HRT and the betrayal of women

THERE’S no mystery to the shortage of HRT. As Mariella Frostrup pointed out on my Mail+ podcast last week, the number of women taking hormone replacement therapy over the past few years has doubled.

That’s in large part thanks to the overturning of two flawed studies from the early Noughties linking

HRT with an elevated risk of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke. But we’re still not quite there.

The NHS is reluctant to prescribe testosterone to menopausal women which, together with oestrogen and progesterone, forms the holy trinity of HRT. Testosterone acts to increase sex drive, but the benefits go far beyond that. Healthy levels in women help to maintain strong hair and bones, as well as contributing to improved cognitive function.

The fact we’re still being denied this hormone just goes to show how little women’s health — and especially that of older women — matters to the people who make these decisions.