Natural News

Wednesday, February 01, 2012 by: John Phillip

The result of a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that statin use in postmenopausal women significantly increases the risk of developing diabetes. In spite of this damning evidence, researchers do not recommend that the American Diabetes Association guidelines for primary and secondary prevention should be changed. Statins account for hundreds of billions in pharmaceutical sales each year, and there is scant evidence they do anything to promote cardiovascular or overall health. In addition to contributing to muscle wasting and metabolic imbalance, this research provides yet another reason to avoid this energy-sapping class of drug. Health-conscious individuals avoid pharmaceuticals at all costs, and there is now compelling research to suggest that everyone should seriously question taking statins to prevent an unnecessary risk of diabetes.

Dr. Annie L. Culver and her team from the Rochester Methodist Hospital, Mayo Clinic in Minnesota analyzed data from the national, multi-year Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) to garner results for this study. Researchers analyzed data to include 153,840 women without diabetes with an average age of 63 years. Statin use was assessed at enrollment and again in year three. At the outset, 7 percent of the women reported taking a statin medication.

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Read the complete article and related information at Statins increase diabetes in postmenopausal women by seventy percent

Sanesco
Health in Balance

Sharon Norling, MD, MBA

“While imbalances in sex hormones create many symptoms in the peri-menopausal and menopausal woman,
these symptoms can also stem from adrenal, neurotransmitter, and thyroid imbalances.”

Hormones. Most women think of “hormones” as estrogen, progesterone andsometimes testosterone. Throughout a woman’s lifetime they experience the fluctuating hormones and attribute mood swings, hot flashes, cravings, anxiety, depression, fatigue, joint pain, weight gain, low libido, mental confusion or memory loss and insomnia to the imbalance of female hormones. Frequently, this is only one piece of the puzzle. Our bodies are complex. How we feel and respond involve the interaction and integration of the endocrine, immune, enteric and nervous systems. Neurotransmitters carry messages to every organ, muscle and gland. Poor nutrition, drugs, heavy metal toxicity and over stimulation deplete and imbalance the neurotransmitters which impairs the function of all systems. Thus, the balancing of these systems is a delicate dance, and one that requires a great deal of experience and information.

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), set out to definitely answer questions about the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but only added to the confusion and concern. First, it studied only synthetic hormones (Premarin and PremPro), given orally in a fixed dose. Secondly, the study chose older participants; the mean age was 63.2, allowing females up to 79 years of age. This age group generally has greater health risks and is not using HRT. Also included were women who were overweight, had hyperlipidemia, subclinical atherosclerosis, and 49.9% were smokers.

Interestingly enough, the study actually excluded women with hot flashes, a major symptom of menopause.1 Based on misconceptions and misinformation, sensational reports of WHI findings indicted HRT for causing breast cancer and heart disease.

A secondary review of the WHI’s findings separated the estrogen and estrogen-progestin arm into the 50-59 year olds, the age when women generally use hormonal replacement therapy. In the estrogen-progestin arm the CHD hazard risk ratio was found to be 0.76. A risk ratio of less than 1 is indicative of less risk of disease. In the estrogen only arm there was 23 % less invasive breast cancer than in the placebo group.2 Another study found that administration of trans-dermal estrogen diminishes the largest adverse hormone-event: thromboembolism.3 Based on the results of these studies, further research is needed to identify the risks and benefits of HRT and bio-identical hormone use in appropriate age groups.

In addition to the questions regarding the risks and benefits of female hormones, women present with multiple symptoms which may or may not be due to these hormones. Often, when a woman experiences premenstrual syndrome (PMS ) , peri-menopause or menopause, conventionally they are prescribed female hormones. When this is not effective or symptoms remain, the hormones are changed or the dose is increased. Looking at only one hormone system, however, is not adequate. Successful treatment of women requires proper diagnosis and treatment of adrenal function. When adrenals are stressed, estradiol and testosterone can be shunted to DHEA while progesterone goes to cortisol. In women, the adrenal glands are the only source of DHEA. In the menopausal female, the adrenals are the only source of testosterone and the ovaries produce estrogen and progesterone at a much lower rate. If the adrenals are exhausted and cortisol is low, menopausal and PMS symptoms intensify. Therefore, adrenal normalization should precede hormone modulation. Neurotransmitter evaluation and support is also important. The inhibitory neurotransmitters, serotonin and GABA help to maintain calm and mood in the body, while the excitatory system, the dopamine, norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EPI) and glutamate, influence energy, focus, and memory. While imbalances in sex hormones create many symptoms in the peri-menopausal and menopausal woman, these symptoms can also stem from adrenal, neurotransmitter, and thyroid imbalances.

The dancing hormones and their interactions are responding not only to each other but are modulated by our lifestyles and significantly impacted by stress. The complicated balance of our hormones and our brain chemistry challenges our stress adaptation mechanisms, and fatigue can result. These fluctuating levels in hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and thyroid, interact with brain neurotransmitters that affect our emotional and physical responses to life, stressors in our environment, insults, and even infections.

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Read the complete article and related information at Women’s Dancing Hormones

Neuropsychopharmacology

Galen Missig¹, Luke W Ayers¹, Jay Schulkin² and Jeffrey B Rosen¹

Read the complete article and related information at Oxytocin Reduces Background Anxiety in a Fear-Potentiated Startle Paradigm

HemOnc Today

Posted on HemOncToday.com January 5, 2012

Women with breast cancer undergoing anti-estrogen treatment may have a lower risk for melanoma, according to researchers from Switzerland and France.

Previous research has demonstrated that higher estrogen levels may be associated with melanoma etiology, suggesting that anti-estrogen use should be linked to a decreased risk for melanoma. Using data from the Geneva Cancer Registry, the current researchers compared the incidence of melanoma among patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2005 who were treated with or without anti-estrogen therapy. Fifty-four percent of the patients received anti-estrogen treatment.

All patients were followed through December 2008, during which time 34 women developed a melanoma – 11 who received anti-estrogens and 23 who did not. The incidence rate of melanoma per 100,000 person-years was 45 for those who received anti-estrogens vs. 60.3 for those who did not.

The risk for melanoma was higher among patients who did not receive anti-estrogen therapy compared with the general population (SIR=1.60; 95% CI, 1.08-2.12). Among patients who received anti-estrogen therapy, the risk for melanoma was close to 1 (SIR=0.98; 95% CI, 0.40-1.56).

“This study suggests that anti-estrogen therapy modifies the risk of melanoma after breast cancer,” the researchers wrote. “Although our results are in agreement with the hypothesis that estrogens could play a role in melanoma occurrence, they need to be replicated in a larger study with data on potential co-founders.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

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Read the complete article and related information at Anti-estrogen therapy associated with reduced melanoma risk in women with breast cancer

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Moderate caffeine intake associated with higher level for Asians, lower for whites

Asian women who consumed an average of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day — the equivalent of roughly two cups of coffee — had elevated estrogen levels when compared to women who consumed less, according to a study of reproductive age women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

However, white women who consumed 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day had slightly lower estrogen levels than women who consumed less. Black women who consumed 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day were found to have elevated estrogen levels, but this result was not statistically significant.

Total caffeine intake was calculated from any of the following sources: coffee, black tea, green tea, and caffeinated soda.

Findings differed slightly when the source of caffeine was considered singly. Consuming 200 milligrams or more of caffeine from coffee mirrored the findings for overall caffeine consumption, with Asians having elevated estrogen levels, whites having lower estrogen levels, and the results for blacks not statistically significant. However, consumption of more than one cup each day of caffeinated soda or green tea was associated with a higher estrogen level in Asians, whites, and blacks.

The changes in estrogen levels among the women who took part in the study did not appear to affect ovulation. Studies conducted in animals had suggested that caffeine might interfere with ovulation.

The study was published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“The results indicate that caffeine consumption among women of child-bearing age influences estrogen levels,” said Enrique Schisterman, Ph.D., of the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH institute where some of the research was conducted. “Short term, these variations in estrogen levels among different groups do not appear to have any pronounced effects. We know that variations in estrogen level are associated with such disorders as endometriosis, osteoporosis, and endometrial, breast, and ovarian cancers. Because long term caffeine consumption has the potential to influence estrogen levels over a long period of time, it makes sense to take caffeine consumption into account when designing studies to understand these disorders.”

The study authors noted that 89 percent of U.S. women from 18-34 years of age consume the caffeine equivalent of 1.5 to two cups of coffee a day.

The study’s first author was Karen C. Schliep, Ph. D., M.S.P.H., from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, who conducted the study during a research appointment at NICHD. Dr. Schliep undertook the research with Dr. Schisterman and colleagues at the University of Utah, the NICHD and the State University of New York at Buffalo.

More than 250 women from 18 to 44 years old participated in the study between 2005 and 2007. On average, they consumed 90 milligrams of caffeine a day, approximately equivalent to one cup of caffeinated coffee.

Most of the participants in the study reported to the study clinic one to three times a week for two menstrual cycles. Their visits were scheduled to correspond with specific stages of the menstrual cycle. At the visits, the women reported what they had eaten in the last 24 hours and answered questions about their exercise, sleep, smoking and other aspects of their lifestyle and reproductive hormone levels were measured in blood. The study authors noted that collection of these details during multiple time points across two menstrual cycles produced more precise information about the link between caffeine and hormones than was possible in earlier studies. The researchers also noted that the study participants were more racially diverse than those who took part in previous studies.

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute’s website at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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Read the complete article and related information at NIH Study shows caffeine consumption linked to estrogen changes

Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Deborah Clegg

DALLAS – Oct.  20, 2011 – A recent UT Southwestern Medical Center study found that estrogen regulates energy expenditure, appetite and body weight, while insufficient estrogen receptors in specific parts of the brain may lead to obesity.

“Estrogen has a profound effect on metabolism,” said Dr. Deborah Clegg, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study published Oct. 5 in Cell Metabolism. “We hadn’t previously thought of sex hormones as being critical regulators of food intake and body weight.”

The mouse study is the first to show that estrogen, acting through two hypothalamic neural centers in the brain, keeps female body weight in check by regulating hunger and energy expenditure. Female mice lacking estrogen receptor alpha – a molecule that sends estrogen signals to neurons – in those parts of the brain became obese and developed related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.

Similar results were not seen in male mice, although researchers suspect other unknown estrogen receptor sites in the brain play a similar role in regulating metabolism for males as well.

Estrogen receptors are located throughout the body, but researchers found two specific populations of estrogen receptors that appear to regulate energy balance for female mice.

The findings are potentially important for millions of postmenopausal women, many of whom have decided against hormonal replacement therapy. The study could lead to new hormonal replacement therapies in which estrogen is delivered to specific parts of the brain that regulate body weight, thereby avoiding the risks associated with full-body estrogen delivery, such as breast cancer and stroke.

Doctors stopped routinely recommending long-term estrogen therapy for menopausal women in 2002 when a Women’s Health Initiative study showed the hormone also led to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

“The role of estrogen in postmenopausal women continues to remain uncertain,” Dr. Clegg said. “Current research is focused on the timing and the type of estrogen supplementation that would be most beneficial to women. Our findings further support a role for estrogens in regulating body weight and energy expenditure, suggesting a benefit of estrogen supplementation in postmenopausal women.”

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Read the complete article and related information at Study shows estrogen works in the brain to keep weight in check

The Independent

Thousands of women at risk from ‘silent Thalidomide’

A drug intended to prevent miscarriage is blamed for causing cancer in the daughters – and possibly even granddaughters – of women who took it decades ago.

By Sarah Morrison and Jaymi McCann

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Does this story sound familiar?  It is playing out now and under the guise of the HPV Vaccines. LB

Read the complete article and related information at Thousands of women at risk from DES

Society for Menstrual Cycle Research

re:Cycling

January 20th, 2012 by Laura Wershler

Photo credit: Ceridwen, Creative Commons 2.0

Is there a woman over the age of 18 anywhere who doesn’t know that taking the birth control pill can make her periods lighter and less painful? Most women know this, but not many know why. The news stories swirling around a new study about the pill and period pain will not enlighten them.

A 30-year longitudinal Swedish study has finally proved the worth of what is accepted practice in North America and Europe: the prescribing of combined oral contraceptives (COCs), or birth control pills with synthetic estrogen and progestin, to treat painful periods known clinically as dysmenorrhea.

Of course, pharmaceutical companies that manufacture COCs are probably eager for this research, as prescribing the pill for dysmenorrhea is still an off-label use in the U.S. (unlicensed use in the U.K.). Pill manufacturers may be able to use this finding to lobby the FDA (or equivalent agencies in other nations) to approve the pill as treatment for menstrual pain, leading to increased sales and insurance coverage. Perhaps that’s why news media have been treating this discovery as breaking news.

Take this headline: Yes, the Pill CAN ease the agony of period pain: Scientists confirm what millions of women already know, or this one: The pill ‘does ease period pain’, or this one: Combination oral contraception pills cut menstruation pain, or, really, any of these.

You can read the abstract of the study by Swedish researchers Ingela Lindh, Agneta Andersson Ellström and Ian Milsom, published this week in the journal Human Reproduction, here: The effect of combined oral contraceptives and age on dysmenorrhoea: an epidemiological study. The conclusions are simple: “COC use and increasing age, independent of each other, reduced the severity of dysmenorrhoea. COC use reduced the severity of dysmenorrhea more than increasing age and childbirth.”

Forget the age factor for the purposes of this discussion. The fact that COC use reduces the severity of dysmenorrhea is not astounding. This is old news. So says Dr. Steven Goldstein, an obstetrician/gynecologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, quoted in a USA Today story:

“The study results are not surprising. It’s gratifying to see researchers documenting scientifically what practitioners have been seeing for a very long time. The amount of discomfort from a woman’s period with a combination birth control pill is a fraction of what it is without the Pill. There is a diminution of pain from the Pill.”

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Read the complete article and related information at The pill, reduced period pain and the ongoing delusion

Yahoo Finance

Boston lawsuit claims link between anti-miscarriage drug and breast cancer in daughters

By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer

January 10, 2012

In this Dec. 13, 2011 photo, breast cancer survivor Arline MacCormack speaks with a reporter at her home in Newton, Mass. A study has confirmed that the drug DES, which millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications, has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now. MacCormack is one of 53 women from around the country who are suing drug companies who made and promoted DES for millions of pregnant women from about 1938 to the early 1970s. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

BOSTON (AP) — Arline MacCormack first heard about DES from her mother when she was 17. Three decades later, MacCormack believes that the drug her mother took to prevent miscarriages caused her to develop breast cancer at age 44.

MacCormack, of Newton, is one of 53 women from around the country who are suing drug companies who made and promoted DES for millions of pregnant women from about 1938 to the early 1970s. In 1971, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told doctors to stop prescribing DES for their pregnant patients after a study found that taking DES during pregnancy appeared to increase the risk of developing a rare vaginal cancer years later for DES daughters in their teens and 20s.

DES, or diethylstilbestrol (dahy-eth-uhl-stil-bes’-trawl), is a synthetic estrogen that was prescribed to millions of women in the United States, Europe and other countries to prevent miscarriages, premature birth and other problems.

The case in Boston is being closely watched by DES daughters around the country. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed since the 1970s alleging links between DES and cervical and vaginal cancer, as well as infertility problems. Many of those cases were settled before trial. The Boston case is believed to be the first major litigation alleging a link between DES and breast cancer in DES daughters over the age of 40.

MacCormack, now 50, said she was stunned when she was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago after having mammograms every six months since she turned 40 because she had had several benign cysts removed over the years.

“The characteristics of my cancer were for women over 60 typically. It wasn’t the type of cancer a 40-year-old or a 44-year-old woman gets,” said MacCormack.

“When I read the research that’s been done, I found I had more chance of getting it because my mom took DES,” she said.

The women’s lawyers say their case is supported by a recent study that suggests that breast cancer risk is nearly doubled in DES daughters over the age of 40. The average woman has about a 1 in 50 chance of developing breast cancer by 55. The study, led by Dr. Robert Hoover, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, found that the chance for DES daughters is 1 in 25.

The lawsuit alleges that 14 drug manufacturers — including Eli Lilly and Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.— withheld from doctors and the FDA reports that showed DES did not prevent miscarriages and raised serious questions about the safety of the drug.

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Read the complete article and related information at Boston lawsuit claims DES-breast cancer link

Womens eNews

By Suzanne Braun Levine
WeNews guest author
Sunday, January 8, 2012

Despite conventional wisdom dictating that intimacy ends at midlife for women, Suzanne Braun Levine says this is untrue in her new book “How We Love Now.” In this except, she describes how love actually changes and deepens.

Being in love knows no age limits. The kinds of love we can experience in a lifetime are limited only by our imagination and our circumstances.

Every love, whenever and however often it strikes, is unique and mysterious. Yet for too many women the notion of experiencing that unique and mysterious intimacy at midlife seems preposterous; they have bought into the conventional wisdom that menopause is the last stop on the road to loneliness and decline.

An increasing number of other women know different; they are living–and defining–a totally new love narrative. Love as they are experiencing it is not a replay of earlier relationships; there is something fresh and surprising about it. At the same time that her aging body is continuing its lifelong production of dopamine, the hormonal reward of feeling love, a woman in this convention-defying group is not experiencing love in the ways she did earlier in her life. Her wants and needs are different, and she is fulfilling those unfamiliar desires–in both flesh and spirit. Not only are women still lusting and loving as they age, they are enjoying it more than ever.

Love is never easy, and each stage of life brings its own versions of heartbreak and ecstasy. The landscape of love we are entering at midlife is not without stumbling blocks and dark shadows. We all see long-term relationships foundering around us and widows who are lost and alone for the first time in decades. We know and certainly hear all too much about how hard it is for older women to find companionship, sex, respect.

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Read the complete article and related information at Intimacy Intensifies in Women’s ‘Second Adulthood’