A new study confirms that menopausal women using Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) may have lesser probability of developing colon cancer. Nearly 57,000 California teachers participated in the study and it was found that women using HRT from beginning were 36 % less likely to develop colon cancer over the next 10 years than those who had never used HRT. This new study was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Dr. Katherine DeLellis Henderson of the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California led this study. During the study period, out of 34,433 HRT users, 193 were diagnosed with colon as compared to 151 cases among the 13,778 women who had never used the same.

When the researchers accounted for the women's age, weight, exercise levels and race HRT with estrogen and progestin or estrogen alone was connected to a lower colon cancer risk. This finding is in tune with the support the theory that estrogen offers some protection against colon cancer.

After a U. S. government study in 2002 found that postmenopausal women given HRT had higher risks of heart attack, stroke, breast cancer and blood clots, millions of women stopped using the hormone. So, experts now recommend that while HRT is effective at reducing menopausal symptoms, still females should consume it at the lowest dose and for the lesser time period. Further study into the effects of HRT on specific organs is being recommended by researchers.