Doctors Bust Medical Myths and Lies

MYTH: Compounded "bioidentical" hormones are identical to the hormones in our bodies.

By Lauren Streicher, MD, Asst. Clinical Prof., Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Feinberg School of Medicine

FACT: Plant-derived estrogen from soybeans is molecularly very similar, but not identical to human hormones. That’s why I prefer the term “bio-mimetic” to “bio-identical.”

Furthermore, what you get from the compounding pharmacy (where a compounding pharmacist custom mixes drugs to fit the unique needs of a patient) is not “more human-like” than what you get in an FDA-approved product. In fact, you are actually getting the IDENTICAL estradiol molecule whether you get your hormones from a compounding pharmacy or your mega-pharmacy.

How can that be? This is the interesting part. Compounding pharmacies don’t manufacture hormones – they just mix them. Manufacturing factories are the ones that extract estrogen from plants, synthesize it to a useable form, and then sell the same active ingredients to both commercial pharmaceutical companies and compounding pharmacies. It is then that the active ingredient is used to make lotions, pills, sprays or patches.

It’s basically all the same stuff. In fact, many compounding pharmacies mass produce hormone preparations that are copies of those produced commercially.

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