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One of the primary objectives of the Women's Health Initiative was to see if postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) improved long-term risk of coronary heart disease, among other chronic diseases. However, the combined estrogen/progestin (Prempro) arm was halted in 2002, citing that the participants’ risk of cardiovascular disease outweighed any potential benefit of HRT in the prevention of colorectal cancer and bone fracture [1]. The conjugated equine estrogen (CEE)-only arm was also halted in 2004 citing no improvement in heart disease risk but an increased incidence of stroke, and no benefit in terms of fractures, although there was a reduced breast...

                    This is according to a recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)  that casts a shadow on the common use of testosterone therapy in older men for boosting their energy and vitality.                      These unexpected negative results fly in the face of decades of good research on testosterone therapy in older men showing it to be beneficial to the cardiovascular system, and improve sexual function, mood, energy level, and muscle and bone mass and strength ....

          Before you get pregnant, or right when you get pregnant, blood tests are done to check for anemia, certain viruses, blood type and other markers. Increasingly, doctors are now also testing a woman’s vitamin D level. Vitamin D has been a hot topic in the medical world for a few years, but why and how is it affecting conception, pregnancy and the health of the newborn? This question - about vitamin D and pregnancy - has kept scientists busy for almost a decade now. Let’s start by understanding what vitamin D is. Vitamin D is Actually a...

The Skin and Hormones It certainly isn't news that hormones are involved in skin health. But it may be news that effects of declining estrogen levels are more obvious on the skin of the face than elsewhere on the body.  How so? Read on. Lower Hormone Levels = Lower Skin Vitality Women and their doctors have known for a long time that the decline in hormone levels as we age has a negative impact on skin properties, and we typically see skin thinning, wrinkling, discoloration, and dryness. This is because hormones are intrinsically involved with maintaining collagen content, skin lipid...

Hormones are intrinsically involved with processes affecting the maintenance of skin health, such as collagen content, skin lipid levels, elasticity, wound healing, glycoaminoglycan content, and facial hair patterns. A major culprit for the skin thinning, wrinkling, and dryness associated with aging is the decline in hormones such as estrogen and progesterone in women, and testosterone in men.  Therefore, it's no coincidence that the decline in hormone levels as people age parallels the decline in skin properties frequently associated with aging. And, with skin health being such a major concern especially in aging women, this is very good news for the cosmetic...