Preliminary results of a major long-term study suggest that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) -- which many postmenopausal women take to reduce heart risks -- may actually increase chances for stroke or heart attack. Women who were taking HRT had somewhat more cardiovascular events heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in the legs and lungs than those taking a placebo. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Maryland sponsored the study.
Cardiovascular researchers have long suspected that circulating estrogens help protect young, premenopausal women from heart disease. Numerous studies have also suggested that hormone replacement therapy can maintain this protection after menopause.
However, results from the first 2 years of the NHLBI's Women's Health Initiative -- a long-term, prospective study of 161,000 women aged 50 to 79 -- seem to contradict that theory. As part of this ongoing study, researchers are comparing the cardiovascular health of women taking HRT (either estrogen alone or estrogen plus another hormone, progestin) to women taking a ('dummy') placebo.
Another large study -- the Estrogen Replacement and Atherosclerosis (ERA) trial -- also found "no apparent benefit of HRT.
The truth will eventually surface and science will clearly show beyond any question or shadow of a doubt that nearly all estrogen given in medicine is not healthy. The only excpetion would be the short-term use to prevent menopausal hot flashes. It does not protect against heart disease as the majority of the estrogen drug company funded studies would have you believe. Hormone replacement therapy increases breast cancer risk by at least 1% per year; and HRT with progestin (MDA) increases the risk by 8 % per year (possibly 30% after 4 years of use).
Here are some other studies which confirm the dangers of estrogen.
Links on my site:
Estrogen is NOT effective for Alzheimer's
Estrogen Does NOT Reduce Heart Disease
Another Study Showing Estrogen Does NOT Reduce Heart Disease
Estrogen Causes Breast Cancer
Another Study Showing Estrogen Causes Breast Cancer
Synthetic Progesterone Given With Estrogen Causes Cancer
National Cancer Institute symposium, March 1998, entitled Estrogens as Endogenous Carcinogens in the Breast and Prostate, provided evidence from 26 renowned cancer research centers that estrogen or one or more of its metabolites is the cause of breast and prostate cancer.
Formby B, & Wiley TS. Progesterone inhibits growth and induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells: inverse effects on Bcl-2 and p53. Annals of Clin and Lab Science 1998; 28: 360-369.
Cavalieri EI, Stack DE, Devanesan PD, Todorovic R, et al. Molecular origin of cancer: catechol estrogen-3,4-quinones as endogenous tumor initiators. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 1997; 94:10937-42.
Schairer C, Lubin J, Troisis R, Sturgeon S, et al. Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and breast cancer risk. JAMA 2000; 283: 485-497.