I mostly read fiction but sometimes I dip my toe into non-fiction and when it’s a highly regarded book about something that directly affects me, I’m a very motivated reader. And since October is Menopause Month and today, October 18, is World Menopause Awareness Day, what better time than to post these reflections.

The original Estrogen Matters came out in 2018 but the world of medical research moves quickly and given the preponderance of new information, the authors felt an update was warranted and so this new edition came out this September.

Here’s the thing: every person with ovaries who lives to middle age will go through menopause. It’s unavoidable. But for all that it’s a universal chapter of life, the topic has been plagued by insufficient (and sometimes questionable) research, disinformation, and a culture of silence. While “hot flashes” get talked about and played up for laughs, they’re not nearly as serious as the many other things that happen to women’s bodies when they cease to have the protective effects of estrogen.

Women began taking menopausal hormone treatments back in the 1940s to significant success but then in the 2002, the huge, well-funded Women’s Health Initiative in the US suddenly ground their study to a halt when they came up with preliminary results that indicated that menopausal hormone treatment could increase risk of breast cancer. En masse, women who were taking hormone treatments stopped and many others when they hit that stage just never started.

Those results have subsequently been proven to have been based on some questionable assumptions to the point that they’ve actually been withdrawn, but quietly, and not with nearly the fanfare that the original finding was shared. Meanwhile, a great deal research since has delved into what happens when bodies stop producing estrogen and the findings regarding heart, brain, skeletal, and more systems in the body are sobering. And what helps? Unsurprisingly, menopausal hormone treatments.

Unfortunately, many women (and, unfortunately, their doctors) haven’t caught up with this updated information.

Bluming (an oncologist) and Tavris (a social psychologist) are passionate about setting the record straight and getting research-based findings out so that people can make informed decisions. If you’re looking to understand more, Estrogen Matters is a highly readable, well-regarded book on the subject.

After going through the history of the Women’s Health Initiative and particularly, the research related to breast cancer risk, Estrogen Matters then has chapters for estrogen’s impact on heart, bone, and cognitive health. Each chapter reviews the initial claims and the research that they were based on, and then discusses subsequent research that has been done which has led to new findings. The chapter ends by summarizing the main ideas in point form. Very helpful if you want to take it with you to a health care provider appointment.

As I was reading, I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that while in schools we used to teach children about the upcoming changes in their bodies–namely, puberty–there’s no parallel education for menopause, a stage that fully half of the population will go through. I’m thankful for authors like Bluming and Tavris for helping to fill that gap. If this affects you in any way, I can’t recommend it enough.

As I am currently in perimenopause, I was grateful to be given a copy of this. I learned quite a few things that I did not already know. Would recommend.

Happy Book Birthday! Estrogen Matters newest edition was published yesterday! Full of evidence backed information, updated with the most recent data. This book will give you all the information you need with well over 100 references for those who want to do their own research. Myths are debunked, and we're given the real truth into the WHI and its results. I highly recommend this for anyone approaching, during, or even post menopause. Get the real facts on hormone therapy, and whether or not it's worth discussing with your doctor.
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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Little Brown and Company for a digital review copy. It has helped me with my own dilemmas regarding HT.

I read the first publication of this book and was awed by all of the information! This book was the cited extensively in a 2023 New York Times article on the flawed WHI study. The study had been halted with increased risk of breast cancer stated as the reason. In the years since, the authors' of Estrogen Matters, have delved into the findings and compared them to other research studies. The Women's Health Initiative study got many things wrong about hormone replacement therapy and this book help us understand, what various research findings mean.

This new edition provides more current research citing and medical protocols, but is very similar to the first edition. All women in their 40's and later should read this book to have a better understanding of the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy and can then have an informed conversation with their medical provider.

Highly recommend!!

Thank you to NEtGalley, the publisher and authors for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is truly an eye-opening book. I have read so many articles about whether HRT is good for women, especially women who have had full hysterectomies. The research seems to be all over the place. What I enjoyed most about this book was the debunking of myths that people have been hearing and reading about for years. The authors didn't just tell you why, they provided studies to disprove what we have been hearing for years about HRT.

If you are on the fence as to whether you should use HRT for you own body, then this is a must-read for you. Take what this book says, and use that knowledge for your own health. Everyone is different, which is why I liked this book. They took different case scenarios and then used studies to show you what they learned.

There were definitely parts I skimmed through because there were a lot of studies, and some parts of it didn't apply to me. It took me awhile to read the book because I would just pick it up at different times.

I gave this book four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown & Co, and Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris for my free copy of this book. This is my honest review.

I am a fan of Carol Tavris’ mythbusting work and this book did not disappoint. Information was presented in a balanced manner addressing both pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy. The authors did not shy away from presenting studies and they did so in a readable way for the average non-science trained person. At times, the chapters did get a little long but the summaries at the end were very helpful. This is an important book for persons assigned female at birth (AFAB) and their support systems to read. Armed with the knowledge from this book I will be having a discussion with my doctor about whether HRT is right for me based on my personal medical history.
Thank you to Dr. Avrum Bluming, Dr. Carol Tavris for this empowering book as well as Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.