Does estrogen therapy cause breast cancer? The simple answer is no. This is a hot topic in health circles—and you may have even been told by your doctor before that estrogen does cause it. This misinformation does a very real disservice to women, which is why setting the record straight is so important.
When we look at the data, what we actually see is that estradiol kills cancer cells. So why isn’t this information widely available? In large part, it’s because hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, aren’t patentable—so there’s no money in it for the big pharmaceutical companies.
Research hasn’t really confirmed the exact cause of breast cancer. What we do know is that dysfunctional cells, somehow created, continue to grow and turn into cancer. There are genetic risk factors as well as lifestyle risk factors too. While many women are scared of breast cancer, we are highly more likely to suffer from heart disease.
Estrogen is not just overlooked in cancer, it’s villainized. The reality is that hormone replacement therapy can increase survival rates. There are many different ways to go about taking estrogen therapy. There are synthetic forms, which we don’t use, and bio-identical forms. You can take it orally or transdermally, each of which have their own unique benefits.
The only women who may not be considered for estrogen treatment are those who haven’t yet gone through menopause. Pre-menopausal women still produce estrogen, so taking it could lead to excess estrogen effects. Estrogen therapy should be used in conjunction with progesterone, not progestins.
