DOES BIO-IDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT CAUSE BREAST CANCER?

No, Bio-Identical Hormones do not cause cancer.  A very large study called the Woman’s Health Initiative (WHI-1) looking at hormone replacement and chronic disease unfortunately gave the false impression that hormone replacement was unsafe. This study used the synthetic hormone, Prempro- a combination of conjugated estrogens from horse urine (Premarin) and a synthetic progestin (Provera).  There was an increase incidence of breast cancer in the group on Prempro over the placebo group.  Subsequently the study was discontinued and women were told to stop taking the drug Prempro.

Another part of the study known as the WHI-2 continued and its outcome would prove to be quite different.  The WHI-2 was an Estrogen only study and found that women given estrogen only without progestins found no increase incidence in breast cancer.  Corroborating dozens of other studies on estrogen only, WHI-2 found no increase incidence in breast cancer and in fact there was a slight decrease in breast cancer incidence.

The difference between WHI-1 Prempro (estrogen and progestin) vs. women on placebo, and WHI-2 Premarin (estrogen only), was the progestin.

In fact, more than 15 major medical organizations now endorse hormone therapy as a safe and effective treatment plan for many adverse health conditions.

We have very specific protocols for male and female Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy that have been shown to reduce risks of various disease processes such as breast cancer, osteoporosis and neurological disease. For more information about our principles of safe and effective Hormone Replacement Therapy, visit this page or call the office location nearest to you!