11/18/2025
Hormones are having a moment.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Nov. 10 it was removing the black box warning on hormone replacement therapy for menopause. Agency leaders said the listed risks, including breast cancer, don’t outweigh the treatment’s long-term health benefits, such as reductions in bone fractures and cognitive decline.
The news has sparked interest among women who may be candidates for the therapy. Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, joked that her patients have since been “going wild.”
In an age when over-the-counter hormone tests are a dime a dozen and supplements boast of alleviating hormonal imbalances, it can be tough to know whether you may need hormonal testing and treatment or are falling prey to marketing schemes.
Dr. Jan Shifren, director of the Midlife Women’s Health Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, said women experiencing perimenopause, the years leading up to their final menstrual period, are a prime target for such “meno-profiteering” or “meno-washing,” the practice of selling pseudoscience for women during menopausal transition.
“I actually never use the words ‘hormone imbalance’ with my patients,” Shifren said. “There are a lot of people out there marketing very expensive hormone testing — often not covered by insurance — these very large panels of multiple hormones that essentially tell us nothing.”
