By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There was a time when many women were taking hormone replacement therapy as they approached menopause. That was until about 10 years ago when the Women’s Health Initiative found in a landmark study that hormone replacement therapy increased the risks of heart disease and cancer.

This led to a dramatic decrease in the use of these drugs. But this study has been controversial and recently there have been a number of articles in medical journals which have challenged that report.

The major criticism is that the WHI has scared younger women away from hrt when the findings were actually in older women.

So where does the US Preventive Services task force weigh in? The task force sees no benefit to taking the hormones.