The Estrogen Answer Book: 150 Most-Asked Questions about Hormone Replacement Therapy

The biggest dilemma menopausal women face today is whether to begin hormone replacement therapy. Ruth Jacobowitz, an expert on the physical changes in women's bodies as they grow older, answers 150 questions that women ask most frequently about estrogen. A straightforward, easy-to-read overview of what women need to make a decision about hormone replacement therapy.

Practically every question a woman ever wanted to ask about estrogen is answered in this book: "Do I really need to replace the estrogen that I lose after menopause?" "Does estrogen cause cancer?" "Will estrogen reverse my flagging libido?"

The Estrogen Answer Book grew out of author Ruth Jacobowitz's own experience with taking the hormone to tackle hot flashes, as well as out of the question she heard most from women as she lectured around the country: "Should I take estrogen?"

The book describes the potential benefits as well as risks of hormone replacement therapy. And it gives the nitty-gritty of the different formulations of estrogen out there, from pills to patches, vaginal creams to estrogen rings.

Jacobowitz, a former hospital administrator and author of several women's health books, including 150 Most-Asked Questions About Midlife Sex, Love, and Intimacy, includes useful chapters on food sources for plant estrogens and lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and other health problems that can come with menopause. For women interested in using diet to fight bone-thinning osteoporosis, Jacobowitz also has an appendix detailing the amount of calcium in common foods.

"The decision to begin hormone replacement therapy may well be the most challenging, complex and confusing decision that a healthy menopausal woman may have to make," she writes. "This book was written to help women sort through all the available information about estrogen. When armed with good information, a woman can decide what she wants to do when it is time to make her own estrogen decision."

The Estrogen Answer Book can be a valuable resource for some of the estimated 50 million women of the baby-boom generation who are at or nearing menopause.