Confusing studies don't alter health advice

updated 8:44 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2006

WASHINGTON - Forget the low-fat diet and toss out the calcium pills? Rethink estrogen in your 50s? Women might get that impression from a trio of confusing studies published this month. But look more closely: The research doesn't actually change current advice.

It just shows how hard it is to find simple, one-size-fits-all answers in medicine.

Indeed, scientists who led the massive study called the Women's Health Initiative meet near Washington this week to plan their next step: examining participants' genes, in a quest to better customize health recommendations for women over 50. Maybe there are genes that predict which women's hearts will most benefit from a strict diet, or predict who is most likely to have a stroke or other severe side effect when using estrogen to treat menopause's hot flashes.

"There may have been some disappointment" that the studies didn't always give clear answers, acknowledges Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, heart chief at the National Institutes of Health. "The findings are what they are. ... Now we're in a second wave of putting the findings into perspective."

The WHI tracked 161,000 women for 15 years to test different strategies for preventing heart disease, bone-thinning osteoporosis, and breast and colorectal cancer.

It is best known as the study that in 2002 overturned the dogma that hormone therapy after menopause was good for women's overall health. It found the opposite -- that long-term use of the hormones estrogen and progestin increased women's risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks, even dementia. Estrogen-alone, offered only to women who have had hysterectomies, was risky, too.

The WHI's latest findings, published this month, also made startling headlines: A low-fat diet didn't seem to prevent cancer or heart disease. Taking calcium and vitamin D tablets to protect aging bones provided only limited benefit. And a second look at estrogen-only users suggested those who took it in their 50s may not face the heart risks of older hormone users.

But, the findings "may not be as surprising as they first appear," cautions Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University, who has closely monitored the work.

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