Bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT) uses hormones that are chemically identical to those produced by the human body, often derived from plant sources.
Well, I guess women are the same as cactuses then.
Standardised 'body identical' vs non-standardised 'bioidentical'
What some clinics and compounding pharmacies offer as 'bioidentical HRT' uses these same hormones, but not necessarily in the same standardised dosages that are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
"The term 'bioidentical' is more of a marketing term really," says Dr Hannah Short, a GP who specialises in the menopause. "There are some private practitioners who will say they can make you a bespoke HRT, and there are concerns about these kind of unregulated and unstandardised treatments," she explains.
"A compounding pharmacy is still a completely licenced and regulated pharmacy. They would buy a certain amount of micronised progesterone or estradiol and mix it into an approved, clinically tested cream base or put it into a capsule," says hormone specialist Dr Mandy Leonhardt.
"Most of the time, it is exactly the same amount as any standardised, off-the-shelf, pharmaceutically-made product. However, compounding pharmacies charge a huge amount of money for this because each individual product is made on-site for each individual patient," she explains.
"These compounding pharmacies are criticised because the product they prescribe, even though the molecules and the hormones are exactly the same, are not individually trialled and tested in a scientific trial," she adds. As a result, Leonhardt explains, the NHS has begun using the term 'body identical hormones' to describe the standardised, regulated form, and to distance itself from non-standardised 'bioidenticals'.
https://patient.info/news-and-features/what-are-bioidentical-hormones-menopause-hrt
And there it is: The term 'bioidentical' is more of a marketing term really