Will the real natural hormone please stand up?

Everybody is jumping on the "natural" bandwagon. I even saw an add for "natural" antifreeze for your car last week. That's important to me! The new Madison Avenue definition of "natural" seems to be anything made from a plant. "All natural" (of course) indicates items derived from plants with Chinese names!

Here's a headline ... Premarin (conjugated equine horse estrogens) are one hundred percent natural!! ........ for horses! What about women?

As you can see, the origin of the hormone is not the determining factor in labeling it "natural". Natural hormones for humans are those that are biologically and molecularly identical to those that are naturally produced by the human body. For those of you that are old enough to remember that seventies TV program, The Six Million Dollar Man, "We have the technology" to identically reproduce human hormones. This is done in other fields of medicine and is not only accepted but also expected. Humulin is used instead of the older pork insulin for diabetics, HGH (human growth hormone) is commonly used for various pituitary disorders and natural thyroid is now available.

As you can see, it makes no difference to me what the derivation of the hormone is. As long as it is biologically identical to the hormone of the species that is being treated. That is, it could be synthesized in a laboratory on the planet "Remulon", or from rhinoceros horn and, if it is bio-identical, it's natural!