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With the mistaken impression that adding
progestin to estrogen (in Hormone Replacement Therapy--HRT,) reduces the
risk of cancer from the estrogen alone, doctors have been prescribing
combination pills to post-menopausal women. Now there is both good and
bad news about this.
Since the good news is so good, we'll give you the bad news first. The
January 26th issue of the Journal of the American Med. Assn., reports
that women who took the combination had a 20% higher risk of cancer than
those who took the estrogen-only pills.
Now the good news! In addition to there being a soy alternative to HRT,
(click here for article), a report in the journal
Nutrition and Cancer*, concluded, "This study showed that the
addition of 5 or 10 'grams] of ground flaxseed to the daily diet of
healthy, postmenopausal women significantly increased ...urinary
'estrogen] excretion. ...These results suggest that ground flaxseed may
be chemoprotective in postmenopausal women." So instead of
increasing your risk of cancer, you may be able to decrease it.
*vol. 33, l999, by Drs. Haggans,
Hutchins, Slavin et all, Dept. of Food Science and Nutrition, U. of
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, Dept. of Nutrition, College of St.
Benedict, St. Joseph, MN 56374 and Division of Biostatistics, School of
Pub. Health, U. of Minn., Minn. MN 55455.
FURTHER ARTICLES ON CANCER
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