Whats with the new FDA warning on bio-identical hormones?
You’re going to be reading a lot of reports about bio-identical hormones in the coming months, and, if you’re like most busy people and perhaps not paying too close attention to the details, you might well come away with one troubling sound byte- “The FDA is saying they’re not safe!” Actually, that’s not at all what’s happening. After a landmark 2002 Hormone Replacement Therapy study came out showing that conventional hormone replacement therapy was associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, there was a huge drop in sales of drugs like Premarin. Wyeth, the big drug company that makes Premarin and Prempro saw their sales cut in half. Women began to turn to what they perceived as safer alternatives. Integrative medicine practitioners have been using bio-identicals for years, and bio-identicals were given a huge boost after Suzanne Somers wrote a couple of books touting them. Well-known experts like respected endocrinologist Diana Schwarzbein, MD have also been proponent
