Although doctors for 20 years have recommended Premarin for menopausal women to protect their hearts, the hormone does not seem to help.

Challenging a medical doctrine that has stood for two decades, this study found no evidence that estrogen supplements protect older women from heart disease.

The latest research is the second major study to question the doctrine that hormone replacement is a powerful way to ward off heart disease, the leading killer of older women. That belief has been a centerpiece of women?s health care since the 1980s and has helped make the estrogen pill Premarin the most widely prescribed medicine in the United States.

Belief: Estrogen Lowers Cholesterol

Many doctors think estrogen helps the heart largely because it seems to improve cholesterol levels after women go through menopause. The pills lower total cholesterol and ?bad? cholesterol, while raising ?good? cholesterol. Doctors assume these changes translate into less heart disease, even though no experiments definitively prove this.

The first to put the idea to the test was the landmark Heart and Estrogen-progestin Replacement Study ? HERS ? finished two years ago. Its conclusion shocked doctors: Four years of treatment with combination estrogen and progestin pills failed to lower the risk of new heart attacks in women who already had heart disease.

While some physicians immediately stopped putting their elderly heart patients on long-term hormone replacement, many others have simply refused to believe the results.

Fat Still With Estrogen

The latest report backs up HERS? disturbing conclusion. It studied post-menopausal women with heart disease to see if hormone replacement slows the buildup of fatty deposits in their heart arteries, the major underlying cause of heart attacks. It, too, found no benefit from hormones.

American College of Cardiology Annual Meeting Anaheim, California March 13, 2000

Neurology 2000; 54: 2035-2037, 2061-2066

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Folks, if you still believe that estrogen is good for you, you have been brainwashed by the traditional media. I would encourage you to review Dr. John Lee's excellent books on the topic (What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pre Menopause or Menopause).

These companies will use every ploy in the book to get women to take these drugs, which actually cause cancer. They tried to say that estrogen reduced Alzheimer's, but a few years later the results showed that it does not. The long-held notion that estrogen reduces heart disease is just plain untrue.

Does this mean a woman should never be on estrogen?

I don't believe so. Menopausal hot flashes are a terrible thing. If natural remedies do not provide relief, I believe it is medically justifiable to use them for a short-term to relieve the hot flashes. A woman has to sleep at night, and if this is not possible, the subsequent disruption in the adrenal hormones can cause serious health problems.

Depression is a major complication of not adequately controlling this issue. Generally, most women can wean off of the estrogen in a few months to a few years.

One of the classic arguments that traditional medicine offers to convince women to begin or stay on estrogen therapy is osteoporosis prevention, heart disease prevention, and more recently the hope of prevention of Alzheimer's.

With three studies already showing no benefit, this avenue does not seem promising, at least with the synthetic progestin and horse-derived estrogen used. Maybe a more appropriate regimen of natural hormone replacement would show better results.

Related Articles:

Estrogen Hormone Replacement Therapy Raises Women's Heart Risks

Testosterone may reduce production of Alzheimer's protein

NATURAL ESTROGEN LEVELS DO NOT CORRELATE WITH COGNITIVE DECLINE

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