Victory Wellness & Medspa

10/15/2026

Prescription drugs play an essential role in treating everything from anxiety to chronic illness. But growing evidence shows that some of these more common medications are linked to dementia or memory loss, particularly in older adults.

09/30/2026

A new analysis of NHANES data looked at 4,330 adults, including 2,194 women, and examined the relationship between s*x hormones, menopause hormone therapy (MHT), and handgrip strength.

In women, estradiol and free estradiol had the strongest associations with grip strength.

Interestingly, the free androgen index was associated with strength in both men and women, while total testosterone was not.

The MHT findings were also interesting.

Older women with a history of MHT had, on average, 1.9 kg greater handgrip strength than women who had not used MHT. The difference increased with age—from about 2.4% at age 60 to 14.3% in women age 80 and older.

The authors concluded that age-related declines in s*x hormones, particularly bioavailable hormones, may contribute to loss of muscle strength, and that MHT may be associated with less decline in strength as women age.

Important caveat: this is observational data, so it cannot tell us that MHT caused the difference in strength.

But it does add to the evidence that estrogen and other s*x hormones have effects throughout the body—and that the conversation about menopause hormones shouldn’t be limited to hot flashes and vaginal symptoms.

Muscle and physical function are part of healthy aging too. And I might argue essential.
Logue Cook RN, Turcu AF, Karvonen-Gutierrez CA, Hunter SK. S*x hormones and menopause hormone therapy predict muscle strength across the lifespan. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2026 Sep 1;141(3):731-744. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00366.2026. Epub 2026 Jul 28. PMID: 42518302; PMCID: PMC13555377.

09/29/2026

There is a lot of misinformation and unfounded fears about hormone treatments and breast cancer so I want to make this clear. Bioidentical hormone treatments have never been shown to cause cancer. These are the same chemical structure as our own hormones.

The risks of cancer have been shown with synthetic hormone treatments - these are in older types of HRT and all types of “hormonal” contraceptives. These have different chemical structures than hormones and work very differently in the body. Some of them actually block the action of estradiol on the cells.

It is time this confusion ends as unfounded fears of cancer with hormone treatments are stopping far too many women access hormone treatments.

09/18/2026

09/10/2026

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) is a popular topic for those on the ReCODE Protocol and for good reason: in new research, estrogen hormone therapy use was linked to 39% lower odds of dementia and reduced biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011028.htm

Apollo Health subscribers can log in and watch our previous Town Hall on Bioidentical Hormones and Cognition here: https://app.apollohealthco.com/town-halls/pa-20230529?text=hormones