Estrogen cuts risk of Alzheimer's.

Women who take estrogen supplements to relieve the discomforts of menopause reap many additional benefits, ranging from protection against heart disease and osteoporosis to heightened short-term memory and a greater capacity to learn new tasks (SN: 2/4/95, p. 74).

Now researchers have found that estrogen replacement therapy confers yet another bonus-a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease. A new study, reported in the Aug. 17 Lancet, tracked 1,124 elderly women. It found that women who had taken estrogen for just 1 year were significantly less likely to develop the memory-destroying brain disease than women who had never taken the hormone supplements.

Richard Mayeux of Columbia University and his colleagues also report that the longer the women took estrogen supplements, the more they reduced their Alzheimer's risk. Extrapolating from the 5-year study, Mayeux estimates that women who take the drug for a decade reduce their odds of getting Alzheimer's by nearly 40 percent.

About one in four postmenopausal women currently takes estrogen replacement pills to relieve such symptoms as hot flashes and insomnia. Gynecologists caution, however, that the study does not provide enough evidence to establish that most older women should take the hormone. Estrogen therapy may increase a woman's odds of getting endometrial and perhaps breast cancer, although coupling estrogen with a hormone called progesterone can minimize the endometrial cancer risk.