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THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT NATURAL ESTROGEN
by Elora Gabriel

Since 1995, I have been writing about the positive benefits of natural estrogen and progesterone, as opposed to the dangers of synthetic hormones.  This article will recapitulate recent medical findings in this regard, and then go on to present several safe and highly effective choices for health conscious women.  It is my firm belief that women do not have to choose between heart attacks or cancer on the one hand; and hot flashes, mood swings, premature aging, and other symptoms of low hormone levels on the other.  Natural alternatives exist, and they go far beyond the commonly used remedies of using more soy products and herbs.  These alternatives are just as effective as the synthetics.  While nothing in this life is 100% safe, according to all the research and experience at my disposal, they are virtually free of both dangerous complications and uncomfortable side effects.

Millions of women are still reeling from the recent publicity regarding the dangers of commonly prescribed types of HRT.  A long-term study by the National Institutes of Health, in which 16,600 women using PremPro were monitored over a period of years, had to be halted because so many of the participants suffered life-threatening side effects.  An article by Lauran Neergaard (Washington AP) stated that:

"Government scientists abruptly ended the nation's biggest study of a type of hormone replacement therapy, saying long-term use of estrogen and progestin significantly increased the women's risk of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks.  Six million American women use this hormone combination, either for short-term relief of hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms or because of doctors' longstanding assumptions that long-term use would prevent heart disease and brittle bones and generally keep women healthier longer.  Two of those assumptions are wrong, the National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday.  In fact, years-long use of estrogen and progestin increased otherwise healthy women's risk of a stroke by 41 percent, a heart attack by 29 percent and breast cancer by 24 percent...  'We recommend that clinicians stop prescribing this combination for long-term use,' wrote Dr. Suzanne Fletcher of Harvard Medical School in an editorial accompanying the study results posted on the Web site of the Journal of the American Medical Association.  'Risks from the drug add up over time.'"

I was personally unsurprised at the results of this study.  I am only relieved that, at last, the dangers of synthetic HRT have come out in the open.  Why, indeed, should it be such a revelation to us that if women take hormones which are completely unnatural for our bodies, side effects will not only be unpleasant but dangerous?  Hormones directly or indirectly control all of our body processes.  It is surely of urgent importance to make sure that we get the very best and safest in hormonal support.

Let's take a moment to look at PremPro, the popular HRT combination used in the study.  PremPro is a combination of Premarin and Provera.  Premarin is composed of horse estrogens.  It is also largely estrone, one of the more dangerous and cancer-causing types of estrogen.  As Dr. Jonathan Wright (a leading holistic authority from Kent, WA) says, "The next time I see a menopausal horse, I will be happy to prescribe Premarin, a horse estrogen!"  And let me add here that anyone who loves animals would never touch Premarin if she knew how this drug was obtained.

Now let's return to the question of estrogen.  As menopause approaches, estrogen deficiency makes itself known in the all too familiar symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disorders, mood swings, and vaginal dryness. Other symptoms could include fatigue, rapid skin aging, joint pains, dizziness, bladder problems, crawling sensations on skin and scalp, or severe depression.   The emotional changes that accompany hormonal deficiency can be particularly difficult.  

Supplementing with estrogen turns all of these symptoms around.  Hot flashes and night sweats disappear; moods return to normal; mental clarity increases; sleep quality improves; the skin becomes moist and more youthful; and so on.  Estrogen also slows bone loss.  And in my opinion, it probably does protect the cardiovascular system, if taken in a natural form and particularly when not taken with synthetic progesterones which are so dangerous to the heart and arteries.

Estrogen has had some bad press, but in my opinion this is almost entirely due either to the use of synthetic estrogens, or taking estrogen without progesterone.  In fact, estrogen is so vital to the health and well-being of women that its absence not only accelerates aging, but can cause a malaise whose intensity is only believable to those who have experienced it.  I have spoken to many women over the years who were literally suicidal, simply from lack of estrogen.  These women were often prescribed anti-depressants when all they needed was a natural boost to their hormone levels.  Too much estrogen is certainly no better than too much of anything else; but this hormone, in the right amount, is the juice of life for the female body.   How, then, do we obtain the benefits of estrogen without its downsides?  Based upon a decade of research and counseling women, I believe there are two major choices.

1) Phytoestrogens.  These substances are estrogenic compounds which occur naturally in plants such as soy, black cohosh, dong quai, licorice root, etc.  In countries where large amounts of phytoestrogens are consumed, women suffer very few menopausal symptoms.  Phytoestrogens differ remarkably from synthetic estrogens in that they are easily broken down, are not stored in the tissues and spend very little time in the body, thus they are unlikely to cause cancer.   And because humans have spent millions of years eating plants and herbs, our bodies easily accept plant estrogens and find them both effective and beneficial.

Phytoestrogens appear to exert a natural balancing action in the body.  If estrogen is low, phytoestrogens will increase estrogen activity in the body.  When estrogen levels are high, phytoestrogens will compete for estrogen receptor sites, causing a decrease in the estrogen effects.  The result is a chemoprotecting action.  Numerous studies have indicated that high intake of phytoestrogenic substances may reduce the risk of breast cancer. 

Many women have turned to soy products as a source of phytoestrogens.  Large amounts of soy may not be appropriate for every woman however, particularly those who are hypothyroid.  Fortunately, we have numerous other sources of phytoestrogens.  I personally like Feminine Balance Plus (no longer available...see our EST and Progestacare Plus products), a combination gel which contains phytoestrogens from black cohosh along with natural progesterone.  Many women may have tried phytoestrogen products but found the results to be disappointing.  These products vary greatly in their effectiveness and many are weak or poorly formulated.  At The Green Willow Tree we have spent many years locating natural estrogen creams and tablets which really work, even for the woman who has had a total hysterectomy.

2) Tri and bi-estrogen.  Other forms of natural, user-friendly estrogen are also available.  In order to explain this next section, we need a short lesson on this hormone.  There are actually three major forms of estrogen in the female body.  They are called estradiol, estrone, and estriol. The commonly prescribed forms of estrogen are universally made of estradiol, estrone, or combinations of the two.  For example, Premarin is largely estrone, Estrace and Estraderm are estradiol, and so on.  Estradiol and estrone are very potent estrogens, and they both have a stimulating effect upon the cells of the breast and uterine lining.  It is this effect which can eventually lead to cancer.

However, there is a third type of estrogen--called estriol--which is often called "the forgotten estrogen" because it has been overlooked in favor of its more dangerous cousins.  Estriol is the estrogen which dominates during pregnancy, and it has a much less stimulating effect on the breast and uterine lining than estradiol and estrone.  In fact, estradiol is 1000 times more stimulating to the breast tissue than is estriol, according to leading authority Dr. John R. Lee of Sebastopol, CA.   Estrone is considered even more risky, and is believed to be the estrogen most responsible for breast cancer.  Since PremPro contains mostly estrone (and horse estrone at that) we can now understand the frightening results of the study discussed at the beginning of this article. 

The most exciting thing about estriol is the fact that not only does it not promote breast cancer, but considerable evidence exists to show that it protects against this disease.  In 1978, Alvin H. Follingstead, M.D., wrote an article for the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for the use of estriol instead of estrone and estradiol.  In support of his position, he cited a group of postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer.  When given small doses of estriol, 37% of the women experienced either a remission or a complete arrest of the metastasized lesions!  In 1966, H. M. Lemon, M.D. demonstrated that women with breast cancer have lowered estriol levels.  Later, he showed that women without breast cancer had naturally higher estriol levels (compared to estrone and estradiol) than those with breast cancer.

Dr. Julian Whitaker, well known author and publisher of the Health and Healing newsletter, says that "estriol's anti-cancer effect is thought to be due to its anti-estrone characteristics.  It apparently blocks the stimulatory effect of estrone on the breast."  Estriol is weaker than other types of estrogen, appears to have very little effect on bone density.  Therefore, for most women a blend of estriol with small amounts of the more potent estrogens seems to be ideal.  Dr. Jonathan Wright, mentioned above, has been experimenting with the use of estriol since the early 1980's.  He created a formula called "tri-estrogen" which contains 10% estradiol, 10% estrone, and 80% estriol.  Dr. Wright determined that this is the ratio of estrogens naturally occurring in a young woman's body.  This formula has been found by Dr. Wright to rapidly alleviate the symptoms of menopause without amplifying the danger of breast cancer.  Women who have tried it find it gentle, effective, and free of unpleasant side effects.  Tri-estrogen is also believed to be more effective against osteoporosis than pure estriol.

A new refinement on tri-estrogen is bi-estrogen, composed of 80% estriol and 20% estradiol. The rationale for bi-estrogen is that estradiol converts into estrone in the body, so there is no need to supplement with this type of estrogen at all.  Opinions vary as to which is better. I like both products and believe that bi and tri-estrogen are infinitely superior to Premarin and virtually all other prescription estrogens. 

If you would like a prescription for bi or tri-estrogen, you can ask your doctor to telephone a compounding pharmacy, such as the Women's International Pharmacy at 1-800-279-5708.  

Women have been misinformed and mis-treated for decades with harmful, synthetic hormones, a chemical cocktail which has resulted in untold suffering for many.  It has become something of a mission for me to educate my sisters to the fact that many wonderful alternatives do exist.  With natural hormones, we really can have our cake and eat it too. 

The information in this article is for educational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice.