21.   In her practice, Stewart says she encourages most of her patients at least to consider taking hormones.

22.   In recent years, women unwilling or unable to take hormone replacements have been advised to try all sorts of things to reduce the effects of menopause.

23.   In the Harvard study, the risk of breast cancer was increased only among women who had been taking hormones for five years or more.

24.   In the meantime, women going through or anticipating menopause are facing the momentous decision of whether to take hormones for the rest of their lives.

25.   It may be only a matter of time before millions of women are taking male hormones, and who knows where that may lead.

26.   Just as experts differ on whether the data show an increased risk of breast cancer, so they differ on whether they would advise women to take hormones.

27.   Making an informed decision about whether to take replacement hormones during and after menopause is hard enough for women with no prior health problems.

28.   Once women stopped taking hormones, Colditz said, their risks returned to normal within two years.

29.   Other studies have had similar findings, showing modest increases in risk that drop back to average within about five years after a woman stops taking the hormones.

30.   Over all, these women faced a risk of death half that of similar women who did not take postmenopausal hormones.