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What are BioIdentical Hormones?
Bioidentical hormones are manufactured to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body.
They are produced from plants, like
soybean or yam. The goals of adding BioIdentical Hormones
are to alleviate the symptoms caused by decreased hormone production and to bring the body back to hormonal balance.
The public (and a few healthcare providers) typically use the term to mean drugs that
are made by a pharmacist from a physician's prescription. These BioIdentical products have not undergone rigorous clinical trials and must be
recognized as experimental therapies, not tested for effectiveness or safety.
BioIdentical Hormones vs. HRT:
The real advantage of bioidentical hormones unlike Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is that it has moved away from
the "one size fits all approach". Many practitioners claim that if the hormones are bioidentical, they will be safe. It sounds nice,
but there are no long-term-studies which can prove this. Short-term use of hormones, however, bioidentical or not, seems to be relatively safe. |