Advantages of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for menopausal and peri-menopausal women include all of the well-known benefits of patented hormone replacement therapy-and often more without most of the unwanted side-effects and risks associated with traditional hormone replacement.

BHRT was prescribed for it's short-term benefits but, more and more, doctors and researchers are becoming aware of and prescribing BHRT for it's long-term benefits. BHRT is used to eliminate or reduce various problems and symptoms at different stages of women's lives, which may include:

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Premenopausal/postmenopausal symptoms
Irregular menstrual periods
Uterine bleeding
Hot Flashes
Osteoporosis (bone-density loss)
Reduces risks of heart disease
Accelerates fat burning for increased weight loss
Reduces nights sweats and insomnia
Enhances sex drive and libido
Protects against fibrocystic breasts
Helps improve memory lapses and foggy thinking
Prevents vaginal thinning and dryness
Increases energy and reduces depression
Improves the skins elasticity
Guards bones from osteoporosis and encourages bone growth
Improves blood flow

Theoretical risks of taking bio-identical hormones

Return of bleeding (in the form of a period and sometimes abnormally heavy and irregular which could necessitate a sonogram or a D & C for diagnosis.)
Uterine cancer (increased by imbalanced hormones and decreased by balanced hormones)
Fibroid growth (a concern if you have fibroids)
Deep vein Thrombosis / pulmonary emboli (reduced by taking omega 3 oil)
Possibly more breast cancer

Do Hormones cause Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer continues to be a worry and concern for all women. Previous studies involving the risk of hormone replacement and breast cancer have been inconclusive.

The overall evidence from the research literature indicates that estrogens do not increase the risk of aggressive breast cancer, and that estrogen will decrease the mortality of breast cancer (users of estrogen replacement are less likely to die from breast cancer). When a synthetic progestin (Provera) is added to the estrogen, some studies show a decreased risk of breast cancer verses non-hormone replacement users while others show an increased risk, including the recent WHI Study. In contrast, natural progesterone is shown to have a strong protective effect against breast and other cancers. One study found that women with adequate progesterone levels were 10 times less likely to die from cancer than women with low progesterone levels. Women with low progesterone are up to 10 times more likely to develop cancer and 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer. Natural progesterone has strong anti-cancer effects while synthetic progestins are carcinogenic. There is no study that shows that giving natural estrogens (even unopposed without progesterone) increases the risk of breast cancer. On the contrary, a woman taking natural estrogen and natural progesterone is provided protection against breast cancer, and she is at less risk of developing cancer when compared to women who are not on any hormone replacement therapy.

One of the largest studies to date comparing the risk of breast cancer with the use of natural bioidentical hormones and synthetic hormone replacement therapy demonstrates that the natural hormones have significantly less associated risk of breast cancer. This study published in a 2007 issue of Breast Cancer Research reported the association between various forms of HRT and the incidence of breast cancer in over 80,000 postmenopausal women who were followed for over 8 postmenopausal years. This study found that, compared to women who never used any hormone replacement therapy, women who used estrogen only (different preparations analyzed together) had an increased risk of breast cancer that was 1.29 times those who never used estrogen. If a synthetic progestin was used in combination with estrogen, there was a significant increase in the risk of breast cancer compared to those on the estrogen only that was 1.69 times the risk of those who never used estrogen.

If, however, a woman used natural progesterone in combination with estrogen, the increased risk of breast cancer was eliminated, having no increase risk of breast cancer as compared to those who never used estrogen. In addition, estriol containing products was found to have a further protective effect against breast cancer, resulting in a lower risk of breast cancer than even those who never used any hormone replacement.

Unequal risks for breast cancer associated with different hormone replacement therapies: results from the E3N cohort study. Fournier A, Berrino F, Clavel-Chapelon F. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2007