Word: estrogen
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Pressed for her secret, the youthful matron eventually revealed she had been taking birth-control pills, containing estrogen and a second female hormone, progesterone. That was the very formula Wilson had developed as a means not only to treat menopausal complaints but also to forestall the aging process. Mrs. P.G. was a lush exemplar of his notion that "menopause is unnecessary. It can be prevented entirely...
...Estrogen is indeed the closest thing in modern medicine to an elixir of youth -- a drug that slows the ravages of time for women. It is already the No. 1 prescription drug in America, and it is about to hit its demographic sweet spot: the millions of baby boomers now experiencing their first hot flashes. What Wilson didn't appreciate, but what today's women should know, is that, like every other magic potion, this one has a dark side. To gain the full benefits of estrogen, a woman must take it not only at menopause but also for decades...
...research reveals the pros and cons of estrogen, the therapy's popularity has flowed and ebbed like some sort of national hormonal cycle. Wilson's book did wonders for the sale of Premarin (a form of estrogen made from -- and named for -- a pregnant mare's urine). But estrogen use plummeted after 1975, when studies revealed that women taking the hormone had up to a 14-fold increased risk of uterine cancer. Reports of a 30% increased risk of breast cancer scared away many others...
...Today estrogen in its various forms -- pills, patches and creams -- is flowing as never before. Cancer risks have been diminished, doctors believe, by lowering the dosages used in hormone-replacement therapy (HRT). The risk of uterine cancer, in particular, can be virtually eliminated, experts say, by adding synthetic progesterone (progestin) to the estrogen prescription, either combined in one capsule or as a separate pill. Meanwhile a raft of studies showing new and unexpected benefits has propelled medical enthusiasm for the treatment to huge, if not quite Wilsonian, proportions. Estrogen, it seems, can prevent or slow many of the ravages...
Menopausal miseries. The oldest and most familiar use of HRT is to relieve the hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness and other symptoms of estrogen "withdrawal" that occur around menopause, when the ovaries produce less and less estrogen...