1992
Premarin peaks.
Premarin, made from the urine of pregnant mares, becomes the most prescribed drug in the US. The WHI study begins, testing Premarin plus Provera on 160,000 women.
Education
The Truth About HRT
Fear travelled the world in 24 hours in 2002. The correction has taken 23 years. Here is what every woman deserves to know, in plain English.
Synthetic vs Body-identical
Not all HRT is the same. That one distinction is the key to everything that follows.
Synthetic / non-human HRT
Premarin · Provera
Premarin, made from horse urine, contains estrogens the human body does not naturally produce. Provera (MPA), a synthetic progestin. Not the same molecule as human progesterone.
This is what the 2002 WHI study tested.
Body-identical HRT
Estradiol · Micronised Progesterone
Estradiol (17β-estradiol), derived from plants. Chemically identical to human oestrogen. Micronised progesterone (Prometrium / Utrogestan), identical to human progesterone.
This is the recommended approach today.
1992, Today
A timeline of what actually happened, and what is changing now.
2002
The study that changed everything, for the wrong reasons.
The WHI trial is stopped early. Global headlines declare HRT causes breast cancer. Use collapses by 80%. The absolute risk, 4 cases per 1,000 women over 5 years, is rarely mentioned. Results are applied to all HRT, including body-identical hormones that were never studied.
2003
Black-box warnings applied.
The FDA applies class-wide black-box warnings to all HRT products, including body-identical hormones that were never part of the study. A generation of women is denied treatment based on findings that may not apply to them.
2008
The pivotal French finding.
The E3N cohort study finds that body-identical progesterone does not carry the increased breast cancer risk seen with the synthetic progestin used in WHI. Researchers increasingly point to the specific synthetic used in 2002, rather than oestrogen itself.
2013
Follow-up data tells a different story about oestrogen.
A decade of WHI follow-up finds that oestrogen-only HRT was associated with lower breast cancer incidence and mortality in the women studied. It takes ten years for this to reach the public.
2015
UK NICE recommends body-identical HRT.
Body-identical HRT, estradiol patches or gel with micronised progesterone, becomes the recommended approach. HRT prescriptions in England begin rising from this point.
Nov 2025
FDA removes the warnings.
The US HHS and FDA announce the removal of broad black-box warnings. In its press release, the FDA suggests women who start HRT within 10 years of menopause may see substantially lower cardiovascular, Alzheimer's and fracture risk, figures researchers are still weighing.
Aug 2026
Meer as Warm Gloede airs. JoinMandi.com launches.
Every South African woman deserves this history, in her language.
Sources
- [1]Rossouw JE et al. JAMA 2002;288(3):321–333.
- [2]Langer RD. Climacteric 2017;20(2):91–96.
- [3]Fournier A et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2008;107(1):103–111.
- [4]Manson JE et al. JAMA 2013;310(13):1353–1368.
- [5]NICE Guideline NG23, 2015 (updated 2019).
- [6]HHS press release, 10 November 2025.
- [7]Makary MA et al. JAMA 2026;335(2):117–118.
Educational information only, not medical advice. Discuss your individual circumstances with a qualified healthcare provider.
Where does this leave you?
You deserve honest answers in your own language from practitioners who understand hormonal health.