Most of us have some passing familiarity with estrogen.  Typically we are aware that estrogen is the female sex hormone, meaning the hormone that is responsible for the development of the structural differences between female children and male children.  Likewise, should you decide to change genders from male to female, you will be taking lots of estrogen to produce the desired skin and body changes that make you look more feminine.  Similarly, boys produce testosterone to produce the male structural traits.  The girls ovaries manufacture estrogen while the boys' testis produces testosterone.  In my day that is about as much as you got in 6th-grade health class.

A few years later they had a sex education class where we got a few more details.  Primarily we learned that the estrogen was produced in cycles once women started menstruating, with the levels steadily rising for most of the first half of the cycle and suddenly dropping just before an egg is released.  Here we learned that estrogen is a growth-stimulating hormone.  It tells the lining of the uterus to grow to prepare for an egg to implant should one become fertilized.  Since I was part of the groovy generation at this point (post-1967) we also learned about “the pill”.  This was a huge boon to the women's lib movement.  First released to the public on June 23rd 1960, it contained estrogen and a synthetic hormone called progestin.  It suppressed ovulation to prevent pregnancy, giving women control over when they have children.  The primary known side effect of taking the pill back then was weight gain.

Fast forward another 20 years and we learn more about estrogen from news reports of findings that taking estrogen increased your risk of getting breast and cervical cancer.  Results of studies were conflicting with final results seeming to be related to certain formulations and concentrations of pill hormones.  Just estrogen alone without progesterone seemed much worse and the higher concentrations of estrogen used in the '60s and '70s produced higher cancer outcomes.  But the cat was out of the bag now, hormones could cause disease when in the wrong amounts or taken at the wrong time.

Birth control was not the only big market for hormones.  At the end of the fertility cycle for women, as they run out of eggs, progesterone levels drop to almost nothing and estrogen levels start wobbling all over the place.  Perimenopause hits typically in the '40s and in a few years, menopause follows.  As most women know, this period of hormonal fluctuation can be maddening.  The infamous “hot flash” is well known, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.  There can be weight gain, nausea, breast tenderness, night sweats, mood changes like irritability, anxiety, and depression, inability to think clearly, bladder problems, painful intercourse, memory loss, trouble sleeping, dry skin, hair loss, heart palpitations, and low libido. I frequently hear of the brain fog of perimenopause that often extends well into menopause.  Estrogen was and is used to relieve many of these symptoms, but the same concerns about cancer loom up here.  Many women find relief with the use of progesterone instead of estrogen, but this has its own problems.  Progesterone in a skin cream form builds up in the fatty tissue just under the skin and usually produces levels of progesterone that are way too high.  (I only recommend the sublingual form of progesterone to prevent this overdosing.)  

So far we have stayed in the realm of general knowledge about estrogen.  Let's stray a little further out – xenoestrogens.  As we have read, hormones are not only produced internally but can be taken orally or applied to the skin and absorbed.  Where might this become a problem?  Our modern world is full of estrogen-like chemicals that are assaulting us constantly.  Ever since the first plastic was invented we have been surrounded with estrogen-like chemicals because many plastics carry estrogen properties.  Fragrances and essential oils typically are xenoestrogens.  Many foods contain estrogen-mimicking properties, especially soy-based foods and cruciferous veggies.  We are wading through a virtual sea of estrogen these days, and it gets inside of us and messes with us.  Sometimes these external estrogens can be helpful at certain times for certain uses.  For example plant estrogens can be helpful for women during perimenopause and menopause to help block the action of too much of the bad form of estrogen, estradiol.  More about that later.

A third source of estrogen is one we hear little about – aromatase enzyme.  This is an enzyme found primarily in fat tissue that converts testosterone into estrogen.  When you carry excess fat on your body, you also, therefore, have excess aromatase.  This can undercut the job of your testosterone in building muscle and supporting the formation of certain brain neurotransmitters for action.  This is a bad thing for men usually.  Chronic elevations of estrogen in a male are the main cause of prostate hypertrophy.  

When I ask “Why would nature want men to convert testosterone to estrogen when they get fat?”, I get an interesting answer.  In a survival environment with a food shortage, fat does not happen and testosterone levels are highest.  The quickest way to raise testosterone naturally is to fast for a few days.  In this type of environment, you would want increased muscle strength and speed as well as increased aggression to help you survive.  In an environment of food plenty the body puts on weight.   This encourages more estrogen instead which shifts the brain to a more communal peaceful mindset which supports population growth in this time of plenty.  Estrogen also makes the brain less impulsive and more oriented towards long-range goals, another community forming brain shift.  This is because estrogen increases serotonin in the brain.
So we have lots of sources of estrogen all around us and within us these days.  It is making us more mellow and less aggressive, which is probably a good thing.  But all this estrogen is messing with our health.  Estrogen comes in three primary forms – estrone, estradiol, and estriol.  Estrone and estriol are weak forms of estrogen and do not cause trouble as they are easily broken down.  Estradiol, however, is a bugger.  It causes all sorts of havoc in the body.  This is the cancer-causing form of estrogen.  It also likes to cause endometriosis and fibroids in women.  In men, excess estradiol likes to produce belly fat, diabetes, migraines, breast enlargement, anxiety, slow metabolism, hair loss, poor muscle strength, depression, fluid retention, ED, and prostate enlargement. 

This is not to say estradiol is all bad.  It is all about having the right amount and in the right ratio to other hormones.  In the right amounts, it prevents osteoporosis and controls reproductive function.  But with so many sources of estrogen all around us today, most of us are getting way too much.  What can we do?  We have three options – eliminate exposure to xenoestrogens as much as possible, block aromatase enzymes, and improve our hormone detoxification liver pathways to get rid of the excess already within us.  I put packaged food products in glass instead of plastic whenever possible and store foods in glass, not plastic.  I also avoid most commercial household cleaners and body products because of all the estrogen-like chemicals they are made from.  I regularly take herbs like beet leaf, dandelion, milk thistle, and others to support liver detoxification.  Recently I have also started taking an aromatase enzyme blocker called 7-methoxyflavone to decrease my body's conversion of testosterone to estradiol.

Hormones are a huge subject, but this should serve as an introduction to estrogen.  Perhaps there were even a few tips you could use.

Take care,

David     

   
Ellen update:    

Work has started on Christmas presents.  Ellen has pulled out her new glue gun and started playing with the tins that will enclose the present.  Presentation is very important so trial and error is a necessary part of the process.