One of the most exciting and largest research projects to ever take place in the United States is the Women's Health Initiative. The National Institute of Health (NIH), the governmental agency that funds medical research in the United States, is sponsoring this 15 year, $628 million dollar study.

The NIH established the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) to address the most common causes of death, disability, and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women. These results will comprehensively discuss cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis which are important diseases that affect all women. WHI is extraordinary because this is the first time that medical research is being done exclusively with women for women. In the past all medical research, whether it had to do with a particular medicine or disease, was done with men as the subjects.

The explanations for this are two fold. One being that researchers were afraid that their subjects may be pregnant and for safety sake did not include women in their studies. Secondly, researchers were concerned that women's changing hormone levels during the menstrual cycle might affect test results.

Though these may be the reasons, this still has not provided women with the information that they need for their health. The WHI will attempt to correct many of the inequities in women's health research and provide practical information to women and their doctors. This information will focus on hormone replacement therapy, dietary patterns and calcium/ Vitamin D supplements and their effects on the prevention of heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. The incident of these three diseases increases after a woman reaches menopause.

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The Women's Health Initiative, established in 1991, will end in 2006. The NIH has recruited 164,500 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 from all ethnic and social backgrounds. Menopause will affect every woman in different areas of her health in different ways. The major concerns involving menopause are how the decreased amount of estrogen will affect her bones, heart and cancer risk. Since women are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis or "brittle bones" and heart disease, the number one killer of women, it is crucial to find out how to prevent these diseases.

First, the WHI hopes to address the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy and its role in preventing these crisises from occurring. Women in this aspect of the study are divided into 2 groups. One receiving estrogen and progesterone and the other receiving a placebo. Secondly, dietary modification is being studied as a way to prevent breast and colorectal cancer and heart disease. Some women in the study will be taking a low fat, high fruit, vegetable and grain diet. The rest of the study participants will be maintaining their usual diet. Lastly, the WHI will study the effects of calcium and Vitamin D supplements in the prevention of osteoporosis and colorectal cancer. Half the women participating in this aspect of the initiative will take calcium and Vitamin D supplements and others will receive a placebo.

This study will help us be more proactive in our health care. We will make informed and good decisions about our health before, during and after menopause. In addition to menopause other medical information regarding women's health, is expected to come from the Women's Health Initiative.

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