Hormone Strategies for Women - The hormones that make you a woman impact health and aging in varied ways. Managing the balance and cyclic nature of feminine hormones is a life-long challenge, but one worth mastering.
The use of hormones to extend youthfulness throughout the aging process for women is controversial to say the least, and misinformation abounds in the strategies promoted by the drug industry and the western standard medical community. I have avoided writing on it because the whole truth of the matter is still unfolding and who we are to believe is still questionable.
However, Byron Richards is a nutritionist who makes sense to me in his explanations of the topic, and I decided that I can give my readers the best service by putting his excellent writings front and center here. I include the first section of this two part series below, with a link to the rest on his website, Wellness Resources.com.
Oprah’s “Crazy Talk” – Bioidentical Hormones – Helpful or Harmful? (Part 1) Monday, June 22, 2009 Byron J. Richards, Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist
Newsweek recently indulged in tabloid journalism, featuring Oprah on the cover with the headline: CRAZY TALK, Oprah, Wacky Cures, & You. The specific emphasis of the article was an attack on Suzanne Somers, Oprah, and bioidentical hormones. The Genie is out of the hormone bottle, consumers are confused, the medical profession is in its typical funk, and somewhere out there is the health-improving truth.
One of the authors of the Newsweek article has her own “traditional” book on menopause and the other is a male in his early 40s – neither has any clinical experience in the subject and can do little more than toss insults and reference conventional points of view on hormones. Newsweek is desperate for sales and is hoping the millions of Oprah followers will purchase the magazine.
Traditional medical people find it extremely annoying, even alarming, that Suzanne Somers and Oprah have generated such massive interest in the subject of bioidentical hormones. After all, there is a legion of baby-boomer women who have no interest in getting older any faster than they have to. Are bioidentical hormones really the "juice of youth," as Suzanne Somers calls them?
The mafia-like FDA has gotten into the fray, attacking compounding pharmacies at the bequest of pharmaceutical competitors. Indeed, the compounding industry hasn’t ponied up its bribery fees to the FDA. The FDA can’t tell anyone how to practice, but they can regulate health claims and availability of bioidentical hormones.
As a clinical nutritionist I have helped women with bioidentical hormones for over twenty years. I am a believer in the appropriate use of bioidentical hormones, and have witnessed their power to help first hand on many occasions. However, there are clear pros and cons that any woman should fully understand prior to using any type of bioidentical hormone.
Traditional Western Medicine – Lacking Credibility on Female Hormones
Before pointing out what is potentially problematic about bioidentical hormones I must point out what is wrong with the typical group of Western medicine critics. Those supporting this belief system have a recent history of killing and injuring tens of thousands of women with their “official” and FDA-sanctioned use of hormone replacement therapy. In my view, these people have little credibility and should instead be standing trial in a court of law.
And I don’t just mean Wyeth, a primary producer of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) derived from horse urine, who is still fighting 5000 cancer lawsuits. I’m talking about the prescribing physicians, who often browbeat women to tears if they didn’t want to go on estrogen and progesterone drugs – while selectively ignoring or downplaying the substantial body of risk data that existed prior to 2002.
The FDA can also be thrown into this group of incompetents, as they approved horse urine extract and sat by haplessly watching as women were killed and injured – a problem that continues to this day despite stepped-up FDA warnings. For a very understandable and comprehensive overview of how to use bio-identical hormone therapy to optimize the female aging process continue reading here.... And here is a link to Part2, in case you didn't find it on his site.... Happy reading, and come back to us when you're done.
My philosophy with regard to hormones is that one should try to optimize our own natural (endogenous) production before ever resorting to external (exogenous) hormone use. And then, start with the hormone closest to the origin of the production sequence and let the body create the subsequent hormones, hopefully in the proper balance. I have been very successful at this approach up til now, and the only hormones I use so far are topical DHEA and oral pregnonalone as part of Life Extension's Cognitex supplement, included because it is neuro-protective.
Still working on the rest of the story....
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