The anti-ageing benefits of HRT, from collagen production to better brain and heart health

New studies suggest that hormone replacement therapy for women in menopause can help them age well and might diminish disease risks

Reading Time:4 minutes

While HRT is prescribed primarily to manage the symptoms of menopause, it comes with many additional health benefits for women as they age. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:15am, 19 Jul 2025

Dr Sue Jamieson remembers when the famous Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study on hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, was published.

“I was in New Mexico on holiday and caught this on the news,” says Jamieson, a Hong Kong-based specialist in integrative and functional medicine.

“I was so horrified that I might be endangering my patients’ health. I sent all those on hormones an email asking them to stop it.”

The study, published more than 20 years ago, was hugely damning of HRT, suggesting it caused a 26 per cent increased risk of breast cancer, a 29 per cent increased risk of heart disease and a 41 per cent increased risk of stroke.

Many doctors stopped prescribing it, women’s fears soared, and the US Food and Drug Administration added prominent warnings to hormone therapy products to highlight the increased risks of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and blood clots, as well as breast cancer.

Sue Jamieson was among the first doctors in Hong Kong to prescribe HRT. Photo: Dr Sue Jamieson

The study was found to be flawed. Based on research since, and the development of bioidentical hormones – which are chemically the same as natural hormones and safer than the older synthetic oestradiol (E2), which Jamieson describes as an “aggressive” form of oestrogen – attitudes towards HRT have evolved.

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