Why conduct research on sex hormones?
Good research is essential in overcoming the institutionalized fear of female hormones and to provide better treatments to women.
Even though more and more Quebec physicians prescribe female hormone therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause, the fear of female hormones remains omnipresent.
Moreover, the preventive aspect of female hormone therapy is the subject of much confusion. Here is an example:
However, the Association strongly recommends the use of hormone therapy for women in early menopause to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Is it not contradictory?
The confusion stems from the fact that we confound various types of female hormone therapy, that we prescribe hormone therapy any manner, and that we do not recognize the true worth of the importance of female hormones in health, regardless of women’s age.
In fact, numerous studies have shown that female hormones are essential for good cardiovascular, endocrine, skeletal and brain health, among others.
During premenopause, the levels of progesterone and estradiol decrease gradually and significantly so that during menopause, women usually have levels of estradiol and progesterone levels that are lower than those in men. Around the age of 65 years, women have generally about 5 times less estradiol than men.
Many women currently suffer from serious health problems (e.g., osteoporotic fractures, heart disease, refractory depression...) that are primarily caused by a deficiency of female hormones. In my opinion, the judicious use of bio-identical female hormone therapy would play a leading role in the prevention and treatment of many problems in women’s health.
This is an important public health issue. If women’s health is truly important to us, we must act collectively in promoting research on sex hormones.
Brief description of the research projects
Medical research is at the heart of the activities undertaken by the Centre ménopause-andropause Outaouais/Outaouais menopause-andropause Center. Dr Demers developed three major research projects that we currently consider of utmost importance. Based on funding availability, other projects will be added.
All projects will help to better understand the role of sex hormones in human health, and thus to better use female hormone therapy (and eventually male hormone therapy) in human health.
First project:
The Gaby project
The main objective of the Gaby project is to verify, in menopausal women without uteri, the effects of taking bio-identical female hormones on cardiovascular, endocrine, skeletal and brain health according to the serum levels of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone obtained through hormone therapy.
The Gaby project is a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study that includes a control group and ten groups of women treated with different hormone regimens. Each group will have approximately 100 women and will be followed for 5 years.
The goal is to learn about the serum levels of sex hormones, which will help optimize their multisystemic benefits and minimize the risks. Questionnaires, physical examinations, psychiatric and neuropsychological testing, as well as several paraclinical tests will be conducted.
More specifically, we will:
- Research the serum levels of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone, and the relationship between them, which optimize their protective effects on the cardiovascular, endocrine, skeletal and nervous systems while avoiding health risks;
- Examine if one hormone regimen (cyclical or continuous) is superior to another;
- Analyze the preventive aspect according to the time lapsed since the (estimated) beginning of premenopause and menopause.
For example, knowing the optimal levels of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone in health will help verify whether obtaining these levels with bio-identical hormones may be useful in preventing or treating many health problems, including fibromyalgia, benign heart palpitations, irritable bowel syndrome, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis or arthritis, depression, anxiety, dementia, abnormal uterine bleeding, endometriosis...
Second project:
Project A (Breast Cancer)
For example, we observed higher levels of estradiol in menopausal women when they took aromatase inhibitors (since many months or many years) than when they were not. Why is that?
Do you not find it strange that estradiol levels are not checked during the monitoring of women taking aromatase inhibitors, when the effectiveness of these drugs supposedly depends on an almost complete suppression of estradiol production?
According to all scientific studies, estrogen has been wrongly accused of causing breast cancer. This is serious because the (ever present) obsessive fear of estrogen is responsible for unnecessary suffering of many women and is an attack on their dignity.
Estrogen is the essence of femininity and life itself.
Third project:
Project B (Natural products)
The primary objective of Project B is to study the effects of featured health products on the cardiovascular, endocrine, brain and skeletal systems, as well as their influence on the levels of sex hormones and their precursors.
2010-07-12
Opening of a menopause-andropause clinic in Québec city (June 1st)
We are pleased to announce that a menopause/andropause clinic opened its... [ more ]
