Alternatives to hormone replacement for menopause.

This paper examines the controversy over estrogen therapies and shows how lifestyle interventions can be offered as a safe way to promote prevention and good health, without the risks and long-term side effects associated with hormone replacement drugs. Some researchers show that estrogen therapy may decrease osteoporosis and heart disease. Preventing these diseases has become the primary justification for recommending hormones to most menopausal women, whether the loss of estrogen is induced by surgical removal of the ovaries, hysterectomy, ovary radiation, chemotherapy, or is a result of the natural aging process. Prevention is the foremost reason that many clinicians tell their patients that the benefits outweigh the risks, and the reason women are advised to use this therapy for decades. More women may be requesting alternatives to the widely prescribed hormone replacement drugs as concern about the long-term risks and public understanding about the drug-free options for prevention grow. Beginning with providing information about the risks associated with both estrogen and the combination of estrogen and progestogen, this paper examines "natural" approaches to conditions commonly associated with menopause.