OESTROGEN MATTERS

A healthier longer life without osteoporosis is the goal of every woman going through and beyond menopause. For years, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) was hailed as a miracle and study after study showed that if initiated at the onset of menopause, it could ease symptoms ranging from hot flushes to memory loss, reduce the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis and even some cancers. It may even extend a woman's overall life expectancy, but when a large study by the Women's Health Initiative announced results showing an uptick in breast cancer among women taking HRT, the winds shifted abruptly and HRT, officially deemed a carcinogen, was abandoned. Now, 16 years after HRT was left for dead, a medical oncologist Dr Bluming and a social psychologist Dr Tavris track its strange history and present a compelling case for its resurrection. They investigate what led the public, and much of the medical establishment, to accept the Women's Health Initiative's often exaggerated claims, while also providing a fuller picture of the science that supports HRT. It is a sobering and revelatory read, setting the record straight on this beneficial treatment and providing an empowering path to wellness for women everywhere. Chapters include Losing and Using Our Minds, Progesterone and the Pill. It is a salutary lesson around medical studies, scoring and results in research studies. 'Few observers noticed that the group did not differ in their incidence of metastatic disease or risk of death during that time, and when Premarin was used as the source of oestrogen, there was no increased risk of breast cancer either. The investigators updated their results in 2008 with follow-up on more participants.' There were only 39 women in one of the research groups. 310pp, large softback.