The Wall Street Journal published an article (reference below) regarding the recent findings from a study which was trying to prove the benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), namely, lower rates of heart attacks and osteoporosis. What they found instead was increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer for those postmenopausal women taking the experimental drug, PremPro, a combination Premarin (Pregnant Mares’ urine which is high in equine estrogen) and a progestin (a synthetic version of progesterone). This study on the supposed benefits of HRT was a double-blind study where half the women were taking an active substance and the control group, the inactive or placebo. Because of the increase in heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer, the study was halted for ethical reasons. It was determined to be too dangerous to allow those women on the active substance to continue taking PremPro.
There was, of course, the backlash from those in favor of keeping women on PremPro. There are those who argue that the increased risk was not that great, that the numbers were relatively small, and that it was effective in treating hot flashes. These arguments keep the debate going, especially since physicians are left with no weapons (drugs) in their armory. The pharmaceutical companies stand to lose the most since HRT represents a major source of their profits.
Reading the article reminded me of a situation where cars keep driving over the cliff on the Pali (a steep pass on the island of Oahu), and here are all these investigators at the bottom with all the crashed cars, arguing over whether they need more ambulances or should they just build a hospital right there! They all miss the main point, that women who follow a vigorous exercise program and a vegan, low-fat diet don’t have ANY of these problems in the first place — no hot flashes, no heart disease, no strokes, no Alzheimer’s, no breast cancer, no mood swings, no bone loss (osteoporosis), no weight gain, and as for the so-called advantages of taking PremPro such as lower colon cancer rates, they’d be at lower risk of that as well! Blood clots and poor circulation are caused by eating animal products. These are the real reasons for heart attacks, strokes, (the major killers of women in America) and Alzheimer’s, poor circulation to the brain.
There are a number of factors that these investigators and physicians overlook. For one, it has been assumed that women past menopause are automatically deficient in estrogen. They have never tested estrogen levels and if they did, they’d find that most women DO continue to produce enough estrogen to keep them physiologically balanced. Actually, most women before menopause are producing too much estrogen; this is one of the reasons breast cancer is so common in this country. They’d be better off after menopause if doctors would just leave them alone.
Another factor: the estrogen they use is horse estrogen and the balancing synthetic hormone, progestin. Both are quite different from the natural hormones the human female produces. In fact, it is the progestin that causes so many problems in women. Just look it up in the Physician’s Desk Reference, the PDR.
Third, if they DID test women’s hormone levels, they might find a small minority of them low. They should then be supplemented with a natural form of both estrogen and progesterone, e.g., Progest.
I had to laugh when I read about the monkey study. They had to feed them “lard, butter, and eggs” to induce heart disease. Isn’t it amazing that these researchers don’t get the connection? The connection is that this is the “experiment” that we’ve got going in our so-called “civilized world” — feeding people lots of “lard, butter, and eggs” — all of which come from animal products.
The biggest problem is this: if these women ate a vegan, low-fat diet and got daily, vigorous exercise, the drug companies would lose their major profit makers and doctors would find their practices cut severely. Now who is going to be willing to do that???? (9:>)
Reference link: Wall Street Journal Article