PORTLAND, Ore., May 3 (UPI) -- Anti-depressants and other drugs may help alleviate menopausal hot flashes, but they still don't work as well as hormones, an Oregon study says.
The conclusion was based on a review of 43 studies that ranged from prescription anti-depressants Paxil, Effexor and Prozac to non-prescription soybean and red clover extracts.
"There's a lot of hype around trying things that we haven't proven effective and, sadly, we haven't proven they're safe," author Dr. Heidi Nelson of Oregon Health & Science University told The New York Times.
Hormones fell from favor since a 2002 government study found they increased the risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks and breast cancer.
In an editorial, Dr. Jeffrey Tice of the University of California-San Francisco said the thinking before 2002 was that hormones would prevent disease.
"Maybe we were brainwashed by the industry paying people to tell us that in medical school," Tice said in the editorial also published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
