Heart risk and sex hormones.

Ancient healers believed a perfect balance of bodily fluids kept disease away. Modern studies suggest the right mix of sex hormones can keep cardiovascular risk factors at bay.

Katherine Sherif at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences in Philadelphia and her colleagues studied 93 black women with an average age of 30 who were participating in a blood pressure study The team measured concentrations of the male and female sex hormones--testosterone and estrogen--in the women's blood.

Hormone concentrations in all of the women fell within the normal range, but women with higher ratios of testosterone to estrogen were more likely to have higher blood pressure, insulin resistance, and higher concentrations of low-density lipoprotein, the so-called bad cholesterol. All three factors put people at increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease, including strokes and heart attacks.

Previous research had linked a high testosterone-estrogen ratio to such risk factors in white and Hispanic women, but this is the first such study in black women, notes Sherif. She presented her team's findings at the American Heart Association's 51st annual conference on high blood pressure, held in Washington, D.C., last month.

Because black women run a higher risk of heart disease and stroke than women of other races, the researchers now plan to compare sex hormone ratios by race. The results raise concerns about testosterone-containing drugs prescribed to relieve symptoms that can occur during menopause, Sherif says. Such drugs are being touted as an antidote to hot flashes, but the new study suggests that tipping the balance of sex hormones may prove dangerous to the heart, she says. "If just a tiny bit of testosterone in relation to your estrogen is too much, what's going to happen with these drugs?" Sherif asks.