Having problems with message search?
This first story is an interesting study done on rats. (Hey, don't laugh -- probably 98% of our genes are the same as rats.) Anyway, when rats are deprived of estrogen (i.e. like in menopause) their weight goes up, as well as their blood pressure. This could very well lead to some valuable (human) research. Stay tuned.
August 13, 2007
Less Estrogen may Mean More Pounds
A new study lends more fodder for the debate regarding the health benefits of estrogen supplements after menopause. Researchers link estrogen deficiency to a greater risk of developing high blood pressure and becoming obese.
Investigators from the University of Texas conducted the study using 24 elderly rats. Two-thirds of the rats had their ovaries removed. The rest kept their ovaries and served as controls. Then half of the rats without ovaries were given estrogen replacement therapy.
Blood pressure readings were highest in rats with no ovaries and no estrogen. Readings were lowest in the rats treated with estrogen. Rats without ovaries and not on estrogen also gained twice as much weight as the control rats. Rats who had the surgery but were treated with estrogen escaped all of the adverse effects.
Click Here For The Complete Story=>
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=16844Whenever I fly in an airplane, I prepare for the trip by taking a course of aspirin. This reduces the chance of getting potentially fatal blood clots in my legs since aspirin reduces the bloods ability to clot. So far it's never failed me. Here's a story from the AP that details this very risk of a deep vein thrombosis/DVT (or blood clot) developing from airplane travel. They're not recommending aspirin, but its the same principle; and a valuable one you should be aware of.
Air travelers should exercise legs
Associated Press
Jun 28, 2007
Jun 28, 2007
GENEVA - The World Health Organization recommended Friday that passengers on long flights exercise their legs and resist taking sleeping pills to reduce the risk of potentially fatal blood clots.
Although the danger of developing deep vein thrombosis — normally in the form of a blood clot in the calves — is small, it increases if people are immobile for long periods in cramped conditions.
Although the danger of developing deep vein thrombosis — normally in the form of a blood clot in the calves — is small, it increases if people are immobile for long periods in cramped conditions.
Studies showed the risk of developing blood clots during any form of travel longer than four hours was 1 in 6,000 among the general population. That would translate into one case for every 15 fully booked jumbo jets.
"The risk to an individual stepping on a plane is tiny," said Patrick Kesteven, a British doctor. "The problem is, vast numbers of people step on planes, and so it's a tiny risk multiplied by a huge denominator, so that in terms of a public health issue it's a highly significant problem," he said.
Shanthi Mendis, a WHO expert on the issue, said the risks vary depending on a person's condition and how they behave, but added that the most important factor was immobility. By getting up for a short walk, or doing exercises to contract the calf muscles every hour, passengers can greatly reduce the risk of blood clots, she said.
Mendis said research was needed to determine the precise impact of these risk factors, but one study had shown that women who take birth control pills are 10 times more likely to develop blood clots during long-distance travel than the average person.
Symptoms of blood clots include pain or cramps in the calves, and swelling of the leg, Mendis said.
Click Here For The Complete Story=>
http://fe29.news.re3.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070629/ap_tr_ge/blood_clotsAs you all know, estrogen therapy has been through the "media ringer" these past few years. Every now and then I come across an article that does a remarkable job of bringing all the latest thoughts on estrogen into focus. This next piece, from June 2007, is just such an article. Enjoy it and I hope it leads to a healthier populace.
Doctors change course again on estrogen therapy
Those who take the hormones shortly after menopause may benefit, researchers say, clarifying earlier findings that scared many away from the treatment.
June 21, 2007
Nearly five years after government scientists told women that estrogen replacement therapy increased their risks of heart attack and stroke, researchers have largely reversed their position, concluding that the drugs are beneficial for many after all.
Continuing analysis of the original data indicates that the researchers raised a false alarm for most women and that, if women begin taking the hormones shortly after menopause, the drugs do not raise the risk of heart disease and might even lower it.
The latest findings, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, show that taking estrogen for seven years or more after menopause reduces calcification of the arteries — a key indicator of atherosclerosis — by as much as 60%. High levels of calcification are generally considered a predictor of increased heart attack risk. The only group of women at significant risk from the drugs are those who delay taking them for at least 10 years after menopause, experts said.
The findings "provide some additional reassurance for women who have been denying themselves relief" from hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, said Dr. JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led both the original and the latest research. Virtually all researchers agree that women should not fear using estrogen replacement therapy to mitigate menopausal symptoms. The debate is over how long they may safely continue to do so.
Dr. Howard N. Hodis, director of USC's Atherosclerosis Research Unit, countered: "There is absolutely no evidence, none, zero, that if you start a woman on estrogen at menopause and continue until she is 80, the risk goes up as she gets older." There is an increased risk of breast cancer with age for estrogen when combined with progestin, Hodis said at a news conference Tuesday sponsored by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and it is not clear whether the risk outweighs the benefits.
"We will never know when we should stop hormones," said Dr. Michelle Warren of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who spoke at the news conference and urged the shortest use possible. But "if you have been on the hormone since the time of menopause, I am not worried anymore."
Dr. Jacques Rossouw, who heads the heart institute's Women's Health Initiative branch, said it was virtually impossible to conduct a study on long-term hormone use because the risks are so low that the number of women required would be prohibitive.
The new study involved a subset of 1,064 women in the Women's Health Initiative study who were ages 50 to 59 and had undergone surgically induced menopause through a hysterectomy. Half were randomized to receive a Wyeth-produced estrogen called Premarin and half a placebo.
The women were on the drugs for an average of 7 1/2 years. About a year after the study was stopped, physicians used CT scans to measure the buildup of calcium deposits, or atherosclerotic plaque, in their blood vessels.
Overall, they found, women taking estrogen had 42% less calcification of their arteries. Women who had taken at least 80% of their daily doses of the drug had 61% less calcification.
The results were "clear and striking," wrote Dr. Michael E. Mendelsohn and Dr. Richard H. Karas of the Tufts University School of Medicine in an editorial accompanying the study. "Now, some clarity about hormone replacement therapy and heart disease is emerging."
Another analysis by Manson and Rossouw, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. in April, found a 30% decrease in the number of deaths from any cause among women receiving estrogen during the course of the research. They concluded that the use of estrogen by women in their 50s would reduce the number of heart attacks per 10,000 women to 17 from 27, and the number of strokes to 15 from 17.
The newest findings probably will not drastically change clinical practices, said Dr. Robert Greenfield, a cardiologist at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley. "Women who are thinking about taking them should do so because they have peri-menopausal symptoms," and not to prevent heart disease, he said. "Using them in modest doses for symptoms is the way to go."
For younger women, there seems to be little downside, added Dr. Suzanne R. Steinbaum of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "With a much younger and healthier population, we can easily go forward in reassuring women that HRT will not be the cause of future heart attacks," she said.
The change in attitudes about hormone replacement therapy is an outgrowth of the development of what is known as the "timing hypothesis," Mendelsohn and Karas said.
The initial negative findings in the Women's Health Initiative resulted because the investigators included a substantial number of older women in the study in the hopes of observing enough heart attacks to be able to draw conclusions. But those women are rarely considered for hormone replacement therapy.
Dr. Robert W. Rebar, executive director of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, concluded: "We are clearly learning that the benefits of estrogen in young, healthy, symptomatic post-menopausal women outweigh the risks."
Click Here For The Complete Story=>
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1292046681.html?dids=1292046681:1292046681&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+21%2C+2007&author=Thomas+H.+Maugh+II&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=The+NationThe above is not meant to be medical advice. Please read the attached Disclaimer, Etc.
If you know anyone you think would like to receive "DrRehertsAlerts," CLICK HERE to send me their email address and I'll add them to the list.
Best wishes, Dr. Rehert
Offline 
Send Email