By Richard Chern, M.D.
You might have heard the phrase synthetic is not always bad and organic is not always good. But in the world of hormones, the research suggests bio-identicals are always the right way to go! So, what’s the difference? The main difference is the molecular structure of a bio-identical hormone is…well…identical to our hormones, and the structure of a synthetic is not. Since this is not well understood by patients or doctors, hormones sometimes get a bad name.
Well, testosterone is bad, right? We hear news stories all the time telling us about the negative effects of testosterone. For testosterone in the form of testosterone cypionate, a synthetic—and the most commonly prescribed testosterone shot—this is true. Synthetic testosterone will make you feel better, but it will NOT make you healthier. Synthetic testosterone increases your risk of heart attacks, strokes, cancer and more. Bio-Identical testosterone, however, not only makes you feel better and provides an increase in vitality for life, but also reduces your risk of Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, muscle loss and more (the list goes on).
In 1991, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was started by the National Institute for Health (NIH) to confirm the benefits of hormone replacement. The study was stopped in 2002, three years early, because the women taking synthetic estrogens were dying from heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer at such a high rate that the study could not ethically continue. Unfortunately, the story became “all hormone replacement is bad.”
This information was so widely dispersed that both patients and doctors around the world stopped using hormone replacement and many are still hesitant to use hormone replacement today. However, while strokes, heart attacks, breast cancer and more are all increased in the women who received the synthetic hormones, those receiving bio-identical hormones experienced a decrease in their risk of all of these conditions. Again, synthetic hormones can improve symptoms, but bio-identical hormones improve health and prevent disease as well.
Bio-Identical progesterone helps decrease the risk of uterine cancer, helps the brain heal after injury, and promotes nerve and brain function while synthetic progesterone, or progestins, increase your risk of breast cancer, stroke and heart attack. There is a pattern here I believe everyone can see.
At The Hormone Restoration Center, we specialize in bio-identical hormones and believe we have the highest quality bio-identicals available. For more information, please call 850-837-1271, located at 12889 U.S.-98 E., Unit 107B in Miramar Beach.
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