Jun 07
29
Estrogen and Your Heart
It seems that there is a lot of conflicting news on estrogen today. One minute, we hear that too much estrogen, or at least phony estrogens that are found in HRT or hormone replacement therapies are harmful and can actually increase the odds of heart disease, then we are now hearing that estrogen can offer several heart benefits, assumingly not known to the general public before now.Â
But there is a catch. The hormone may actually offer heart benefits, not the more aged segment of women who have already undergone menopause, but to women who are at or below the age of fifty who take estrogen supplements. Women who took the estrogen in the studies who were in their fifties actually had a statistically lower occurrence of hardening of the arteries, which cause heart attacks and other types of heart and circulatory disease that is getting more common in women, as it has been in men for years and years.
The real catch here is that the women who have reached their 60s and 70s cannot garner the same benefits from taking estrogens, and instead in fact may actually be at higher danger from the fact that they are taking hormone supplements if they are over fifty, so this benefit is limited to a strict age group for as yet unknown, conclusive and concrete scientific reasons.Â
The advice from doctors considered experts on the subject of aging and hormones has stayed identical to what it was prior to this study though, and that is that women in their fifties or sixties or seventies for that matter, should really only take estrogen as a remedy against hot flashes and the other discomforts of menopause and perimenopause, or of course for other medical conditions that may warrant such a call from a doctor (although I’m unaware of any, I’m sure there are instances where this may be the case).Â
