Some doctors in Canada are warning women that they are courting risks they may not even be aware of when they turn to bio-identical hormone replacement therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause.

The therapy, also known as BHRT, uses hormones derived from plants such as yam and soy. BHRT has been growing in popularity because of fears over risks from traditional hormone replacements, derived from the urine of pregnant horses.

The use of standard hormone therapy for women suffering hot flashes, mood swings and other symptoms of menopause plunged after a landmark study in 2002 linked it with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The use of standard hormone therapy for women suffering hot flashes, mood swings and other symptoms of menopause plunged after a landmark study in 2002 linked it with an increased risk of breast cancer. (iStock photo)

Women using BHRT therapy say they feel more comfortable with bioidenticals because they consider them more natural. the support of celebrities such as actress Suzanne Sommers has also helped fuel its popularity.

“I would never go the traditional hormone replacement. I grew up with natural herbs and that sort of thing,” says Rose Niemirowski, who has been using a bio-identical cream for the past five years.

Her Oshawa-based doctor, Dr. Blake Gibb has been offering the treatment for years and says none of his patients have reported problems. in fact, he says he’s so busy with bio-identical therapy that he turns down about 10 women a day asking for treatment.

“The evidence is in my practice,” he says.

But other doctors are raising flags, warning that unless the hormone estrogen is balanced with progesterone, women could be putting themselves at risk of developing uterine cancer.

“To say it’s bio-identical doesn’t mean it’s safe,” Dr. Richard Boroditsky, a professor at the University of Manitoba’s department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

To avoid the risk of uterine cancer most women taking estrogen also need to take progesterone, he says. While most bio-identical therapies use progesterone creams, Dr. Boroditsky says women can’t be sure of the levels of hormones they’re absorbing.

“We’ve known this for years – that if woman takes un-opposed estrogen, she increases her risk eight to 10 times over the normal chances of developing cancer of the uterus,” he says.

The BHRT creams, which are hand-mixed by pharmacists, are untested and unregulated by Health Canada.

The Canadian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the North American Menopause Society and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have all issued statements advising women that these treatments carry the same risks as traditional hormone therapies. They warn that they have not undergone the same rigorous tests for safety and effectiveness.

Winnipeg woman Gail Clisby, who lost her uterus to cancer, says she is living proof there are indeed side effects.

Dr. Boroditsky, who now treats her, told her he believes her cancer might have been caused by a hormone imbalance while using a bio-identical product.

“It wasn’t expressed to me how delicate a balance you need to have,” says Clisby.

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Barbara Zimmerman has read the stories about a British researcher accused of fabricating data used to underpin a landmark study linking childhood vaccines to autism.“To me, it’s just a continuation of the back and forth that’s been going on for years between people who say there is a link or there’s not a link,” said Zimmerman, longtime president of the Delaware County Family PDD/Autism Spectrum Support (PASS) group.“No matter what people are saying now, I believe there is a link because I saw it with my own eyes.”Zimmerman’s daughter, Erin, was diagnosed with autism in 1997, a year before Wakefield made international headlines when he and his colleagues claimed they had found a link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism in most of a dozen children they had studied.The observations, published in the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, prompted a wave of parental concerns in England and the United States.Immunization rates in Britain dropped from 92 percent to 73 percent, and were as low as 50 percent in some parts of London. The effect was not nearly as dramatic in the United States, but researchers have estimated that as many as 125,000 U.S. children born in the late 1990s did not get the MMR vaccine because of the Wakefield splash.The findings made perfect sense to Zimmerman.“when we got to Erin’s 15-month checkup, she was social and speaking and hitting all of her milestones,” she said. “The paperwork we got said she got this vaccine and this vaccine and this vaccine and we were told she might get a fever or a rash and be lethargic.”Erin experienced some of those symptoms and a few more. She also lost all of her language and social skills.“I suspected it at the time and she was diagnosed at 24 months,” Zimmerman said.Wakefield’s hypothesis was checked by other researchers who failed to confirm a link between vaccines and autism. It was dissected by experts, and 10 of the article’s 13 authors renounced the work.The first claims that Wakefield had doctored data came in a 2009 story in the Sunday Times of London by British journalist Brian Deer. The report said he made it seem some of the children did not experience symptoms until after they’d received their shots. Those findings were repeated in this week’s report in the British Medical Journal.Lancet retracted the Wakefield paper last year and Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain. He has no medical license in the U.S.Wakefield has steadfastly defended his research.Some parents of autistic children and other advocates argue that the criticisms of Wakefield are actually attempts to close off research into the safety of vaccines.“A character assassination initiative against those who look for answers only serves to stunt medical progress for our children and perpetuate unnecessary public health risks,” said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association, in a prepared statement.but health officials counter that the science is settled and prolonging the debate is dangerous, noting that vaccine fears led to outbreaks of measles and the virus Hib in 2008 in unvaccinated children in states like California and Minnesota.The British Medical Journal claimed Wakefield received $674,000 for his findings from “lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufacturers and to create a vaccine scare.”Zimmerman said many strides have been made since her daughter’s diagnosis, especially in the area of vaccines.“I think the attention that (autism) has received has made a big difference,” she said. “Thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines, children are no longer supposed to get shots when they are sick, and doctors are more open to spreading out (the vaccination schedule).“That didn’t used to be the case.”Zimmerman is particularly interested in recent research to see if some children have a genetic predisposition and weakness to autism.“They are looking to see if the vaccine acts as the final assault on the system, which to me makes sense,” she said.The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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