Why the confusion?

Back in the early 2000s, a very large research study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) made headlines. It looked at the effects of hormone therapy on thousands of women.

The media reported that the study found a “higher risk of breast cancer” with hormone therapy. The problem? That wasn’t the full story.

• The increased risk they reported was very small—smaller than the risk from drinking three glasses of wine per week.
• The way the results were shared caused fear and confusion. Headlines made it sound like hormone therapy was dangerous for all women.

This led to decades of women being scared away from using hormones that could have helped their health and quality of life.

What do we know now?

Since then, researchers have gone back and looked at the WHI data more carefully. They considered things like:

• How old women were when they started hormone therapy
• Whether they were already in menopause or not

When these factors are taken into account, the results look very different:

✅ Estrogen alone does not increase the risk of breast cancer.

And here’s even better news:

✅ When estrogen is used with natural, bioidentical progesterone—not synthetic progestin—breast cancer risk actually goes down. Women using this combination not only have lower risk, but studies also show they tend to live longer.

Wait—what about hormone-positive cancers?

This is an important question. Hormones don’t cause cancer, but they can sometimes feed cancers that are already there.

For example, if a woman already has estrogen-positive breast cancer, taking systemic estrogen could make that cancer grow faster. That’s why it’s important for women with this diagnosis to work closely with their doctors.

But for women without cancer, research shows that hormone therapy is not only safe—it may be protective.

Bottom line

The original WHI headlines created unnecessary fear that lasted for years. Many women missed out on hormone therapy that could have supported their:

• Energy
• Bone health
• Sleep
• Quality of life

The good news? Science has caught up. We now know that bioidentical hormones—like estradiol and progesterone—are safe and even beneficial for many women.

And with options like Parlor Games’ bioidentical formulations, women can finally access hormone support that works with the body, not against it.