What is Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy? | eHow

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Sava Tang Alcantara

Sava Tang Alcantara has been a writer and editor since 1988, working as a writer and editor for health publications such as "Let's Live Magazine" and "Whole Life Times." Alcantara specializes in health and fitness and is a certified yoga teacher and personal trainer. She does volunteer work regularly and has taught free public yoga classes in Santa Monica, Calif. since 2002.

Women who enter menopause often experience symptoms including hot flashes, disrupted sleep, weight gain or loss, appetite changes and other health conditions. The National Institutes of Health planned an eight-year study called the Women's Health Initiative designed to test the effects of hormone replacement therapy: using estrogen only or with progesterone. The study was stopped five years into the work as researchers learned women experienced a 29 percent increase for risk for heart disease and a 26 percent risk for breast cancer if they took the medical hormone replacement. Today, bio-identical or natural hormone replacement therapy has replaced the synthetic hormone route. The Food and Drug Administration has not tested or approved any one particular kind of natural hormone replacement therapy. Active lobbying has occurred from pharmaceutical companies to have the FDA stop production of smaller companies who manufactured nutritional supplements that served as natural hormone replacement therapy.

Most women experience menopause between the ages of 45 to 55. By that time they produce one-tenth the amount of estrogen than when they were pre-menopausal. Menopause can create symptoms including hot flashes, sweating at night, sleep irregularities and increase the risk for osteoporosis. Natural hormone replacement therapy provides the two main hormones women produce: estrogen and progesterone. Phyto-estrogens are found in many foods such as tofu, herbs such as cinnamon, rosemary, fennel and many Chinese herbs. Progesterone previously was supplemented with synthetic versions as progestin as the pharmaceutical drug Premarin, made from pregnant female horse urine.

Women seeking natural hormone replacement options often turn to nutritional and complementary medical therapies such as acupuncture and supplementing with herbs. To reduce the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture, women can consider increasing calcium and vitamin D under a doctor's care. Women can also consult a nutritionist and ask about consuming soy for its estrogenic effects. Other women supplement their diets with flax seed, prim rose and borage oils and botanical black cohosh herb. Bio-identical hormones are only available through compounding hormones and are best ordered with the consultation of a physician. At the start of 2008, the FDA stop manufacturers from selling estriol, a form of estrogen.

Individual women have different menopausal symptoms and will have varying results from pursuing nutritional and other complementary medical therapies for hormone replacement. If a woman chooses to supplement her diet with phytoestrogenic foods such as tofu, legumes, and add more calcium, vitamin D, flaxseed and black cohosh, her results will vary. No two women will have identical menopausal symptoms. No studies have been conducted on the long-term safety or efficacy of bio-identical hormones such as estriol or others. See your physician for guidance.

The National Institute of Health did fund the Herbal Alternatives for Menopause Study with 351 women who were either near menopause or postmenopausal. All women in the study had night sweats and hot flashes. Some women were given black cohosh only; others were given black cohosh and a mixed botanical supplement; the last group were given synthetic hormones. The only group that experienced fewer menopausal symptoms were those given the synthetic hormones. For women for whom taking synthethic hormones is not a practical option, consulting an integrative medicine physician and nutritionist may be the best route. As the sale of bio-identical hormones for women on the Internet increases, the FDA has continued to monitor manufacturers, recently banning the sale of estriol, a form of estrogen. See your doctor for advice.

The conventional hormone replacement therapy drugs provided women with a estrogen-and-progestin pill that the National Institutes of Health researchers learned increased the risk for breast cancer, heart disease, urinary incontinence and blood clotting. The planned long-term study was stopped for this reason. Natural or bio-identical hormone replacement therapy in the form of administering estrogen from estrogenic foods or taking progesterone creams has not been clinically tested. Much of the information is anecdotal only. Consumers are advised to consult an integrative medicine physician familiar with the use of bio-identical hormones. Bio-identical hormones for women has not been studied. See your doctor for information.

Menopause is a stage in a woman's life that is marked by the end of menstruation and fertility. During menopause, estrogen levels...

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What is Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy? | eHow