New HRT review disappoints on breast cancer risk, says women's health expert

Experts presenting their review of hormone replacement studies at the World Congress on the Menopause in Madrid, Spain, recommended that HRT for women in early menopause is safe after all. Yet, comments Marilyn Glenville, a UK authority on natural health for women, their findings relating to the 50-59 age group acknowledge that there is still an increase in breast cancer risk associated with taking HRT.

Dr Glenville, President for the Food & Health Forum at The Royal Society of Medicine, is author of one of complementary medicines retailer The Nutri Center's best selling health books, The New Natural Alternatives to HRT, which looks at how to stay healthy through the menopause and prevent osteoporosis.

She comments: "a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer is still an increase. If women can take natural remedies that help them through this transition naturally then why take something that can increase the risk of breast cancer at all. Menopause is not an illness, it is a normal life stage, which has symptoms that can be eased without increasing health risks."