4 Reasons to Avoid Natural Menopause Treatment

Posted by Pink Wrangler

April 7, 2009

Natural Menopause Treatment or Natural Disaster: What'll It Be?

I finally hit my limit today. I’m officially fed up with menopause websites that slam “hrt,” or hormone replacement therapy, in order to sell some so called, natural menopause treatment. The natural alternative, they claim, is a miracle product that fixes all your menopause symptoms and makes you feel like a million bucks. Or, at the very least makes them a million bucks.

The set up is always the same. A woman talks about her amazing menopause makeover, how research shows synthetic hormones are dangerous, and how some snake oil saved her life (forgive my sarcasm but you’ll see why in a bit).

Problem number one with the pitch: how can you be unbiased and truthful in your advice if you’re selling a product? It’s simple. You can’t. I just wrote a book on menopause and hormones looking at all the science. You can be sure I avoided any affiliations to companies and organizations selling anything related to menopause. If I do profit, it’s from telling the whole story – not pushing a product angle.

Second problem. When you see a site claiming hormones are dangerous it’s usually because they’re citing the results of the post-menopausal hormone replacement trial known as the Women’s Health Initiative. It was stopped around 2002 because of unexpected negative side effects. Hormone experts now understand that negative results were likely due to when the hormones were started and that most people threw the baby out with the bath water. (I’m really simplifying.)

Third problem. Proponents of these natural solutions claim they have no side effects. Well, if there are no side effects, there are probably no benefits either. To get the benefits of estrogen, you have to take estrogen – and in the right dose. You need a prescription for that. Giving your body a natural alternative instead of the real thing is like putting a 10-Watt bulb into a light socket (your body) that is built for 100-Watt bulb. Sure you get a little light but not enough to do anything with.

Last beef I have with these sites, there’s no science behind the products. I mean none. In the words of my scientist co-author, Dr. Heward, “show me the data.” If you want me to pay you money to put something in my body (and a hormone no less) then you better have a good scientific reason for it, along with a good clinical trial or twenty.

And testimonials don’t count because we all know what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. Anyway, anyone can make up a glowing endorsement.

So if you want to be on estrogen then be on estrogen, the real thing, in the right dose, and formulation (that is, estrogen creams). Don’t waste your money on the magical mystery potions that people call “natural” as though the word were synonymous with “safe.” I mean, disasters are natural but that doesn’t mean they’re good.

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