Many women, concerned about the health risks of the synthetic hormones used in conventional hormone therapy, are looking for natural alternatives. It’s important to know that these products are not necessarily safe just because they’re natural.

As women learn about the proven health risks of conventional hormone therapy drugs, many are looking for natural alternatives, such as herbs and dietary supplements. But just because something is labeled "natural," doesn't mean it's safe.

Hot flashes are the most common symptom of menopause, and are extremely aggravating to women. While some women never have hot flashes and others have mild or infrequent hot flashes, some women experience dozens each day. Updated: Jul 9, 2015

Since the early 2000s, the use of menopausal hormone therapy has continued to decline after the initial findings of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) showed an increased risk of breast cancer and serious cardiac events with the use of estrogen... Updated: Jul 10, 2015

No form of estrogen, or estrogen plus progestin, has been proven to prevent heart disease. Yet millions of women have taken these powerful drugs, encouraged by physicians who believed that hormone therapy prevented heart disease. Updated: Jul 9, 2015

Questions about whether hormone therapy might increase women’s cancer risk – particularly breast and ovarian cancer – have been raised for some time. Updated: Jul 31, 2015

Menopause hormone therapy works to relieve symptoms whether a woman is 41 and adjusting to the aftermath of surgical menopause, or she’s 71 and enjoying sexual activity with a new partner. Updated: Jul 9, 2014

The widespread popularity of hormone therapy in the United States is a triumph of marketing over science and advertising over common sense. Drug companies and many health care providers view menopause as a disease to be treated. Updated: Jul 9, 2015

The much-belated Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) data have patently discredited two popular post-Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) theories (the “timing hypothesis” and the “bioidentical Hormone Therapy is better than synthetic Hormone Therapy” argument).

You would think that the medical establishment would rejoice and celebrate this historic public health achievement: science giving women and their health care providers information that we can use to guide our behavior in a way that dramatically improves our...