Word: estrogen
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Like ordinary contraceptive pills, Seasonale contains two different hormones: progestin, which inhibits the release of eggs from the ovaries; and estrogen, which holds the uterine lining together. The idea is to take Seasonale every day for 12 weeks. Taking daily placebo pills for the following week creates a short interruption in hormone levels that allows an immature egg to be discarded with only a little bleeding...
...there are risks in using the Pill to fool with Mother Nature. Seasonale would necessarily expose a woman to nine extra weeks of estrogen a year, and doctors have long known that taking estrogen increases a woman's risk of suffering a blood clot or stroke--particularly if she smokes or has high blood pressure. Estrogen may also boost a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, although the evidence for that is less clear...
Even traditionally male enclaves like online gaming are seeing an influx of estrogen. A year ago, the site Total Entertainment Network targeted hard-core gamers who played Quake and Duke Nukem online. The site was 98% male and had 30,000 subscribers. Last fall it changed its name to pogo.com and switched to more casual games like checkers, spades, bingo and euchre. Of its now 10 million users, 49% are women. The lesson: catering to women online isn't just open-minded; it's good business...
...older alternatives include a long list of natural remedies--vitamins, minerals, herbs and various supplements containing phytoestrogens (plant estrogens that seem to have estrogen-like effects in humans). Lately, phytoestrogens have become popular alternatives to standard HRT. Sales of supplements that contain soy isoflavones, a form of phytoestrogen, tripled from 1998 to 1999. Some women also take vitamin E for hot flashes, while others are turning to remedies based on such exotics as black cohosh, flaxseed, red clover, dong quai and wild...
...PILL Don't base your decision about whether to take birth-control pills solely on this finding, but an analysis of 40 years of data shows that taking low-dose estrogen formulations nearly doubles the odds of suffering a stroke. Worse, women on high-dose estrogen face a nearly threefold increased risk. A worry to be sure, but not a big one: the odds of a stroke among women of reproduction age are tiny to begin with--about...