Matchmaker
Over the past couple of years I’ve sent you several e-Alerts with
updates about hormone replacement therapy studies that showed
how this synthetic drug treatment may sharply increase the risk of
heart disease, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and other serious
health problems.
For a change, I have no new information about the dangers of
synthetic HRT. (Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll get more soon.)
Instead I’ll take a look at a different type of hormone replacement
that uses bioidentical hormones to relieve the symptoms of
menopause.
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Natural vs. synthetic
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I recently received an e-mail from an HSI member named Bev who
wrote: “Could you please explain in your newsletter about
bioidenticals, what they are and how used for menopause hot
flashes?”
Glad to, Bev. It’s been awhile since I’ve discussed bioidentical
HRT, and it’s a treatment option that any woman looking for a way
to cope with symptoms of menopause needs to know about.
As the name implies, bioidentical hormones (derived from
estrogen-like plant compounds) are identical to natural hormones
in the body. The chemical makeup of synthetic HRT is not
identical, which is the source of so many problems with that
therapy.
The first doctor in the U.S. to recommend bioidentical hormones to
his patients was Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. Since 1982, Dr. Wright
has been prescribing these natural hormones with great success. In
the May 2002 issue of his Nutrition & Healing Newsletter, Dr.
Wright wrote, “The best indicator that this therapy really works is
the relief on my patients’ faces when they tell me they simply feel
better using identical-to-human hormones.”
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The big 3
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To clear up the confusion between pharmaceutical HRT and
bioidentical HRT, Dr. Wright offers some hormone basics,
beginning with three primary types of estrogen that are present in a
woman’s body between the onset of menstruation and menopause:
estrone, estradiol, and estriol.
Dr. Wright explains: “It’s been found that estradiol, when
prescribed by itself (as sometimes happens in conventional HRT)
can raise the risk of cancer after several years. Estriol, on the other
hand, is anti-carcinogenic. Healthy women naturally excrete much
more estriol than estradiol and estrone. But when hormone
production slows down during menopause, it’s important to
replace all three estrogens in the same proportions your body
would produce on its own if it could.
“With natural hormone replacement therapy, these estrogens are
used along with natural progesterone in proportions as close as
possible to those produced in the body.”
As Dr. Wright notes, pharmaceutical progesterone is useful in
lowering the risk of cancer, which is elevated when either synthetic
estrogen or estradiol are used alone. But this type of “fake”
progesterone raises the risk of heart problems, whereas natural
progesterone provides the same benefits, but virtually no risks.
According to Dr. Wright, the natural form also helps rebuild bone
mass, another key advantage over using synthetic.
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In touch with your masculine side
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The next piece of the bioidentical puzzle is DHEA, a hormone
whose production naturally peaks in our 20s but drops off steeply
as we age (see the e-Alert “Not Pumping Up” 11/3/04).
Dr. Wright: “When testosterone levels go down during menopause,
it can negatively affect your sex drive. DHEA goes along with
testosterone in controlling your libido, as well as keeping your
body’s tissues healthy. Please have your levels of these hormones
tested and if your levels are low, ask your doctor to prescribe
identical-to-natural replacements. This is especially important for
testosterone replacement, since the major synthetic version
(methyltestosterone) is a known carcinogen. Fortunately there is no
synthetic form of DHEA (yet), so you can only take the natural
form.”
In Dr. Wright’s practice, he uses an FDA-approved urine test to
estimate the risk of estrogen-related cancer. Over the course of two
decades he’s observed “very, very few adverse effects.”
For more information about bioidentical HRT, you can visit the
web site for Dr. Wright’s clinic: tahoma-clinic.com. If you feel that
this type of HRT may be right for you, it’s essential to find a health
care practitioner who is knowledgeable about bioidenticals.
Physician referrals can be found on the web site for the American
College for the Advancement in Medicine (acam.org), or the
American Academy of Environmental Medicine (aaem.com).
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Don’t be surprised if you see an Inspector Clouseau type lurking
around the supplement aisles in your local health food store. He
might be an FDA agent.
A few days ago, FDA officials announced some new initiatives
designed to “refine the direction” of the agency in regulating
dietary supplements. One of these initiatives is to send inspectors
into retail stores, looking for supplement labels that bear
unsubstantiated claims. (Cue the Pink Panther theme music.)
A Reuters Health report on the new initiatives states that
supplements currently aren’t required to pass “the strict safety and
effectiveness testing required for pharmaceuticals before they can
be sold.”
Ah yes, I guess that would be a reference to the type of “strict”
FDA safety testing for pharmaceuticals that allowed Vioxx to stay
on the market for years after the drug was clearly proven to
increase heart attack risk.
Don’t bother trying to make sense of it. It’s an FDA thing.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
“News Flash on Hot Flashes: Think Twice Before Undergoing
Synthetic Hormone Replacement Therapy” Jonathan V. Wright,
M.D., Nutrition & Healing, Vol. 9, No. 5, May 2002,
wrightnewsletter.com
“FDA Announces Major Initiatives for Dietary Supplements” FDA
News, 11/4/04, fda.gov
“U.S. Moves to Clarify Rules for Supplements Makers” Reuters
Health, 11/4/04, reutershealth.com
