Study: Postmenopausal hormones via gel, patch less risky for heart - USATODAY.com
A study of hormone use in nearly 700,000 Danish women over 50 suggests that when it comes to heart attack risk, patches or gels are safer than the combination pills most American women use.
The authors say this is the largest postmenopausal hormones study since the Women’s Health Initiative, which randomly assigned 27,000 U.S. women to estrogen or estrogen-plus-progestin pills or to a placebo.
Options to Prevent or Treat Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women on Yahoo! Health
Before considering drug treatments, however, I must mention two less costly strategies that can help postmenopausal women fend off osteoporosis: exercising regularly and getting at least 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 International units of vitamin D a day.
Few diets provide these amounts of calcium, and especially of vitamin D, so most women need supplements of both. Tums® is the least expensive calcium supplement, but you need to remember that each 500 mg tablet of Tums contains only 200 mg of calcium, and that, for optimum absorption of this calcium, the tablets must be taken with meals.
What’s the Fastest Growing Cancer Diagnosis in U.S.? on Yahoo! Health
A full-page ad in a recent Time magazine, paid for by the Light of Light Foundation, recommends that you ask your doctor to check your neck for thyroid nodules — abnormal growths that form a lump in the thyroid gland. In fact, thyroid nodules have become the most common endocrine diagnosis in the United States, with thyroid cancer now being the fastest growing cancer diagnosis in the country.
Selling The Promise Of Youth
The anti-aging industry is offering a dizzying array
of hormones and supplements. Business is booming. But some remedies are
risky, and the benefits are unproven.
As Dr. Ron Rothenberg bursts through the door of his anti-aging institute in Southern California, a cell phone pressed to his ear, his nurse warns him of the busy day ahead. There will be four-hour consultations with each of three prospective patients, she says. They’re all coming to hear the 60-year-old Rothenberg’s pitch about how his tailored regimens of diet, exercise, and hormones will make them feel younger and live longer.
New controversy over menopause hormones
An unusual petition before the Food and Drug Administration has triggered a huge outpouring of responses from women, doctors and pharmacists, protesting a bid to crack down on certain menopause hormones.
The flood of more than 40,000 emails and letters over the past six months underscores how emotional the issue of menopause hormones has become, and raises questions about the growing industry of small-scale drug mixers who are making hormone medications from scratch.
Pharmaceuticals giant Wyeth, the biggest seller of prescription menopause hormones, has asked the FDA to take action against makers of pharmacy-mixed — or “compounded” hormones — which it says aren’t being adequately regulated. The company contends many compounders make false claims about the drugs’ safety and fail to tell women about the risks associated with hormone use.
Hormone Battle: Big Pharma vs. Small Biz
The debate surrounding prescription hormones for women has pitted drug
company Wyeth against small pharmacies and makers of alternative
therapies
Over the last four years, medical experts have been doing battle when it comes to the dangers of prescription hormones for women. A major study four years ago suggested that taking such hormones, the bulk made by Big Pharma company Wyeth (WYE), could lead to increased risk of breast cancer and heart problems. Now a new study, just out in the Journal of the American Medical Association and similarly replete with controversy, suggests that the risks were overstated.
