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BH2 offers FREE Consultations by telephone giving you a chance to discuss your symptoms, ask questions and find out how Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy can change your life!

Please call 512-961-7179 and mention Bioidentical Hormones and our Anti-Aging Consultation or simply email your questions by completing the simple form below.

Correcting The Media

by Tracy Ganske

The CNN Headline:
HRT increases breast cancer death risk, study confirms

The hook:
A study published in Journal of the American Medical Association confirms that postmenopausal women who take Hormone Replacement Therapy are at an increased risk of dying from breast cancer.

The truth:
This latest research looks at 11 years of follow-up on the health of these women and the authors found that those who had used the therapy were not only more likely to develop but to die from breast cancer.
Guess what? This is not that surprising.

This study looked at the women from the women’s health initiative study led by the National Institutes of Health, back in 1994. On July 9, 2002, however, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) came to an abrupt halt. The study proved unequivocally that the drugs were unsafe and significant factors in increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer in the more than 16,000 women studied. This led doctors to take millions of women off Premarin, Prempro and Provera overnight. Progesterone is used by fertility specialists to protect pregnancy, while medroxyprogesterone (Provera) is used in the morning after pill and in birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. Their actions are totally different. Predictably, these women started to feel horrible in the aftermath of the drugs’ sudden withdrawal, and their physicians told them there were no alternatives. Instead they prescribed antidepressants or birth control pills with dismal results.

Now we are revisiting the same conclusions once again, but over a greater period of time.

Not surprisingly this study failed to portray the effectiveness of “bio-identical” hormone therapy, which is formulated to be identical to the same molecular structure as our very own hormones. There are 25 years of scientific research with hundreds of studies in the U.S. and Europe that have demonstrated that bio-identical hormones, estradiol and micronized progesterone, are equally or more effective than synthetics — and much safer.

Why does mainstream medicine refuse to take 25 years of research and studies seriously?

The obvious reason for this is that drug companies heavily influence the medical profession by controlling what goes into medical education. Most doctors never seek education about bio-identical hormones or the way in which different hormone molecules work. As a result the distinction between bio-identical/natural progesterone and the synthetic progestin Provera remains widely misunderstood within the medical.
The biggest take home point with this study is that there was no increased breast cancer risk from the Estrogen only group. Only the addition of synthetic progesterone caused an increase in breast cancer. (I.e. with Prempro). This is an important point. Estrogen always gets blamed for causing breast cancer. It was the addition of a progestin (synthetic progesterone) that caused increased breast cancer risk.

Here are some additional key findings from
THE WOMEN’S HEALTH INITIATIVE
Study funded by Wyeth Pharmaceutical by cardiologist and epidemiologists. (no gynecologists) The Goal was to show HRT as potential prevention of heart disease in older women. Keep in mind that this study had positive health benefits in addition to the well publicized one. Also keep in mind that the basic design flaw is that synthetic hormones are the ones studied.

Study Design and Findings:

  • Two arms of the study. Conjugated Equine estrogen(CEE/Premarin) alone or combined with medroxyprogesterone (provera)
  • HRT in Women up to age 79 yrs. old with an average age of 63 with no menopausal symptoms.
  • Women age 50-59 had no increases in heart disease. Estrogen (CEE) reduced calcified plaque burden in coronary arteries
  • Estrogen only group (age 50-59) demonstrated decreased CHD, CVD, diabetes, breast cancer, fractures and death.
  • Increase in deep vein thrombosis and PE at a rate of one additional event per 1000 women. Multiple studies have also confirmed Premarin to cause increased risk of clotting.
  • The only harm demonstrated in the estrogen –only arm was a slightly increased risk of stroke. This was only seen in older women (65 and older) with started HRT after age 65. This was not seen in younger women under 60 or in any women who started estrogen within 5 years of menopause.
  • No increased breast cancer risk from the Estrogen only group. Only the addition of synthetic progesterone caused an increase in breast cancer. (i.e. with Prempro). This is an important point. Estrogen always gets blamed for causing breast cancer. It was the addition of a progestin (synthetic progesterone) that caused increased breast cancer risk.

PROGESTERONE:

Progesterone is secreted by the ovaries during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Progesterone’s primary role is a gestational hormone. It is the balancing partner to estrogen. Estrogen left alone will become dominant resulting in side effects from excess. There are progesterone receptor sites in the uterus, vagina, blood vessels and brain. Progesterone can down regulate receptor sites, hindering estrogen from over stimulating receptor sites in the breast and uterus, while providing other beneficial effects.

Progesterone was first used as HRT in 1934 for treatment of ovariectomized women. Because of the first pass effect, synthetic progestins were developed to mimic progesterone enough to bind receptor sites. These synthetics were also found to have longer half-lives and this is why they are so effective as components of birth control pills.

Synthetic progestins may have similar effects on the uterus but different actions on progesterone receptors elsewhere. (e.g., brain, mineralocorticoid receptors, etc.)

Bioidentical progesterone protects against breast and uterine carcinoma, osteoporosis, and ovarian cysts. It reduces symptoms of PMS and menopause.

Progesterone moderates many side effects of excess estrogen: reduction in fluid retention, bloating, headache, bleeding. Progesterone is synergistic to estrogen’s effect on bone and lipids.

Synthetic progestins have a limited benefit of protecting the endometrium but have deleterious risks for breast cancer and many side effects: bloating, headache, fatigue, weight gain, depression, increased PMS symptoms.

To put things in perspective micronized progesterone (bioidentical) is a category B drug while the most common synthetic progestin provera (medroxyprogesterone) is a category X medication.

 

DATA ON PROGESTERONE:

  • The ultimate biologic response reflects the Balance of Actions of the different hormones with their respective receptors…Speroff L, Glass R, Kase N. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Pg. 61

 

  • Does progesterone protect the endometrium? In general progesterone antagonizes estrogen stimulation of proliferation and metabolism. This antagonism can be explained by the effects of progestins on the estrogen receptor and on the enzymes that lead to excretion of estrogen from cells and by progesterone suppression of estrogen mediated transcription of oncogenes. Speroff L, Glass R, Kase N. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Pg. 130 Breast Cancer and Oral Contraceptives
  • Evidence indicates that with increasing duration of exposure, progesterone can limit breast epithelial growth as it does with endometrial epithelium.  Human breast tissue specimens removed after patients were treated with estradiol and progesterone indicates that progesterone inhibits in vivo estradiol induced proliferation. Speroff L, Glass R, Kase N. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Pg. 599

 

  • Postmenopausal Estrogen/Progestin Interventions (PEPI Trial) showed estrogen and estrogen plus natural progesterone provided the best results for lipid metabolism.
  • Progesterone’s effect on the brain suggests therapeutic possibilities for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and preservation of cognitive function with age. Shumacher et al. Local synthesis and dual actions of progesterone in the nervous system: neuroprotection and myelination Growth Horm IGF Res. 2004 Jun; 14 Suppl A:S18-33.  Prempro in the WHIMS study actually doubled the risk of developing dementia in women 65 and older.

 

  • Synthetic progestins (ex. Medroxyprogesterone) can cause depression, bloating, excessive bleeding, etc. Bioidentical progesterone has none of these effects. Improvement in well-being was observed when progesterone was added to estrogen. American Journal Obstetric Gynecology; 1999 January; 180: 42-48.
  • Natural Estrogen and Progesterone offer clinical benefit over synthetic hormones. Obstetrics Gynecology 1989; 73:606

 

  • Natural Progesterone, not MPA decreases myocardial ischemia and cause vaso-dilation of coronary vessels. Journal of American College of Cardiology; Dec; 36(9): 2154-2159.
  • Does progesterone protect the endometrium? In general progesterone antagonizes estrogen stimulation of proliferation and metabolism. This antagonism can be explained by the effects of progestins on the estrogen receptor and on the enzymes that lead to excretion of estrogen from cells and by progesterone suppression of estrogen mediated transcription of oncogenes. Speroff L, Glass R, Kase N. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Pg. 130 Breast Cancer and Oral Contraceptives

 

  • Evidence indicates that with increasing duration of exposure, progesterone can limit breast epithelial growth as it does with endometrial epithelium.  Human breast tissue specimens removed after patients were treated with estradiol and progesterone indicates that progesterone inhibits in vivo estradiol induced proliferation. Speroff L, Glass R, Kase N. Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2005, Pg. 599
  • Postmenopausal Estrogen/Progestin Interventions (PEPI Trial) showed estrogen and estrogen plus natural progesterone provided the best results for lipid metabolism.

 

  • Progesterone’s effect on the brain suggests therapeutic possibilities for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and preservation of cognitive function with age. Shumacher et al. Local synthesis and dual actions of progesterone in the nervous system: neuroprotection and myelination Growth Horm IGF Res. 2004 Jun;14 Suppl A:S18-33.  Prempro in the WHIMS study actually doubled the risk of developing dementia in women 65 and older.
  • Synthetic progestins (ex. Medroxyprogesterone) can cause depression, bloating, excessive bleeding, etc. Bioidentical progesterone has none of these effects. Improvement in well-being was observed when progesterone was added to estrogen. American Journal Obstetric Gynecology; 1999 January; 180: 42-48.

 

  • Natural Estrogen and Progesterone offer clinical benefit over synthetic hormones. Obstetrics Gynecology 1989; 73:606
  • Natural Progesterone, not MPA decreases myocardial ischemia and cause vaso-dilation of coronary vessels. Journal of American College of Cardiology; Dec; 36(9): 2154-2159.

 

  • Natural estradiol and progesterone are safe and show increase in breast cancer or heart disease. Synthetic hormones do show an increase. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2007 Feb 27:160-175.
  • Progesterone decreases Breast stimulation 400%, and down regulates breast receptor sites, thereby protecting against breast stimulation. Fertility Sterility 1998:69:963-69.

BH2 offers FREE Consultations by telephone giving you a chance to discuss your symptoms, ask questions and find out how Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy can change your life!

Please call 512-961-7179 and mention our FREE BHRT and Anti-Aging Consultation.