You should use natural estrogens, but I promise that no trees or bushes grow tubes of cream or tablets to
swallow. So, what do I mean by "natural." Synthetic means
the molecule is not natural to the human body. A natural hormone is one whose
molecule is identical to that made by a human organ. Premarin and
Progesterone (the components of PremPro) are "synthetic" because they
they are chemically different from the estrogens made by the human body. But
technically Premarin is "natural" if you define natural as
coming from a natural source since Premarin is made from horse urine.
So don't get too hung up on whether it came from a plant or "natural
source" or from a laboratory. In the end every thing had it's origin
in nature but is usually handled and altered in some way to get it into your
body. Concentrate more on whether in the end will the product delivered
be "natural" to your body by being chemically identical to what your
body manufactures. Natural estrogens
can be bought at compounding pharmacies.
2. While there is preliminary and indirect molecular evidence of the enhanced
safety of natural hormone replacement therapy over synthetic, there are no large
clinical trials that confirm that preliminary evidence in humans.
3. Of the natural estrogens (a woman manufactures 6 --but the main three are estrone, estradiol, and estriol), the safest seems to be estriol. Some studies even seem to show estriol to be able to protect against breast cancer. (JAMA 196:1128-1136, JAMA 239:29-30, JAMA 239:1638-1641). Notice that this research was published in the same journal as the present PremPro study.
Premarin is about 80% horse estradiol (with about a 20% mixture of other estrogens). Most physicians who use natural estrogens recommend a mixture of about 80% estriol with about 20% estradiol. You could make a case that Premarin is a "natural" estrogen...after all, horse urine is a natural source. But the compound made from the urine is not natural to a human woman's body (not actually produced by women).
These natural estrogens do much to relieve side effects that women may have had with taking the "synthetic" estrogens.
Back to safe way to take estrogen
