December 2005

By: Kate Ward

If you find that your menopausal symptoms are causing you to sweat more than normal in the boardroom, you're most likely not alone. BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer says that 74 percent of women with menopausal symptoms feel it greatly affects their work routine.

This number could be dangerous, particularly because some women may disregard hormone usage after a recent study by the Women's Health Initiative showed that estrogen doesn't benefit post-menopausal women. In 2002, the organization also proved that these hormones increase risk of breast cancer, heart disease and strokes in women. BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer says this evidence is only true for synthetic hormones and not natural, bioidentical hormones.

"We're told that hormones are hormones, and that's just not factual," he says. "Many doctors don't even know there's a difference".

BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer says the natural hormones, produced from soy and delivered through the skin, are easily absorbed in the body. In fact, the body uses the hormones, metabolized them and excretes them within one day. Synthetic hormones, on the other hand, take up to 13 weeks to leave a woman's system, he says.

"It's similar to using the right kind of gasoline for your car," BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer says. "If you take a regular car and put diesel in it, it won't work right. If you put regular gas in, it knows exactly what to do."

BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer says while 80 percent of women on synthetic hormones discontinue use after four years because of the side effects, 90 percent of those on natural hormones continue taking their dosage. But BodyLogicMD's Chief Medical Officer stresses that there are risks to taking any kind of hormone.

"The one thing I don't want women to be confused about is that there are risks with any hormone, even natural hormones," he says. "People think I'm saying they're completely safe. There are more studies that need to be done."