Have you experienced hormonal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, moodiness, or not being able to fall or stay asleep? Have you been advised to try herbal remedies and/or eat more foods that are rich in estrogens? Have you noticed that these products or foods may help somewhat for the short term, but then they stop working after awhile, and you’re in worse shape than you were in before you started? Using these estrogen mimicker products/foods can have dire consequences to our bodies.
ESTROGEN
Estrogen is a vital hormone required for pregnancy, growth, and development. This vital hormone is naturally occurring in both men and women. However, it’s best known as a female hormone because it’s primarily produced in the ovaries, gives females their feminine characteristics, and regulates our menstrual cycle.
Estrogen acts primarily as a signal: it tells cells and organs what they should be doing. The lock and key concept best describes how estrogen works in our body: estrogen receptors are the locks, and estrogen molecules are the keys. With more keys, more locks can be filled. With fewer keys, locks end up sitting there, empty and rusted. When the locks are filled, the pituitary gland, which tells the ovaries what to do, detects “estrogen sufficiency” in the body, and it slows down the “pump more estrogen” signal it sends to the ovaries. This makes the ovaries produce less estrogen. The whole purpose of this system is to maintain stable estrogen levels in the body.
Unfortunately, consuming high quantities of phytoestrogens or being exposed to environmental xenoestrogens often interferes with this otherwise healthy functioning feedback loop.
Despite its crucial role in the reproductive system, having too much estrogen in your system is not a good thing. The problem now is that our environment and food supply is teeming with it, and too much estrogen can lead to a host of symptoms and serious medical conditions.
ESTROGEN DOMINANCE
Too much estrogen in the body can be toxic, leading to a very common condition called estrogen dominance. Since estrogen is a hormone that promotes growth, elevated levels have been linked to the growth of cancerous tumors. This is especially true with female cancers, such as breast cancer. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase of breast and ovarian cancer linked to estrogen dominance. Men aren’t exempt from getting breast cancer. Too much estrogen in men has been linked to the infamous “man boob” phenomenon as well as prostate enlargement, prostate cancer and fat gain.
In addition, too much estrogen causes weight gain, especially with fat storage. Excess estrogen can cause your insulin not to work as efficiently in processing your sugar. Thus the body isn’t properly regulating blood sugar, and as a result, your body will store sugar as fat. This can lead to insulin resistance which eventually leads to diabetes.
Estrogen dominance can lead to other hormonal imbalance symptoms, including:
- Ovarian cysts
- Thyroid imbalances
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Low libido
- PMS
- Infertility
- Bloating and digestive issues
XENOESTROGENS
We are constantly bombarded by estrogens in our environment, from the food we eat to the chemicals we use. Estrogen mimickers in the form of chemicals are called xenoestrogens. These xenoestrogens mimic the action of estrogen produced in cells and can alter hormonal activity. Xeno means foreign; therefore, a xenoestrogen means foreign estrogen. Some of the 70,000 registered chemicals for use in the United States have hormonal effects in addition to toxic effects. These chemicals have the ability to mimic natural hormones and bind to hormone receptors. When xenoestrogens enter the body, estrogens accumulate, contributing to estrogen dominance.
The xenoestrogens found in certain pesticides, plastics, fuels, and drugs are usually synthetic and difficult for the body to break down; they can amplify the effects of estrogen. These substances can increase the estrogen load in the body over time and are difficult to detoxify through the liver.
Xenoestrogens are also found in our food! Many of our meat and dairy products have chemicals and growth hormones in them. There are also drugs like antibiotics which are a danger to our endocrine system. These drugs are being pumped into our food source animals to keep them healthy longer, to fatten them up for our meat supply. To decrease xenoestrogen exposure, choose meat and dairy items that do not contain rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin), a type of artificial growth hormone that increases milk production.
Some common sources of xenoestrogens:
- Plastics, plastic food wraps
- Cosmetics
- Commercially raised meat
- Plant estrogens (soy)
- Styrofoam cups
- Birth control pills and spermicide
- Industrial wastes
- Detergents
- Paints, lacquers, and solvents
- Canned foods
- Car exhaust and indoor toxins
- Pesticides and herbicides
- Personal care products (all artificial scents)
- Air fresheners, perfumes
PHYTOESTROGENS
Phytoestrogens (phyto meaning plant) are naturally occurring estrogenic compounds found in a variety of foods, herbs, and spices. Their chemical structure resembles natural estrogen. These compounds are generally weak estrogens in comparison to real estrogen and xenoestrogens. However, in a body that is already experiencing too much estrogen, adding more will contribute to the problem.
Phytoestrogens act as estrogen in the body. However, the problem is that while phytoestrogens have a pretty good ability to bind to estrogen receptors, they are not able to signal as well as estrogen. Phytoestrogens look enough like estrogen to bind to estrogen receptors, but they do NOT look exactly like estrogen. This makes their ability to perform estrogen functions inferior to true estrogens. Also, because these phytoestrogens do not resemble true estrogen, estrogenic activity does not actually increase. It decreases.
Different kinds of phytoestrogens communicate differently with different kinds of estrogen receptors. For women with high estrogen, photoestrogens can make it worse. For women with low estrogen levels – depending on which phytoestrogen is consumed – they could actually do more harm than good. Phytoestrogen biochemistry is complicated. Some studies have shown that phytoestrogens boost estrogen activity and others have shown a decrease in estrogen activity. This is due in part to the variable biochemical components of different kinds of phytoestrogens. It also might be due to the broad diversity of women’s physiologic responses to phytoestrogens.
Some of the strongest phytoestrogen-containing substances are soy, the lignans found in flaxseed products, red clover, black cohosh, and dong quai. Soy includes soybeans, soy milk, tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein, roasted soybeans, soy granules, soy protein powders, miso, and edamames.
Overconsumption of phytoestrogenic foods or herbs long term may actually increase the risk of estrogen dominance significantly. Also, phytoestrogens have been shown to affect your thyroid function. Studies have shown that phytoestrogens can inhibit the conversion of T4 to the active T3 thyroid hormone which can trigger hypothyroidism. This could be a double whammy for some women having estrogen dominance and thyroid dysfunction concurrently.
HORMONE TESTING
Testing our hormone levels can help us gauge what we need to do for ourselves. Salivary, blood, and urinary hormone testing are available. In order to achieve hormonal balance, become knowledgeable about where your estrogen levels are relative to other critical hormones your body depends on for normal functioning. Too much or too little estrogen can result in unwanted symptoms and potential serious medical conditions down the road. Too much estrogen may require detoxification, and too little estrogen may require appropriate supplementation to achieve balance.
CONCLUSION
We are living in a sea of estrogen. Unfortunately, if we are already estrogen dominant, what we think ought to be good for us (like phytoestrogens), are really natural estrogen mimickers that could be harmful. Be in the know and get tested before you supplement with dietary estrogen or estrogenic herbal remedies. Our bodies yearn for balance and homeostasis. Know your hormone levels in order to balance your health.
