I just wanted to post this link from a 2003 interview with Dr. Paul Goss from Breast Cancer Update:
http://www.breastcancerupdate.com/bcu2003/5/goss1.htm
as I think it has some information that comes to bear on some of the questions raised in this thread. I found his closing comments particularly interesting:
"I am very interested in how closely a woman’s health is related to a small range of estrogen. The slope of the postmenopausal estrogen range is a very small curve and is tightly related to breast cancer risk, osteoporosis and probably cardiovascular risk.
My personal feeling is that healthy postmenopausal women without breast cancer need their estrogen level “customized.” We can tone it up with HRT, but now we have a subtle way of toning it down. We have tried the two extremes — blockbuster ablation or massive replacement — but we haven’t tried zoning in on a middle range. I’m 100 percent convinced that in the next 10 to 15 years we will develop an understanding of women’s estrogen levels and their impact on health."
Hopeful