausal symptoms were encouraged not to participate"
• Oestrogen Plus Progestin Increases Risk of Stroke in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/25/03
• Hormone Replacement Therapy/Alendronate Combination Safe, Effective for Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis in Older Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/03
• Hormone Replacement Normalises Cholesterol in African-American Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/18/03 - "randomised to daily combination HRT consisting of 0.625 of conjugated oestrogen and 2.5 mg of medroxyprogesterone ... Overall, the women had an 8% increase in total HDL cholesterol ... They found an 8% reduction in the ratio of LDL to HDL ... LDL composition measurements were not changed"
• HRT Does Little for Quality of Life - WebMD, 5/7/03
• Hormone Therapy Not Risky for Heart Disease in First Year - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/03
• Femhrt Increases Endothelial Dysfunction in Postmenopausal Non-Smokers - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/03 - "Femhrt subjects showed a statistically significant mean increase in vasodilation versus placebo in healthy women who never smoked ... Prempro and Evista showed no such endothelial benefits for this subgroup or the smoker group"
• Renin Substrate Levels Decrease with Transdermal Hormone Therapy and Increase with Oral Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/03 - "Oral Prempro (conjugated equine estrogen/medroxyprogesterone) appears to increase plasma levels of renin substrate (angiotensinogen) to a significantly greater extent than CombiPatch (estradiol/norethindrone) ... The problem is that increases in the renin substrate (RS) can trigger activity in [renin-angiogenesis-aldosterone system] that can lead, in turn, to higher blood pressure and, possibly, hypertension" - See CombiPatch at drugstore.com.
• Transdermal Hormones Better than Oral for Improving Women's Sexual Quality of Life - Doctor's Guide, 5/2/03 - "At end point (20 weeks), 33% of 81 women on CombiPatch eported improvement in Quality of Life scores compared to 17% of 84 on Prempro"
• HRT Increases Risk for Incontinence - WebMD, 4/30/03
• Anti-hip Fracture Efficacy Lost with Estrogen Cessation - Doctor's Guide, 4/29/03 - "We found a statistically significant correlation between ending estrogen and increased risk of hip fracture ... Among this sub-group, the current users showed a statistically significant reduced tendency toward hip fracture over never-users (0.10% of 67,973 vs. 0.28% of 53,737"
• FDA Approves Low Dose Premarin (Conjugated Estrogens Tablets) - Doctor's Guide, 4/28/03 - "Premarin® (conjugated estrogens tablets, USP) 0.45 mg contains 28 percent less estrogen than the standard 0.625 mg dose. Premarin 0.45 mg was approved for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause and the treatment of moderate to severe symptoms of vulvar and vaginal atrophy"
• Hormone Studies: What Went Wrong? - NY Times, 4/22/03 - "He said it was possible that estradiol, the estrogen women naturally produce and that goes directly to their bloodstream is protective. The estrogen in pills, metabolized by the liver before entering the blood, may be harmful. Neither the nurses' study nor the Women's Health Initiative addressed that question, Dr. Rossouw said"
• Estrogen Patch Compared To Pill Minimizes Cardiovascular Risk Factor In Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 4/15/03
• Estrogen Patch More Heart-Friendly Than Pills - WebMD, 4/15/03 - "the C-reactive protein increased to an average of almost twice their baseline levels when the women took oral estrogen replacement, but not when they were on the estrogen patch"
• Long-Term Estrogen Replacement Does Not Increase Patella Cartilage - Doctor's Guide, 4/8/03
• High Estrogen/Progestin Levels May Reduce Asthma Severity - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/03 - "women's lung function and asthma symptoms improve when estrogen and progesterone levels are raised, both naturally during certain times in the menstrual cycle and with the administration of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy"
• Progestin-Estrogen Therapy Debate Cools - WebMD, 3/17/03 - "Many women refused to be enrolled in the WHI study because they wanted to keep taking their hormones"
• Anti-estrogenic Effects of Hormonal Therapy May Impair Verbal Memory in Breast Cancer Patients - Doctor's Guide, 3/17/03 - "the women from the ATAC trial were significantly impaired on measures of verbal memory and processing speed, as compared with the controls. "And when hormone-replacement therapy in each group was accounted for, the deficits [in the ATAC patients] remained significant," ... animal studies show that estrogen levels affect the structure and function of the hippocampus and frontal lobes of the cortex, which are important for consolidating new memories. And some studies examining the effects of hormone replacement therapy in healthy postmenopausal women show it improves verbal memory and attention"
• FDA Approves Lower Dose Prempro (Conjugated Estrogens/ Medroxyprogesterone Acetate) - Doctor's Guide, 3/13/03
• Caffeine, HRT Affect Parkinson's Risk - WebMD, 3/12/03 - "caffeine reduces Parkinson's risk in women who don't take HRT -- but increases it in women who do take HRT"
• Tamoxifen May Head Off Heart Disease, Breast Cancer In Women Post-Hysterectomy - Doctor's Guide, 3/5/03
• Study Finds Breast Cancer Risk Due to Progestins in HRT - WebMD, 3/5/03 - "Women who take combination hormone replacement therapy for more than four years are at very high risk of breast cancer compared with women who have never used HRT. But estrogen-only HRT is virtually free of breast-cancer risk"
• Timing of HRT Key to Heart Disease Prevention - WebMD, 3/3/03 - "taking estrogen around the time of menopause may protect against heart disease, but starting it later in life increases the risk"
• Treating PMS With the Pill - WebMD, 2/27/03 - "The two-year-old pill, known by the trade name Yasmin, is the first to use the progestin drospirenone, which is believed to have diuretic properties because it is similar in structure to a water pill called spironolactone ... Prior to taking the contraceptive 30% of the women reported that PMS affected their daily activities, but that figure dropped to 16% for those on the pill. The number of women reporting that PMS affected their general well-being also dropped, from 35% prior to taking the birth control pill to 21% while on it"
• Endometrial Effects Of Norethindrone Acetate/Ethinyl Estradiol - Doctor's Guide, 2/27/02
• Yasmin (Drospirenone/Ethinyl Estradiol) Oral Contraceptive May Be Effective in Treating, Reducing Premenstrual Syndrome Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 2/24/03
• Estrogen May Not Help Alzheimer's, Brain Size, or Memory - WebMD, 2/19/03
• Postmenopausal Vaginal Atrophy Creams Work With Raloxifene - Doctor's Guide, 2/19/03
• How Should Menopause Be Managed After the Women's Health Initiative? - Doctor's Guide, 2/17/03 - "According to the study's widely overlooked fact sheet, risks calculated from the study apply to the entire population. An individual's real increased risks from HRT are relatively small ... Dr. Carlson stated that there are some alternatives to HRT. Pooled study results in the Cochrane Collection show a reduction in vertebral fractures with bisphosphonate treatment. Raloxifene has also been shown to decrease vertebral fractures. In addition, it appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer by 70% and the risk of cardiovascular events by 40% in women with high risk factors. Adversely, hot flashes and venous thrombolytic events do tend to increase with this treatment. Androgen replacement therapies offer another treatment option"
• Hormone Therapy Raises Stroke Risk - Doctor's Guide, 2/17/03
• Increased Stroke Risk With Combo Hormone Replacement Therapy - WebMD, 2/14/03
• Low Estrogen Linked to Heart Disease - WebMD, 2/4/03 - "The[y] found that 69% of the premenopausal women who actually had coronary artery disease (CAD) had low estrogen levels due to abnormal functioning of the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls hormone production. These women also had low levels of the hormone estradiol and of follicle-stimulating hormone, which stimulates the ovary to produce estrogen. Less than a third of the women without CAD (29%) had low estrogen levels ... stress can lead to significant reductions in estrogen levels. She adds that the women with low estrogen levels in this study tended to be more anxious and reported higher levels of stress ... it is now believed that older women do not benefit because they have lost the estrogen receptors that allow them to respond to estrogen"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Boosts Visual Function In Women - Doctor's Guide, 1/30/03 - "Overall, at one year after the start of treatment, contrast sensitivity function was significantly improved in all spatial frequencies (1.5, 3, 6 and 12 cycles per degree) with the exception of 18 cycles per degree in the HRT group. However, the women in the control group demonstrated significant impairment at the lowest spatial frequencies ... In the HRT versus control group, tear production was also significantly improved at one year after beginning the treatment"
• Most Women Not Quitting HRT - WebMD, 1/13/03
• HRT May Reduce Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 1/6/03 - "postmenopausal women with heart disease who took a combination of estrogen and progestin (Prempro) had a 35% lower risk of developing diabetes than those who took a placebo. The women on HRT also had more normal fasting blood sugar levels, which when high suggest the likely onset of diabetes"
• Transdermal Estradiol May Be An Effective Antidepressant - Clinical Psychiatry News, 1/03 - "The response to transdermal estradiol was “quite rapid,” compared with conventional antidepressants ... Moreover, transdermal estradiol's antidepressant effect remained significant during the 4-week washout period at the end of the 12-week study period"
• Designer Estrogen May Be Better Than HRT - WebMD, 12/18/02
• Estradiol Alone Does Not Increase Breast Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 12/16/02 - "Hormone replacement therapy containing progestins significantly elevates breast cancer risk, but preparations containing estradiol alone do not, a large Swedish observational study suggests"
• HRT May Save Women's Sight - WebMD, 12/13/02 - "Women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be more than 50% less likely to develop the common, sight-robbing condition known as macular degeneration as they grow older then women who have never used HRT"
• HRT May Reduce Progression of Age-Related Maculopathy - Medscape, 12/13/02
• Bone Loss Accelerated After Solo Estrogen Withdrawal For Some Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 12/10/02 - "An acceleration of bone loss is seen after withdrawal of oestrogen therapy but not after withdrawal of alendronate alone or combination therapy with oestrogen"
• Hormone Therapy Improves Women's Coronary Bypass Survival - Doctor's Guide, 12/9/02
• All Estrogens Deemed Cancer-Causing - WebMD, 12/3/02
• Continuous HRT Increases Risk of Lobular But Not of Ductal Breast Cancer - Medscape, 12/3/02
• Micro-CT Scans Provide 3-D Proof of Estrogen's Bone Benefit - Medscape, 12/3/02 - "A three-dimensional glimpse of bone micro-architecture suggests that estrogen replacement is an effective treatment for osteoporosis because it "protects and retains bone structure, rather than laying down new bone,""
• Estrogen Therapy Curbs Body Fat Mass In Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 12/3/02 - "One-year oestrogen treatment decreases intra-abdominal and intrapelvic fat compartments in healthy early postmenopausal women"
• Study Raises Questions About HRT In Diabetic Women - Intelihealth, 12/3/02 - "In diabetic women who hadn't experienced a recent heart attack, HRT was associated with a 16 percent lower risk of heart attack"
• Breast Cancer Risk Subsides After HRT - WebMD, 12/2/02
• Comparison of Hormone Replacement Therapies Finds Progesterone Causes Less Bleeding Than The Most Commonly Used Treatment May Also Be Less Likely to Cause Health Risks Identified in Recent Women's Health Initiative Study - Doctor's Guide, 11/1/02 - "a combination of estrogen and micronized progesterone (MP) causes fewer days and less intense bleeding than the most commonly used combination"
• Long-Term HRT Worsens Memory - WebMD, 10/28/02
• New Type of Drug Builds Bone -- and More - WebMD, 10/24/02
• Canceled HRT Trial Makes Women Anxious - WebMD, 10/24/02 - "The absolute risks are actually quite small. For example, the study projects that in 10,000 women, 38 would get invasive breast cancer when taking hormones, while 30 would get it if they were not taking HRT"
• Once Promising, Future of HRT Dwindles - WebMD, 10/23/02
• ERT Not Harmful in Women With Localized, Treated Breast Cancer - Medscape, 10/21/02
• More Experts Oppose Combined HRT - WebMD, 10/21/02
• Estrogen OK for Some After Breast Cancer - WebMD, 10/18/02
• Task Force Issues Caution On Combined Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 10/16/02
• Stroke Risks Linked With Initiation Of Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/02 - "The risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke doubles in the first six months of initiating hormone therapy in post-menopausal women"
• Nonoral HRT May Be Safer Alternative - WebMD, 10/10/02 - "Investigators conducting a small European study in which HRT was given in the form of estrogen skin patches and vaginally administered natural progesterone say these methods may be free of the cardiovascular risks that have recently been associated with oral hormone therapy. As an added benefit, postmenopausal women who were on the regimen for one year lost weight, lowered their blood pressure, and had less vaginal bleeding ... the weight loss and the decreases in blood pressure may have been associated with the use of natural progesterone in the HRT regimen, rather than the synthetic form of the hormone that is commonly used"
• Hormone Therapy Plus Alendronate Better for Bone Density than Hormone Therapy Alone - Doctor's Guide, 10/8/02
• Estradiol Acetate Vaginal Ring Accepted by Community Based Population of Women - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/02
• New Recommendations Reaffirm that Symptom Relief is Prime Indication for Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/02
• Lower-dose Hormone Therapy Improves Menopause Symptoms with Lower Side Effect Rates - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/02
• Hormone Therapy Cost-effective for Perimenopausal Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/02
• Low-dose Hormone Therapy Improves Variables Associated with Dysmetabolic Syndrome, Cardiovascular Risk - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/02
• HRT Should Treat Menopause Symptoms - WebMD, 10/3/02
• Pivotal Study Results Show New, Plant-Derived Conjugated Estrogen Tablet to be Well-Tolerated and to Significantly Reduce Frequency and Severity of Menopausal Hot Flushes - Doctor's Guide, 10/3/02
• Hormone Replacement Reduces Severity of Vasomotor Symptom, Improves Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 10/2/02
• Femhrt Users Report Less Breakthrough Bleeding than Prempro Users - Doctor's Guide, 10/2/02
• Diabetic Women On Hormone Replacement Therapy Have Better Glycemic And Lipid Profiles - Doctor's Guide, 9/26/02
• Still Debated: HRT Helps Heart Health? - WebMD, 9/26/02 - "Is it HRT that makes the difference in women's health? Or are women who take HRT simply taking better overall care of themselves?"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy Has Only Positive Effects On Detection Of Breast Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 9/25/02
• Evidence Consistent For Hormone Replacement Therapy Risks Against Benefits - Doctor's Guide, 9/19/02
• Hormone Replacement Therapy may Improve Breast Cancer Detection and Survival Rate - Doctor's Guide, 9/13/02
• Good (Breast Cancer) News for HRT Users - WebMD, 9/12/02
• Estrogen Therapy Appears Safe For Women With Early Breast Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 9/10/02 - "Estrogen replacement therapy does not appear to increase risk of recurrence or death in women with early breast cancer"
• Hormone Replacement Therapy May Increase Circulating Activated Blood Platelets, Raising Risk for Cardiovascular Morbidity in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 9/4/02
• Wyeth Updates Product Labels For Its Postmenopausal Hormone Therapies Provides New Safety Information For Physicians - Doctor's Guide, 9/4/02
• Long-Time Hormone Therapy Lowers Postmenopausal Homocysteine - Doctor's Guide, 8/14/02 - "long-term HRT results in lower total homocysteine concentrations in all methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotypes with no demonstrable difference in effect between unopposed and opposed hormone replacement therapy"
• U.S. To Re-Evaluate Therapy's Risks - Intelihealth, 8/14/02
• Subcutaneous Oestradiol Implants Have Anabolic Effect On Bone - Doctor's Guide, 8/7/02
• Hormones' Effect On Sleep Gets A New Look In Study - Intelihealth, 8/6/02 - "estrogen improved the breathing of postmenopausal women who have apnea"
• Are there any side effects to using the estrogen ring - Dr. Weil, 8/2/02 - "clinical trials showed only mild and transient vaginal discomfort, irritation or abdominal pain. Of more concern to some women is whether estrogen from the ring (and the creams) can be absorbed into your bloodstream and carried elsewhere in the body. This may not be a major problem. Studies have shown that when the vaginal lining has thickened in response to the hormone, it becomes more difficult to penetrate, reducing absorption of topical estrogen into the body"
• No Higher Risk of Endometrial Cancer Seen With Long-Term Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 8/1/02
• Estrogen Exhibits Neuroprotective Effect in Preliminary Analysis of Swedish Data - Doctor's Guide, 7/24/02
• Hormone Replacement Linked to Lower Plasma Concentrations of Beta-Amyloid - Doctor's Guide, 7/23/02 - "Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is associated with lower plasma concentrations of beta-amyloid 1-40 in postmenopausal women with Alzheimer's disease (AD) ... When treatment with estradiol was discontinued, plasma concentrations of beta-amyloid 1-40 returned towards baseline in previously HRT-naïve women"
• Estrogen Therapy Increases Postmenopausal Ovarian Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 7/17/02
• The Truth About Hormones - Time Magazine, 7/22/02 - "Some physicians say they are not going to change things in their practice at all and will be as proactive for HRT as they've ever been," he says. "Others say this will change their thinking dramatically."
• Short-Term Value To Estrogen Touted - Intelihealth, 7/11/02
• Questions and Answers About HRT - WebMD, 7/10/02
• Study On Risks Of Estrogen-Progestin Combination To Treat Symptoms Of Menopause Prompts Many - Intelihealth, 7/10/02
• Increased Risks Lead To Halt In Large US Estrogen/Progestin Trial - Doctor's Guide, 7/9/02 - "overall heath risks exceeded benefits from the use of conjugated equine estrogens (0.625 milligrams per day) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (2.5 mg/d), combined in one tablet"
• Stop Taking Prempro, Doctors Warn - WebMD, 7/9/02
• Should Anyone Take Hormones? - Time, 7/8/02
• Hormone Replacement Unsuccessful In Lowering Longer-Term Cardiac Risk In Coronary Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 7/3/02
• Venous Thromboembolism Rates Up After Longer-Term Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 7/3/02
• Patch May Cut Depression During Perimenopause - Clinical Psychiatry News, 7/02
• Researchers Discover Effects Of Exercise In Women Taking Hormone Replacement Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 6/7/02
• Irregular Periods In Young Women Could Be Warning Sign For Later Osteoporosis - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/02 - "Irregular menstrual periods in young women may be a warning sign of a hormonal shortage that could lead to osteoporosis"
• Treatment Dose Key To Bleeding Pattern With Hormone Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/02
• Vivelle-Dot (Estradiol Transdermal System) Now Approved In New, Low Dose For Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Prevention - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/02 - "Vivelle-Dot is now approved in the 0.025 mg/day dosage strength, providing among the lowest effective ERT dosage strengths available in the U.S. for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis"
• Oestradiol Implants Tied To Later Cognitive Problems - Doctor's Guide, 5/15/02
• Hormone Replacement Therapy not Associated With Weight Gain - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "Low dose regimens of conjugated equine estrogens alone or with medroxyprogesterone acetate are not associated with greater weight gain than is placebo ... the largest weight increase occurred in the placebo group", where the average patient in the 332-women group showed a greater than two-pound weight gain. The difference was statistically significant when compared with women who were taking the conjugated equine estrogens alone, and approached significance in the women who were taking the combination of medications"
• Treatment By Intrauterine Device May Thwart Early Endometrial Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 4/29/02
• Oestrogen-Androgen Replacement Significantly Benefits Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 4/26/02 - "Compared with oestrogen alone, oestrogen-androgen significantly increased total lean body mass and reduced the percentage fat for all body parts ... There was a statistically significant increase in weight in the oestrogen-androgen group (2.7 ± 5.1 lb.) (1.22 ± 2.31 kg.) compared with the oestrogen only group ... In self-reporting questionnaires, women who received oestrogen-androgen noted more improvement in sexual functioning and quality of life than the women who received oestrogen alone"
• Expert Panel Casts Doubt On Benefits From Hormone Replacement - Intelihealth, 4/18/02 - "While hormone therapy is the most effective way to relieve menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, scientific evidence is insufficient to support its use for the other problems"
• High Levels of Sex Hormones Raise Breast Cancer Risk in Older Women - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/02 - "Postmenopausal women with high amounts of oestrogen and testosterone in their bloodstream are at over twice the risk of the disease as those with low levels of the hormones ... obesity is the biggest known reason for high levels of sex hormones among postmenopausal women ... women with raised levels of a molecule called sex hormone binding globulin, which reduces the activity of sex hormones, were at lower than usual risk. Interestingly, women who are obese have low levels of this molecule, which probably also helps to raise their risk of breast cancer"
• FDA Approves New Indication, Strength of Alora (Estradiol Transdermal System) for Prevention of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis - Doctor's Guide, 4/9/02 - "These approvals add a new indication, prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis, and a new strength, 0.025mg/day, to the Alora label"
• Investigation Of Bone Loss After Discontinuation Of Hormone Replacement - Doctor's Guide, 4/5/02
• Combining Statin With Estrogen May Maximise Post-Menopausal Cardiovascular Benefits - Doctor's Guide, 4/5/02 - "Oral estrogen alone increased the median level of C-reactive protein from 0.27 to 0.46 mg/dL, equivalent to a 70 percent rise. On the other hand, simvastatin decreased C-reactive protein levels from 0.29 to 0.28 mg/dL. Oral estrogen combined with simvastatin increased C-reactive protein levels by 29 percent from 0.28 to 0.36 mg/dL" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin.
• Some Hormone Replacement Regimens Increase Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 4/5/02
• Study Says Hormones May Be Heart Healthy - WebMD, 4/4/02
• Hormone Replacement May Halve Rate of Breast Arterial Calcification - Doctor's Guide, 4/4/02
• Hormone Replacement, Cancer Studied - Intelihealth, 4/3/02
• Hormone Therapy Linked to Ovarian Cancer - WebMD, 4/2/02 - "ovarian cancer risk almost doubled in those taking either estrogen alone or an estrogen plus progestin regimen in which progestin is not given every day (known as cyclic HRT). The researchers found no increased ovarian cancer risk in women taking continuous HRT, in which progestin is always given with estrogen"
• Gene Boosts Effect of Estrogen On "Good" Cholesterol - Doctor's Guide, 3/28/02
• Shortened Estrogen Therapy Just as Good - WebMD, 3/26/02
• The Pill Linked to Cervical Cancer - WebMD, 3/26/02
• Bone Loss Resumes at Normal Rate When Hormone Replacement Therapy is Stopped - Doctor's Guide, 3/25/02
• The Pill May Increase Breast Cancer - WebMD, 3/23/02
• Lower Engrogen Estradiol In Aged Tied To Cognitive And Behavioural Ills - Doctor's Guide, 3/22/02 - "Lower endogenous estradiol levels are linked in older people with poor cognitive function as well as with upsets in behaviours and activities of daily living"
• Tibolone Helps Postmenopausal Women To Recover Some Muscle Strength - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/02
• Serum Estradiol Correlates Poorly With Menopausal Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 3/18/02
• Hormone Replacement Promotes Development In Extremely Premature Baby Girls - Doctor's Guide, 3/13/02
• Hormone Battle: Prempro vs. Activella - WebMD, 3/12/02 - "A new hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause causes less bleeding than Prempro, the most-prescribed HRT ... A report in the current issue of the journal Menopause shows that women who took A