Estrogens in Men and Women

Both men and women in Western countries tend to have excessive estrogen (estradiol E2 and estrone E1 specifically) levels. Estrogen dominance is a basic cause of obesity, various cancers, diabetes, female problems, impotence, Alzheimer's, CHD, and many other diseases. How does one lower excessive estrogen levels? Diet and lifestyle are the answer here, not Magic Supplements. Yes, DIM is a fine supplement  to help normalize and improve estrogen metabolism, but you need diet, exercise, weight loss, fasting, hormone balance, no Rx drugs, no bad habits, and other supplements to support its effectiveness. If your tested estradiol and estrone levels are low normal (low normal is the ideal) you don’t need it though. On the ZRT saliva test men and postmenopausal women should strive for a 0.5 estradiol, and 1.3 estrone level. Remember those figures. You want low normal levels. you can test E1 and E2 for only $35 each. Flax oil is also important here, and has been shown to lower estrogen levels. You can use fish oil if you want. Read Flax Oil is Amazing. Take one or two 1,000 mg refrigerated capsules a day. Or buy 12 oz bulk refrigerated flax oil, and take a half teaspoon (2.5 g) daily. By the way, chrysin has shown no clinical evidence of lowering estrogen levels. Sulforaphane may well help. Read the Sulforaphane article. Both men and women can use transdermal progesterone cream to protect themselves from unopposed estrogen.

Exercise is essential here. Whether you walk, run, lift weights, play tennis or whatever you like, you must exercise. You simply have to stop drinking alcohol. No, one glass of your favorite wine every day is not all right. It is not well known that caffeine can wreak havoc on your estrogen levels. The caffeine has to go. Nicotine is a deadly poison that doesn't even need to be discussed. Prescription drugs can damage your endocrine system, especially opiates. You should not be taking any Rx drugs, except for emergencies. The same goes for recreational drugs. Marijuana is anything but "harmless". You must be slim. Obesity clearly equals high estrogens. You must lose weight if you are too heavy. You can do this by eating two macrobiotic meals a day and never being hungry. Calorie restriction means making better food choices, not going hungry. You can eat all you want and lose weight if you just make better food choices.

The most important factor is diet. Eat a low-fat, high fiber whole grain based American macrobiotic diet. No more meat, poultry, eggs, or dairy foods. Animal fat is a major cause of excessive estrogens. No, that doesn't mean you can pour olive oil or coconut oil all over your food, or use any vegetable oils in excess. Americans eat 40% fat calories, which is eight times more than they need. Nearly all these are artery clogging saturated animal fats. A low-fat, high fiber diet helps greatly to lower E1 and E2. Americans eat 1% whole grains when they should be eating 50%.

It is a dangerous myth that Western women are deficient in estrogen, and need to take horse estrogen (Premarin®) to raise their estradiol and estrone levels, especially after menopause. Western women (and men) are generally up to their ears in estrogen due to gobbling down endless amounts of saturated fat, drinking alcohol, not getting any exercise, lack of fiber, and epidemic obesity. Why do you think 1 in 8 American women get breast cancer? One in eight women you know will end up with breast cancer! Why do you think 1 in 3 American women will be castrated? One in three! This is largely due to excess estradiol and estrone (the two most powerful estrogens). It is also due to estriol deficiency. Estriol is the “good”, safe, protective estrogen. Excess estrogen is toxic! So, what does estrogen have to do with men? Men over 50 overall have higher estrogen levels than their post-menopausal wives! Frightening, huh? That's a basic reason men get fat, grow breasts, become impotent, suffer from prostate disease, and lose their hair. Hyper estrogen levels are due to the same causes- gobbling down animal fats, drinking alcohol, low fiber intake, laying on their dead butts watching TV, and being grossly overweight. All American men will end up with prostate cancer if they live long enough. Fact. All of them, unless they do something about it. Excess estradiol and estrone, and low testosterone, are the basic biological cause of this.

It is simply impossible to lower estrogen levels except by changing your diet and lifestyle. Most people simply are not willing to do this. Can't medical science do anything? Yes, they can give you dangerous, toxic, expensive anti-aromatase and anti-estrogen drugs like Tamoxifen, Arimidex, Femara, Toremifene, and Clonipine. Bad choices there! You can’t poison your way to health. You’ll just get worse on drugs like these. Avoid these at all costs.

A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (1990 v. 82) real women were given I3C, and lowered their estradiol (the most powerful and carcinogenic) levels 18% in a week! It also improved their entire estrogen metabolism. This was 27 years ago, and now we have DIM. DIM will do the same thing with only half the amount. This is the direct digestive metabolite of I3C. It is easy to test your estrogen levels, whether you are a man or a woman. Just buy an inexpensive ZRT saliva test kit. Women should test their estradiol, estrone, and estriol. Men only need to test their estradiol and estrone. The ranges are given with your results. Postmenopausal women and men want LOW normal results of 0.5 for E2 and 1.3 for E1, not normal results, for estradiol and estrone. Men use the post-menopausal range for women. Women want HIGH normal results for estriol, not normal results. It is rare for women to be low in estradiol or estrone, but all too common for them to be low in estriol. You can get a 0.25% (150 mg per 2 ounce jar) transdermal estriol cream (use a half gram) on the Internet for $20. Normal pharmacies do not sell it, nor can they order it. That's how backwards doctors are. Never take oral estriol!

High aromatase activity is the biological cause of excess estrogens. Read the article Androgen Resistance in our library. People with high aromatase activity cannot use testosterone, DHEA, pregnenolone, carnitines, carnosine, TMG, flax lignans, and many yet to be discovered supplements. Anti-aromatase drugs eventually end up stimulating aromatase activity. Even suicide aromatase inhibitors like Formestane and ATD backfire eventually. There is no cure for this, and probably won't be for another 20 years. Aromatase is a recently discovered mystery,  and we can't even draw the molecule.

Here are the basics:

   Low fat, high fiber diet

   Two meals a day- calorie restriction

   Exercise

   Basic hormone Balance

   Weekly fasting

   No alcohol, caffeine, recreational, or Rx drugs

   Weight loss (if needed)

   Proven supplements

Read Macrobiotics for Everyone. Read the article Seven Steps to Natural Health, and follow all seven steps faithfully. We have a free library at www.youngagain.org with 10 books, 150 articles, and 2 newsletters.