Hormone Replacement Therapy: Separating Fact from Fear for Menopause, Heart Health, and Breast Cancer

And let's kind of start with something a lot of women don't realize.

So and I didn't realize this and it's scary.

So your risk of heart disease actually increases dramatically after menopause.

So is that because of the hormones or is there something else or some kind of coincidence?

It's definitely not coincidence, okay? Pre-menopause, you have estrogen and it's actually a great protector.

Think of estrogen like a bodyguard for your arteries.

It helps your blood vessels stay flexible and pliable.

They can dilate, they can contract, they are responsive, okay? And estrogen also helps regulate inflammation, keep your cholesterol profile more favorable and even helps your heart muscle work more efficiently.

So in menopause and perimenopause and menopause, estrogen levels start dropping and basically your bodyguard is not doing their job.

And all of a sudden the protective effects starts to disappear.

Blood vessels become stiffer, inflammation increases, your cholesterol ratio gets worse and your heart attack risk accelerates.

Here's a striking statistic for you.

A woman's risk of coronary artery disease before menopause is about 1 in 200.

After menopause, it's about 1 in 50.

That's a fourfold increase.

That's a drastic statistic.

So when estrogen drops at menopause, what exactly happens?

You know, estrogen drops in menopause.

And as I said before, your blood vessels become stiffer.

Your fat profile ratio kind of completely changes.

Your body composition changes.

Women start depositing more fat around their belly.

And that fat is not an inactive, inert fat.

Rather, it's a more inflammatory and very hormonally active fat.

and it produces a lot of inflammatory cytokines, which overall just triggers whole body inflammation.