In 1992, the largest and most expensive clinical trial in the US to date, called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), began researching postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) using synthetic estrogen and progesterone. In 2002, researchers claimed to have found an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, and blood clots which quickly made national headlines. This was the fear-producing catalyst that created a decade of uncertainty and doubt around the safety of female HRT.

It is now widely accepted that the WHI trial was littered with gross data manipulation, poor study design, and unconscionable investigator bias. Since 2002,  clinical studies have repeatedly shown that bioidentical female hormones such as estradiol and progesterone, when used in the correct dosages and forms, prevent debilitating menopausal symptoms as well as heart disease, osteoporosis, and certain cancers.