We live in a world where everything we eat and use pushes us toward estrogen dominance.
Meanwhile, many newer studies now show that estrogen, specifically estradiol, increases the risk for and actually causes breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Yet mainstream medicine’s answer to this threat of estrogen-caused cancers is to push more estrogen on women, and cut off a man’s supply of testosterone.
This is backwards thinking, especially since there’s a third hormone that both men and women produce which is the counterbalance to estradiol.
It’s progesterone.
Progesterone levels decrease in women at about age 35 and in men some 10 years later. In proper amounts, and when balanced by progesterone, estrogen provides anti-inflammatory properties and helps protect women in many ways. But excess estrogen and chemical xenoestrogens—chemicals in the environment that mimic the effects of estrogen—now lead to estrogen dominance.
As men age, estrogen production increases as the body accumulates more body fat. Rising estrogen levels in men have been associated with heart problems, obesity and prostate cancer.
According to research published by Dr. John Lee in Natural Progesterone, other estrogen dominance symptoms may include:
- Weight gain—especially belly fat
- Hot flashes and uncomfortable menopausal symptoms
- Unwanted facial hair
- Vaginal dryness and painful intercourse
- Bloating and water retention
- Memory loss
- Depression and anxiety
- Migraines or headaches
- Insomnia
- Low sex drive
- Dry skin and wrinkles
- Brittle bones
Increasing progesterone can alleviate these symptoms, and also prevent cancer. Progesterone is the most potent known inhibitor of the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, which converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a known cause of male pattern balding, BPH, and prostate cancer.
Progesterone also turns on the anti-cancer gene p53, so that breast cancer cells do not multiply.
Omega-3s, zinc and vitamin B6 increase progesterone production. To use natural progesterone as a cancer preventive daily, men should aim to use no more than 8-10 mg per day, and women for 15-20 mg a day. So with a cream that contains 400-500 mg of progesterone per ounce, use 1/8th of a teaspoon (0.6 ml) for men and 1/4 for women. It should not be more than 1.7 percent progesterone in a tube of cream.
