Q. I heard that estrogen might increase my risk for a heart attack or breast cancer. Is this true?
No, that is not true. Not all estrogens are created equal. Fears of increased risks of heart disease and breast cancer with estrogen therapy have mainly come from the WHI study that was stopped prematurely in the summer of 1992 because of an increased risk of breast cancer and heart disease that was seen in women taking Prempro. This study actually highlights the risks of estrogen therapy with non-bioidentical (synthetic) hormones, which is NOT the type used by BodyLogicMD physicians.
Hormones that are non-bioidentical use a one-size-fits-all approach to hormone therapy with hormones that are foreign to a woman’s body. Conversely, bioidentical hormones, which are the same as what is in your body naturally, have been proven to be safe. BodyLogicMD physicians use bioidentical hormones and the two main estrogens that they replace are E2 – Estradiol and E3 – Estriol.
As far as heart disease, bioidentical hormone therapy has never been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and as a matter of fact, hormone replacement with bioidentical hormones has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease.
In summary, we cannot use results of studies done on synthetic, non-bioidentical hormones to assess risks of bioidentical hormones. When an educated provider prescribes bioidentical hormones in the proper manner, there are no increased risks of the occurrence of breast cancer or heart disease.
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