HRT and Stroke Risk

Another new HRT study -- this one finds middle-aged women who take hormone replacement therapy to ease menopausal symptoms increase their risk of stroke.

Here's the scoop... According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, the overall risk of stroke is low for women in their early 50s just entering menopause and the heightened risk may be minimal if they follow recommendations to take lower doses of the hormones for the shortest possible time.

Using data from 121,700 female nurses participating in the Nurses' Health Study, which began in 1976, researchers found women taking estrogen had a 39 percent increased risk of stroke compared to women who did not take the hormone.

Here's more from the Reuters article:

Women taking an estrogen-progestin combination to protect against ovarian cancer had a 27 percent higher risk of stroke.

There were 360 strokes among women who did not take hormone therapy and 414 strokes among those who did.

The percentage increase in stroke risk was similar for women regardless of whether they were in their early 50s and newly menopausal, or older. But because the starting point for stroke risk among the younger women was lower -- 3.8 strokes per 10,000 women per year -- the percentage increase represented fewer additional cases of stroke.

"It added to up to two more cases of stroke per 10,000 women per year taking hormone therapy," Dr. JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

The numbers referenced in this study might not be a clincher for anti-HRT folks (or pro-HRT depending on how you break it down), but once again I'm left wondering what kind of diet/exercise regime the women not taking HRT followed. I know the nurses' study is a following study -- researchers check in with the women from time to time, but I'm not sure if a specific diet is prescribed for all participants to follow. It seems like no small thing to control the study for dietary intake.

Here's the study I would like to see... women who choose to take HRT vs. women who follow a holistic program of dietary change/exercise/nutritional supplementation (a la the WomentoWomen.com program). Let's see how these populations match in terms of stroke risk, cancer rates, etc. and then maybe some important decisions about HRT and its effectiveness/risk will be revealed once and for all.

Living Earth Day Every Day

Here's what I love about Earth Day -- it's a beautiful spring day celebrating the amazing life-giving power and beauty of Mother Earth and at the same time it's a chance for all of us to think differently about our problems, choices, and available solutions to the world's environmental problems. Instead of passively reading articles or watching news programs listing the environmental ills of the world, communities everywhere are busy planting vegetable gardens, recycling, making the switch to cloth shopping bags, and educating others about simple ways we can all live in harmony with a better cared for environment.

In many ways, there are striking similarities between holistic health and Earth Day. In my town, there was an Earth Day celebration in downtown with educational booths set up explaining different environmental causes and concerns. Some were about big issues like global warming, pollution and landfills -- with commonsense solutions that even the average person could take part in. Many of the booths were dedicated to how members of the community could get out in nature and enjoy this very environment that we're all so concerned about.

Holistic health asks you look at every aspect of your life when it comes to assessing wellness and planning for a healthy future. What do you eat? How do you feel -- emotionally and spiritually? Are there any acute health problems you are currently facing and if so, what's the most natural, unobstrusive, and effective way to solve these problems? What role do you play in creating a sense of wellness in your life? Aren't these the same basic questions we ask about the environment, just tailored to fit the human body?

If you attended an Earth Day celebration yesterday or over the weekend, maybe you started thinking more about your role in the environment and the steps you can take to make sure you are doing your part to keep the world healthy. Apply these same principles to your own life. What's good for the environment is good for your body too! Keep out the toxins by using "green cleaning supplies" or sticking with a simple solution of vinegar and water for most household cleaning jobs (add lemon essential oil for a fresh aroma), use Kleen Kanteen or glass or stainless steel bottles instead of plastic for drinking water (avoid the nasty chemicals in plastic water bottles AND save landfill space), drive a Hybrid car to breath in less smoggy pollution -- and save lots of dough on gas! Eat more organic food, especially from local small farms -- good for your body and good for your environment and the local economy.

There are an endless number of possibilities for combing "green living" with a holistic view on health. Just like the inseparable connection between mind, body, and spirit, there's also an unbreakable, symbiotic bond between man and earth. Live in harmony with yourself and nature.

Happy Earth Day!

If you're more of an auditory learner, this is a great into video to holistic treatment of depression. You might recognize Dr. Cass from ABC's The View. She was on the hour-long depression special hosted by Rosie O'Donnell (the one where Rosie swung upside down to showcase inversion therapy as a treatment for depression!)

Joining the Ranks

Health news headlines are crowded with stories about women's hormonal and reproductive health, diet and exercise, menopause and HRT, and findings from recent breast and ovarian cancer studies. Several bloggers have already undertaken the daunting task of trying to make sense of this confusing -- and often conflicting -- stream of information. So why another blog about women's health? I'm hoping to add to the superb work already being done by Our Bodies, Our Blog and My Menopause Blog (among others) by examining all the latest news, websites, and current events -- this time with an eye on holistic health and alternative/integrative medicine.

For an introduction to holistic/integrative medicine and how it pertains to women's health, a great article to read is this one by Marcelle Pick on WomentoWomen.com. It defines all the alternative health buzzwords and underscores how alternative/holistic treatments work to fill in the gaps of conventional western medicine. I love the Women to Women site because it provides an impressive depth of helpful information in a balanced, easy-to-understand format. As I try to untangle women's health issues for my own freelance writing projects -- and to improve my own hormonal health and general wellness -- I find myself going back to this site again and again. Enjoy!