Have you ever wondered if there's a natural way to lower your high blood pressure,

guard against Alzheimer's, lose weight, feel better?

Well, it turns out there is.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Grecker.

Back by popular demand is the Nutrition Facts grab bag, where we look at the latest science

on a whole variety of topics.

And we start with a story on the FDA-approved bioidentical hormones that skirt the standardization

concerns of compounded preparations.

The news that menopausal hormone therapy had the potential to cause higher rates

in breast cancer,

cardiovascular disease, and overall harm rocked women and physicians across the country.

The study arm used progesterone and premaray because it was the most commonly prescribed form

of estrogen and still prescribed more than a million times a year in the U.S.

It's a mixture of more than 50 different estrogens from horse pee,

the primarin catching the words pregnant mere urine.

If you're skeptical, try crushing a pill and sniffing it.

The dower findings of the Women's Health Initiative, combined with some high-profile

celebrity endorsements,

saw interest shift to bioidentical hormones made from plants rather than a hoarse source.

They're marketed as being safer, more effective.

No wonder estimates peg the annual number of prescriptions at $30 million a year,

...