Nexus - 0602 - New Times Magazine-pages

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pre-menopausal levels. Adrenostenedione, a hormone made in The researchers also seemed to overlook (or ignore) a rather the ovary long after menopause, is converted in body fat into startling finding: the oestrogen users had a 50 per cent higher estrone which is partially converted in the gut and liver into estra- incidence of stroke death!"! diol. Did Mother Nature intend that women should become estro- Again, the pharmaceutical companies admitted in the Prempro gen deficient after menopause? I think not. Estrogen deficiency packet insert that: "...some research has shown that estrogens at menopause is a myth created by drug companies to justify sell- without progestins may protect women against developing heart ing supplemental estrogen."* disease. However, this is not certain. The protection shown may Nature designed the postmenopausal woman to produce ade- have been caused by the characteristics of the estrogen-treated quate levels of oestrogen for that stage of life. Thus, lower levels women, and not by the estrogen treatment itself. In general, of oestrogen at menopause are a natural adjustment to that stage women treated were slimmer, more physically active and were of life. It does not mean a pathology of "oestrogen deficiency". less likely to have diabetes than untreated women." It is interesting to note that the Consumer Guide to Prescription Despite the faulty nature of the Nurses Health Study, it has Drugs warns that women should not take oestrogens or progestins become the cornerstone of a well-orchestrated marketing cam- if they have current or past clotting disorders, thrombosis, stroke —_ paign to convince healthy women that HRT could prevent heart history, cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disorders, high lipopro- disease! As is the custom of mainstream medicine, doctors have teins (a specific type of blood fats), severe uncontrolled hyperten- been bombarded with advertisements for the claimed benefits of sion or lipid metabolism disorders.° oestrogen—with the stroke risks completely ignored. Thus, based The packet insert of the combined oestrogen and progestin pill, on an unsubstantiated theory and poorly designed studies, there is Prempro, warns: "...taking estrogen may increase the risk of a huge push by most mainstream doctors to have their all their blood clots. These clots can cause a stroke, heart attack or pul- menopausal and postmenopausal patients take HRT. monary embolism, any of which may cause The Framingham Heart Study, the only death or serious long-term disability." ongoing, long-term epidemiological study in And these drugs are being prescribed to the United States, conducted on 240,000 prevent heart disease? One does not need women, reported that the postmenopausal to have a medical degree to realise that oestrogen-users had no benefit in terms of something is very seriously wrong with a heart disease but a 50 per cent increased inci- theory that endorses HRT as a treatment for . dence of strokes. Oestrogen users had a high- heart disease. Despite the faulty nature er risk of vascular disease, which was inde- pendent of any other known risks.” HORMONE REPLACEMENT: of the Nurses Health However, such serious questions about THEORY MASQUERADING AS Study, it has become the | cestrogen's efficacy and safety were totally FACT ignored as the pharmaceutical companies, The theory of hormone replacement ther- cornerstone of a well- realising the potential of another huge market, apy as a protection against heart disease orchestrated marketing were extremely eager to add another string to emerged in 1991 with findings from a campaign to convince the HRT bow. large prospective study, the Nurses To test the oestrogen/cardiovascular Health Study, conducted by a team healthy women that HRT relationship further, in 1995 Professor could prevent heart from Harvard. This study was highly Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, from the disease! influential in establishing a positive University of California, conducted stud- oestrogen/cardiovascular link. Its ies to see if levels of hormones in the data came from questionnaires mailed blood affected heart disease. She mea- every two years from 1976 to 1986 to sured testosterone, oestrone and 48,470 female nurses.'° androstenedione. She found no relation- The results from the study showed ship between the blood levels of these that women who had taken oestrogen sex hormones and heart disease in post- postmenopausally experienced only menopausal women." Nor did she find half the risk of coronary heart disease any relationship between blood levels of than those who hadn't. oestrogen and cholesterol levels, LDL Unfortunately, this study was later and triglycerides. Other studies have found to be seriously flawed and the statistics manipulated. Since confirmed this finding. Although obesity increases blood levels the study was observational, it was undetermined whether it was of oestrogen, it certainly doesn't decrease heart disease. On the oestrogen that actually lowered the risk or whether women with contrary, obesity is one of the greatest contributors to heart dis- generally good health were more likely to be on oestrogen in the ease. So, once again, serious doubt has been cast on oestrogen's first place. cardiovascular benefits. As it turned out, the women who took oestrogen were of a high- In the pursuit of establishing a definite beneficial link between er socio-economic status, better educated, thinner, and more likely HRT and the heart, Wyeth-Ayerst, the pharmaceutical company to be non-smokers. These women also tended to have more regu- manufacturing Premarin, funded the US$40 million study, called lar consultations with their doctors and therefore were considered the Heart and Estrogen-Progestin Study (HERS), which was to more likely to have continuing preventive care. investigate Premarin's effect for women with pre-existing coro- On the other hand, the nurses in this study who were not using nary artery disease. It was the first randomised controlled trial hormones were more likely to be diabetic, to be cigarette smokers, considered large enough to examine the effects of HRT on cardio- to have more body fat and to do less exercise. All of these are vascular outcomes. The study enrolled 2,763 postmenopausal risk factors for heart disease. women (average age, 67) with a previous history of a heart attack, NEXUS 21 cornerstone of a well- orchestrated marketing FEBRUARY — MARCH 1999