Page 46 - What Doctors Don't Tell You - AU-NZ (February-March 2020)
P. 46
EPORT
The Women’s Health Initiative was an HRT party-crasher. In the skeleton goes through a number of molecular changes, governed
18 months following its publication, HRT prescriptions in the US by enzymes in various organs, to transform into hormones like
plummeted by half. progesterone and estrogen.
Nonetheless, women in menopause had heard for years that they Chemists making so-called “natural” hormones imitate this
needed to replace estrogen. “There was this medical argument that process, starting with a plant-derived molecule similar to this basic
came from the pharmaceutical industry that women will disintegrate skeleton, then subjecting it to chemical reactions that yield an end
if they don’t get the drugs,” says Christiane Northrup, a retired product with the same molecular structure as what our bodies
obstetrician and gynecologist who has authored a number of best- produce—but there is nothing natural about how they came to exist.
selling books on menopause including The Wisdom of Menopause
(Bantam Books, 2012) and Goddesses Never Age (Hay House, 2015). Drugs masked as supplements
Outside mainstream medicine was a huge smorgasbord Advocates of bioidentical hormone replacement (BHRT) say
of hormonal-balancing herbs, supplements and a that most of the ill effects of HRT have been found with
growing industry of “bioidentical hormones” synthetic progestogens like medroxyprogesterone
waiting to fill the gap. acetate, and that “natural” progesterone has a different
risk profile.
HRT vs. BHRT They often cite studies such as a 2008 analysis of
Millions of women first heard about bioidentical postmenopausal women, which found that invasive
hormones from celebrity Suzanne Somers, breast cancer risk was elevated among those
who put “bioidentical” in the spotlight more taking estrogen and progestins but not among
than a decade ago with her series of books those taking estrogen and progesterone. 3
on the subject. “By replacing my hormones However, the late Dr Ellen Grant, who
with bioidentical hormones, I got my life participated in early trials of the Pill and
back,” she raved to Oprah Winfrey in 2009. HRT and became a vociferous critic of
“I got my health back, I got my figure back, I Bioidentical all supplemental hormones, “natural” or
got my happiness back. Everything in my life otherwise, said, “Both progesterone and Pill
is better.” hormones have progestogens produce identical changes in
Bioidentical hormones, while not derived endometrial cells, enzymes and blood vessels.
from human sources but from plants like slipped through “Both relate to widespread systemic effects
soy and yams, are “identical” in molecular such as headaches and mood changes. Any
structure to human hormones. Like the a regulation differences are of degree and individual
correct piece in a puzzle, they are designed loophole, so they sensitivity, but not of kind.”
to fit perfectly into hormone receptors on She drew attention to research linking
human cells. don’t undergo progesterone to cancer and birth defects 4
Non-bioidentical pharmaceutical and showing that progesterone skin gel, once
concoctions don’t match any receptor any of the safety absorbed by the body, can increase levels of
exactly. Their structure has been tweaked so the estrogen estradiol—high levels of which
they can be patented for profit (since natural monitoring have been linked to endometrial cancer. 5
substances cannot be patented). required of drug Alarmingly, their “natural” label means
However, to complicate matters, some that bioidentical progesterone products
modern pharmaceutical products are companies have avoided much of the scrutiny of their
bioidentical, because the pharmaceutical synthetic counterparts.
companies are able to patent bioidentical Critics of bioidentical custom
products that are specially “compounded” compounding pharmacies say that BHRT
to make a unique combination or delivery system, including pills, preparations have slipped through a regulation loophole, so they
patches, creams, suppositories and even surgically implanted pellets don’t undergo any of the monitoring and safety reporting required of
that slowly release hormones. drug companies.
Or take the case of Premarin, derived from horse urine, which “In the USA, it became an unregulated drug manufacturer industry
is actually a bioidentical hormone—for horses. It matches the in disguise, without proper control and making false claims and
receptors for horse estrogen and is a close fit to the human receptor, misleading advertisements” says a 2017 review of the subject. 6
but biologically much stronger. Premarin is “natural” in that it’s from What this means is that these products are being used with virtually
nature, but some would say it is unnatural for a woman to swallow it. no oversight for quality control or side-effect risks.
Champions of bioidentical hormones will often describe the
differences as “natural” versus synthetic, but all the hormones are Fountain of youth or medicalization?
synthetic. Whether they’re an exact hormone copy or not, they’ve Both old mainstream gynecology and new anti-aging medicine see
been created entirely through processing in a lab. hormones as an indispensable “fountain of life”—run dry. “Hormone
Dr Michael Telford, former medical advisor to the company that replacement is no different than giving insulin to a diabetic or thyroid
produces Gestone, a bioidentical hormone created from the fibrous hormone to someone who is hypothyroid,” says retired obstetrician
root sisal, explained to this magazine that the human body produces and gynecologist Barbara Taylor in one of her popular “Menopause
a basic steroid “skeleton” from which it creates all its hormones. This Taylor” videos on YouTube.
46 WDDTY | ISSUE 04 | FEB/MAR 2020 FACEBOOK.COM/WDDTYAUNZ
