Female Reproductive Disorders 201
linking synthetic estrogen therapy to a fi ve- to twelvefold increase in
uterine and breast cancer.^4 Two other studies provide additional evidence
of the cancer-causing effects of synthetic hormones. One study found
that estrogen therapy without progesterone causes a fourteenfold increase
in endometrial cancer. The other study, published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, January 26, 2000, especially signifi cant
because it tracked 46,355 women, found that those who took HRT made
up of synthetic hormones for fi ve years were 40 percent more likely to
develop breast cancer than women who were not on HRT.^5
Doctors prescribe synthetic HRT not only to ease menopausal
symptoms but also to prevent osteoporosis in menopausal and post-
menopausal women. This is truly a double-edged sword. Any organ
deprived of ox ygen by the estrogen in HRT will absorb calcium, which
hardens it. Thus while HRT may be successful in hardening the bones,
it also hardens organs made of soft tissues. The consequences of the
longtime use of HRT then is stronger bones and the hardening (degen-
eration) of the soft-tissue organs.Breast Cancer Prevention
A signifi cant factor in the cause of breast cancer is a defi ciency in a type
of vitamin D, called 25-hydroxy (vitamin D 3 ). Increasing your blood
levels of 25-hydroxy D is imperative and when possible should be
accomplished through exposure to sunlight rather than through sup-
plements, since supplemental vitamin D is not absorbed well.^6
Although homo sapiens (starting with Cro-Magnan man) have been
around for at least fi fty thousand years, it has been for only six to seven
thousand years that most human population clusters have spent much
time indoors. No wonder our metabolism works most effi ciently if the
vitamin D 3 in our bodies is produced by sunlight rather than from a
capsule. That we haven’t yet adapted to the artifi cial light in our indoor
environment is revealed in the many studies that show that the less time
women spend in the sun, the more likely they are to get breast cancer.
(This also goes for multiple sclerosis in both men and women). Studies
show that being exposed to sunlight is particularly important during
adolescence and pregnancy, when breast tissue is growing. Women who