Damned if you do and damned if you don’t
Reuters is reporting on a new study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology that indicates HRT reduces the risk of colon cancer in proportion to the length of time a woman uses it … which is a pity since it increase other risks like breast cancer and heart disease.
Beause women’s rates for bowel cancer are less than that for men, researchers felt that there must be is a hormonal link. They concluded that
Hormone replacement therapy is associated with a lower risk of distal large bowel cancer. This risk is further reduced with increased duration of use. Hormone replacement therapy may be partially responsible for the reduced incidence of distal large bowel cancer in women compared with men.
Similar findings were not present for the oral contraceptives.
It is not clear what type of HRT was used or even the type of contraceptive pill.
It would be great if these studies looked at hormone balance instead of hormone replacement. Taking HRT does not always mean your hormones are balanced andnot taking does not mean thet are not.
If anyone has read the full study then it would be great to get more details!
