DrRehertsAlerts : Message: Female vs. Male, Menopausal Hormones and Diet Pills.

Have you ever wondered about the differences between the male and the female brain?

There is a theory from England that says the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy, while the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems. It's called the "empathising-systemising (E-S) theory." And through the wonders of the internet, you can easily find out what kind of brain you have.

If you would like to know if your brain is predominantly female or male, read the next story and take the two (60 question) tests linked below. Email me and let me know your results. Dr. Rehert

(It's funny how those British people spell things a little differently)

The Essential Difference - How male or female is your brain?

The following tests were developed by Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge in England.

Baron-Cohen's theory is that the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy, and that the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems. He calls it the empathising-systemising (E-S) theory.

Empathising is the drive to identify another person's emotions and thoughts, and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion. The empathiser intuitively figures out how people are feeling, and how to treat people with care and sensitivity.

Systemising is the drive to analyse and explore a system, to extract underlying rules that govern the behaviour of a system; and the drive to construct systems.

CLICK HERE to take the interactive "empathy quotient test" - your Female brain score.

CLICK HERE to take the interactive "systemising quotient test" - your Male brain score.

And CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Next, here's an article that compares three different ways to take menopausal hormones. 1.) "estrogen alone" (for woman who've had a hysterectomy), 2.) "sequential" HRT (giving you a monthly period), and 3.) "combined continuous" HRT (where you take an estrogen and a progestogen, together, every day).

Risk of Breast Cancer Depends on Type of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) Used

Recent reports of an increased risk of breast cancer in women taking continuous combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) caused significant controversy and distress for the millions of American women using hormones postmenopausally. Weiss and colleagues studied nearly 4,000 postmenopausal women to determine odds ratios for breast cancer risk with different forms of HRT. Specifically the researchers calculated odds ratios for breast cancer following use of "estrogen alone" (i.e. Premarin or Vivelle), "sequential" HRT (i.e. Premarin or Vivelle ever day and Provera for the first 12 days of each month), and "continuous combined" HRT (i.e. PremPro).

Increasing risk for breast cancer with duration of HRT was found only in patients taking "continuous combined" HRT. The odds ratio for "estrogen alone" was 0.82 for five years or more, indicating a lower rate of breast cancer in "estrogen alone" users than in nonusers. For "sequential" HRT, the odds ratio at five years or more was 0.98, indicating close to or slightly less than the risk of nonusers. For "continuous combined" HRT, the odds ratio at five years or more was 1.45, indicating an increased risk over nonusers.

The authors conclude that the risk of breast cancer varies with the HRT regimen used and is not increased for estrogen alone. The only significantly increased risk in this study was with use of continuous combined HRT for five years or more. The authors state that the absolute risk of breast cancer may be low for individual women and that much more research is needed about the effect of different regimens of HRT.

Weiss LK, et al. Hormone replacement therapy regimens and breast cancer risk. Obstet Gynecol December 2002;100:1148-58.

Click Here For The Complete Story

So what exactly does this mean? First we must realize that this study is just one of many, many studies . . . but it pretty much agrees with the results of the larger and more authoritative Woman's Health Initiative (WHI) study. Assuming that this study and the WHI study are valid and correct (and that's a rather large assumption), it suggests the following:

If you take "estrogen alone" you may be decreasing your risk of breast cancer by 0 to 23%.

If you take "sequential" HRT you may be having no effect on your risk of getting breast cancer.

And if you take "combined continuous" HRT you may be increasing your risk of breast cancer by 24 to 45%.

I think it's interesting that the most natural method of taking hormones (i.e. "sequential" HRT - having a menstrual period every month) gave the least difference from the control group - a small endorsement for the idea of keeping things "natural" to avoid disease. "Best to not mess with nature."

And last, you've probably heard the many radio ads for CortiSlim. Read below and learn the latest on this popular dietary supplement.

CortiSlim is served a lawsuit by FTC

Ads for the weight-loss product feature false claims, according to the government agency
By Linda Fantin

CortiSlim may have to change its name to CortiSorry after a federal crackdown on misleading ads for the weight-loss supplement developed by a University of Utah part-time professor.
    A Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleges Shawn Talbott and his associates made false and unsubstantiated claims about the dietary supplement in radio, television and print ads, infomercials and on Web sites. As a result, CortiSlim marketers have agreed to stop claiming, among other things, that the product:
    Eliminates cravings, controls appetite or causes weight loss of 10 to 50 pounds for virtually all users;
    Causes users to lose weight specifically from the abdomen, stomach and thighs;
    Helps shed pounds without the need for diet or exercise;
    Has been demonstrated effective or is supported by more than 15 years of scientific research.

Click Here For The Complete Story

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Best wishes,

Gerald M. Rehert, M.D.
285 Boulevard, NE, #520
Atlanta, GA 30312
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Gerald M. Rehert, M.D. 285 Boulevard, NE Suite 520 Atlanta, Georgia Phone: 404-688-2800

Gerald M. Rehert, M.D.

285 Boulevard, NE

Suite 520

Atlanta, Georgia

Phone: 404-688-2800