Hormone Therapy

It seems like everytime I turn around, there's an article beginning with "A recent study showed..." A bit later, there's another article that debunks what the previous article said.

I recently read an article in the May 09 edition of Natural Awakenings titled "Hormone Therapy Linked to Brain Shrinkage." The title honestly doesn't surprise me at all. Menopause is a natural thing for women, and we're trying to make it unnaturally symptom-free. There had to be some kind of consequence or reaction to this. Granted, when I hit menopause, I'll most likely be looking for whatever kind of treatment will make me feel more normal, too.

The entire (short) article is below, but the part that made me laugh was the quote by one of the researchers of how "this is not what we expected to find." Really? What kind of side effects did you expect?

Two new studies report the hormone therapy - a still commonly prescribed form of postmenopausal treatment - may slightly accelerate the loss of brain tissue in women 65 and older, beyond what normally occurs with aging. "This is not what we expected to find," reported one of the researches.

The investigating scientists, using MRI scans to look for increased volumes of brain lesions among women who had taken therapy, discovered their brain volume had shrunk in two critical areas: the frontal lobe and the hippocampus. Both of these areas are invovled in thinking and memory skills. Loss of volume in the hippocampus is also a risk factor for dementia. More than 1,400 women ages 71 to 89 participated in the study.

Source: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, 2009

While I don't doubt the results of the study, I do take every "study result" with a grain of salt. Most studies are not completely clear about the factors involved, steps taken, and who paid for the study. With so many contradicting studies, I expect very few to be 100% accurate. With this one for example, it sites the study group as 71-89 year olds, yet they say the therapy effects brain tissue in women 65 and older. How did they decide it effects age 65 and older?