Study suggests Hormone Replacement (HRT) May Harm Brain

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Study Suggests Hormone Replacement May Harm Brain JoAnn Guest Jun 09, 2003

15:17 PDT

WOMEN'S HEALTH

Study Suggests Hormone Replacement May Harm Brain

 

 

By Gailon Totheroh

CBN News Science & Medical Reporter

 

June 3, 2003

 

 

Past research suggested that taking the hormones would protect elderly

women against memory loss and brain diseases like Alzheimer's.

 

 

 

CBN.com – Hoping to prevent heart disease, fractures, and quality of

life, many women have embraced hormone replacement therapy. But evidence

released last week suggests it may not be helpful and may even harm the

brain.

After a hysterectomy, Jerri Sparks began to experience mood swings. With

the ensuing menopause, her gynecologist recommended estrogen and

progestin together.

 

" I didn't really see a difference. I really didn't know how I was

supposed to feel with them. I didn't know if it was going to completely

change my mood, or exactly what it would do. So I didn't really see any

benefit at all from them, " Sparks said.

 

Last summer, a major women's health study told participants to stop

taking those very drugs because findings showed they increased the risk

of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer.

 

Now more bad news -- the same study found the combination failed to

improve a woman's quality of life.

 

Researcher Jennifer Hays at Baylor College of Medicine helped conduct

the study.

 

" ...We looked at the youngest women -- the 50 to 54-year olds who

reported moderate to severe hot flashes when they came in. The only

difference in the measures we looked at was five percent improvement in

sleep, " Hays said.

 

And there was even more bad news for women like Elaine Odenwald. She

participated in the women's health study in hopes of saving her mental

sharpness.

 

" The process of aging does sort of dull things, " Odenwald said.

" Usually, my memories come back to me. They don't always come the first

time. "

 

Past research suggested that taking the hormones would protect elderly

women against memory loss and brain diseases like Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, or mental degeneration.

 

Sally Shumaker of Wake Forest University headed the memory study.

 

" Women on the combined hormone therapy were at twice the risk for

developing dementia as compared to women on placebo, and this risk began

to emerge after one year and is highly significant, " Shumaker said.

 

Hays says that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do about menopause

and old age.

 

" Exercise has been shown to be more effective than medication for long

term treatment of depression, one of the measures we looked at, " she

said.

 

" Staying mentally active, doing new things, doing crossword puzzles,

taking a course. Challenging yourself keeps you mentally fit and sharp,

and none of these things raises your risk of heart attack, breast cancer

and stroke the way a hormone pill might. "

 

Nutrition expert Ann Louise Gittleman says it's also important to eat

right, take quality multivitamins and include minerals such as zinc and

magnesium:

 

" Magnesium is a woman's best friend, " Gittleman said. " To me it's just

as important as calcium in terms of getting rid of those mood swings,

keeping you calm and helping you when you start to wake up during the

night -- at 2, 3 and 4 -- you won't be waking up. "

 

And she says the weight problems that often come with menopause

generally result from liver stress:

 

" You have to understand that the liver is the filter of the body -- all

of your drugs, your medications, the birth control pill, alcohol, coffee

-- it all goes through the liver. "

 

A healthy liver is able to burn off fat -- and a healthy liver comes

from a healthy lifestyle -- at any age.

 

In the meantime, the memory study will continue. Researchers hope to

discover if the risk for dementia continues even after women stop taking

the hormone combination.

 

http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/030603a.asp

 

 

 

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