The ZRT Laboratory Blog

When asked what the number one risk factor for breast cancer is, founder and chief scientist of ZRT Laboratory Dr. David Zava has been known to say, “wearing a bra.” He's right. Why? Because having breasts, or just being a woman, is indeed the biggest risk factor, since the disease is 100 times more common in women than in men. is Breast Cancer Awareness month, but given the controversies that…

Tags: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Menopause

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Return to Balance and a GOOD MenopauseNo one likes being out of balance, especially when the hot flashes, foggy thinking, and mood swings of menopause leave us feeling like a pale reflection of our former selves. During this hormonally challenged time it’s important to realize that the extent to which we suffer from troublesome symptoms has much do with the extent to which our lives – and our…

Tags: Menopause, Patient Education, Hormone Balance, Estrogen Dominance, Xenoestrogens

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Many people assume that thyroid hormone deficiency or thyroid imbalance are to blame for weight loss failure, but there are some key factors to consider that might be affecting thyroid hormone function rather than focusing entirely on thyroid hormone levels: For a woman who has recently gone on the Birth Control Pill or HRT (or had her dose increased) it may be interfering with thyroid hormone…

Tags: Weight Management, Menopause, BHRT, Thyroid Health, Melatonin

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I love mysteries. But unlike the advances in forensic science that have caused a sea change in solving murders previously only fathomable by sleuths such as Hercule Poirot, the advances in laboratory testing methods have outpaced the ability of the medical community to unravel the controversial mysteries surrounding absorption of steroid hormones. How did the Mystery Start? This ultimately stems…

Tags: Hormone Balance, Saliva Testing, BHRT, Patient Education, Menopause

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Weight management is a topic that generates a lot of questions. There are many contributing factors, and if diet and exercise haven't worked for you, there may be underlying causes to consider. Hormone imbalance is one of them, so I've answered 10 of the most frequently asked questions that arise when patients start to think about getting tested. Let's jump in...1. Why do postmenopausal women gain…

Tags: Weight Management, Hormone Balance, Patient Education, Metabolic Health, Estrogen Dominance, Menopause, Vitamin D

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Do you regularly see 40-something female patients who cannot budge the belly fat no matter how hard they try? Or 50-something mid-lifers who say they never had a weight problem until they hit menopause or andropause? If you haven’t considered testing their hormones yet, this should pique your interest. There’s a hormone connection to “unexplained weight gain” (ICD-9 783.1), and it could be the…

Tags: Weight Management, Hormone Balance, Menopause, Andropause, Estrogen Dominance, Vitamin D

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