Bioidentical Hormone Therapy After Menopause

During menopause a woman's ovaries stop producing the hormone estrogen. It is the lack of estrogen in her body that causes the symptoms of menopause: hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness being the most common.

In the 1940s, research scientists developed estrogen replacement products that were touted as the cure-all for the symptoms of menopause. Decades later we are still learning of the dangers of HRT, and women are seeking safer methods to deal with all that menopause brings.

Traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy

• In 1941 scientists developed, and the Food and Drug Administration approved, estrogen products to replace the hormones that women lose during menopause. It wasn't until the 1960s, however, that the subject of menopause became more open and pharmaceutical companies created the bandwagon that almost every doctor in the world would jump on.

  In the 1970s, estrogen replacement therapies became linked to a rise in uterine cancer. Other studies showed that, when combined with progestin, synthetic estrogen actually had beneficial aspects. Twenty years later, the Women's Health Initiative was formed and charged with the research of Hormone Replacement Therapy, or HRT. In 2002, the research showed an increase in heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer in women who took HRT. Immediately, the research stopped and women all over the world stopped taking their hormone medication.

  Since that time, women are naturally confused as to where to turn for relief for their menopausal symptoms. Some women have chosen to do nothing and just live with the hot flashes and other symptoms. Others have decided to try a more-natural approach: bioidentical hormone replacement.

What Are Bioidentical Hormones?

• Bioidentical hormones are plant-derived substances that are identical in chemical structure to the body's natural estrogen. Estraderm, Alora, Estrace and Androgel are a few of the bioidentical hormones available. These products are FDA approved and regulated.

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

• Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT, has the same aim as traditional HRT: to relieve the symptoms of menopause. The difference between the two is that in BHRT, the hormones are custom-compounded for each woman by a compounding pharmacist, at the instruction of a physician.

Opponents to BHRT

• BHRT has come under scrutiny for several reasons. Although the hormones used in these therapies are FDA approved, the compounded formulas are not. According to Dr. Mary Gallenberg at the Mayo Clinic, because bioidentical compounds have not gone through the stringent approval process of the FDA, they haven't been tested for purity, potency or safety. She also worries about the possibility of the products' being contaminated.

  Researchers have compiled comparative data between traditional HRT and BHRT products. Some of the results show that traditional hormone medications (Premarin and Prempro) may result in a lower chance of contracting breast cancer than estradiol, a bioidentical hormone.

  In another study, in Europe, researchers have found that there is an insignificant variation in breast cancer risk among women taking either form of hormone replacement. They have suggested that all estrogens increase the risk of breast cancer.

Proponents of BHRT

• Proponents of BHRT point out that, since bioidentical hormones are identical to those that have been present in our body for 50 million years, they have proven safe. Some claim that pharmaceutical companies are behind the efforts to dismiss bioidentical hormones as just another fad, dangerous and untested. Traditional HRT has meant big money to the pharmaceutical industry, money that they aren't about to let go of without a fight.

  In February of 2009, Dr. Kent Holtorf, a renowned endocrinologist and an expert in hormone replacement, presented the results of a study that showed bioidentical hormones are associated with reduced health risks compared to their synthetic counterparts. The results of his research are published in the Post Graduate Medical Journal.