What is BHRT? Bioidentical vs Synthetic Hormone?
- Bioidentical hormones can be derived from plant substances such as soy or yam, and are natural in the sense that they are formulated in the lab to be biologically identical in molecular and chemical structure and function to hormones produced by the human body. Our body recognizes these bioidentical hormones as its own.
- Synthetic hormones are synthesized to mimic innate hormones, but with slightly different chemical structures for convenience of pharmaceutical dosing and patentability by the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Synthetic hormones are not the same as the naturally-produced human hormones and often have unintended side effects.