HRT-Free Perimenopause Linked To Less Breast Cancer Rates!

When the landmark study (Women's Health Initiative trial) hit the news waves in 2002 with the shocking results that there were elevated health risks among hormone replacement therapy users, including breast cancer and stroke...I wrote a book about how to get through perimenopause WITHOUT resorting to hormone replacement therapy (The Change of Life Diet and Cookbook).

I wanted to show women that they had other options for finding comfort from the various and sundry menopausal symptoms. I wrote it for women who, like myself, would soon be entering that next (hormonally driven) right of passage. My mom is a breast cancer survivor and so I am personally unwilling to go the HRT route.

Writing this book right after this first landmark study was released was a bit like going out on a limb. But my heart told me this was the right thing to do!

But guess what, folks? Researchers at Kaiser Permanente reported (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August 1, 2007 99 (15): 1152-1161) a drop in breast cancer rates from 2003 to 2004 that parallels a decrease in women's use of hormone therapy beginning in 2002. This decline is even more significant because it cannot be explained by mammography screening rates (which remained stable during this time).

• Hormone replacement therapy use went down (menopausal hormone therapy dispensings increased from 1988 to 2002 and then dropped by 75%)


• Breast cancer rates went down


• Mammography rates remained the same


• In women aged 45 years and older, age-adjusted incidence of breast cancer (mainly estrogen receptor- positive) increased from the early 1980s through 2001, then dropped by 18% from 2003 through 2006.

Well, what do you know! We are on to something here, ladies - and this is definitely great news.

NOTE: Currently health officials advise women to take HRT only when needed and for as short a period as possible.

Related Topics:

• FDA Goes After 'Natural' HRT Claims
• Hormone Replacement Therapy: Where Are We Now?

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