Estrogen Dominance, Invite Health Podcast, Episode 603
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ESTROGEN DOMINANCE, INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 603
Hosted by Dr. Kayanne McDermott, ND.
*Intro Music*
InViteⓇ Health Podcast Intro: [00:00:04] Welcome to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast, where our degreed health care professionals are excited to offer you the most important health and wellness information you need to make informed choices about your health. You can learn more about the products discussed in each of these episodes and all that Invite Health has to offer at, www.invitehealth.com/podcast. First time customers can use promo code Podcast at checkout for an additional 15% off your first purchase. Let’s get started. † [00:00:34]
*Intro Music*
Kayanne McDermott, ND: [00:00:40] Estrogen Dominance, although not an official diagnosis, it is when the hormone estrogen level is relatively high compared to progesterone. Hi, my name is Kayanne McDermott, Naturopathic Doctor at Invite Health. Visit invitehealth.com/podcasts or you can find us anywhere you listen to podcasts. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Estrogen Dominance is something that’s very close to my heart. I’m very passionate about this topic, hence why I’m talking about it. And because I’ve come across so many women who have this experience and sometimes, they don’t know this is what it is. This is something that’s been around for generations and the generation before us didn’t even know what estrogen dominance was. So here am I, I want to talk about a little bit about it and I’ll probably do a series on Estrogen dominance. Anyway, so Estrogen plays many roles in the body. It participates in reproduction, preparing the female body for pregnancy, development of sperm, libido, estrogen contributes to cognitive, bone, and cardiovascular health, immune function and aging. † [00:01:38]
[00:01:39] For menstruating woman estrogen levels rises from a low to peak right before ovulation, then drops after ovulation, then rises again a little bit to a smaller peak after ovulation, then gradually decline through menses. In menopausal women, estrogen levels are much lower, increase in risk for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Estrogen is referred to as estrone, estradiol and estriol, estradiol being the most potent estrogen. Estrone and estradiol are both made in the ovaries. Both men and women can be exposed to types of estrogen, external types of estrogen, such as synthetic estrogens, such as birth controls, pills, hormone therapy, plant-based estrogen such as soybeans, red clover, flax seeds, and this is what they call phyto estrogen, right. Another term for phyto is plant, and xenoestrogen, which is the main one I want to focus on because we are all exposed to this. Xenoestrogens are pollutants made from man-made products that act as endocrine disrupting agents such as your body care products, laundry detergents, makeup, lipstick, your skincare, the nail polish, your cleaning agents that you use to clean your house, we’re so exposed to all these xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens can have estrogen like behavior made from industrial chemicals which can potentially promote hormone related cancers. Xenoestrogens have the ability to bind to estrogen receptors and modulate the expression of estrogen related genes. They can alter the activities of estrogen receptors, send false signals, disrupting the normal estrogen response. So, I’m sure many of you who are listening to me right now, you’ve used deodorants, you’ve used lotion, you’ve used hairspray, you have used lipstick, you have used makeup. Right? You drank from a plastic water bottle. Right? So, we’re exposed to so many of these things, so they actually change physiological functions promoting diseases, including cancer. Xenoestrogens include plastics such as bisphenol A, BPA, phthalates, flame retardants, pesticides. This is why it’s so important to have organic fruits and vegetables because they spray them with these pesticides and they now, when we consume them, they now become endocrine disrupting agents for us, right? Disrupting our hormones. They are in our perfumes, make up, hair care products, body washes, nail polish, hair dyes, soaps, etc.† [00:04:14]
[00:04:15] Conditions related to estrogen dominance are, but not limited to all of this is fibrocystic breast, endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome, fibroids, uterine polyps, menorrhagia, which is heavy periods, infertility or problems conceiving, amenorrhea, having no periods, dysmenorrhea, having painful periods, hypothyroidism, mood swings, low libido, fatigue, irritability, weight gain, water retention, insomnia, ovarian cysts, breast cancer. Right, that was a long list. You’ll be surprised that when you have estrogen dominance, these are some of the things that can that contributes to that, or this is what the results are because of estrogen dominance. What are some ways to manage estrogen dominance? First, you want to lower your stress levels. Stress can influence the availability of hormones needed, when cortisol is released, which is our stress hormone, this actually are made from precursors that include progesterone. Right. So, if there is too much cortisol, right, there’s this steal. Right. We’re having steals from our progesterone or other hormones. And then because it’s busy producing cortisol, right, so then that lowers our progesterone levels, so increased stress levels can be linked to lower progesterone levels. † [00:05:34]
ICYMI:THE GUT-ESTROGEN CONNECTION>>READ NOW!
[00:05:35] Exercise, you want to exercise, this can promote hormone balance and maintain healthy gut right and healthy weight, healthy circulation. You want to eat mostly anti-inflammatory diet, increased in omega threes from fish and flaxseeds. Right. You also want to have a high fiber diet. Fiber decreases the amount of estrogen absorbed and increases the amount of estrogen excreted. Eat a diet high in cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts to support estrogen metabolism. And also, you want to love on your greens, you want to support your liver because, support your liver with things like dandelion greens, leafy greens, milk thistle. You know, these are very helpful because our estrogen is actually metabolized in our liver. So, you want to love your liver by loving on your greens and your fiber. Support your liver a lot. †[00:06:28]
[00:06:30] One of the things I want to talk a little bit about is Indole-3-carbinol, with Dim, many do not know this, but I3Cw/DIM, I’m actually going to refer to as I3Cw/DIM. According to the Journal of Nutrition, Indole-3-Carbinol, is a negative regulator of estrogen by causing growth arrest and increase apoptosis, and it ameliorates the effects of estrogen. So, think about estrogen positive breast cancer, fibroids, cysts and so on. I would think that i3cw/dim and consuming brassica foods like your broccoli’s, your cabbages, your Brussels sprouts, your bok choys, you want to love on these vegetables, especially if you think you may be having some of the conditions I’ve mentioned before. I would think I3Cw/DIM, would be highly beneficial for someone with these. Our I3C w/DIM contains about 200 milligrams of indole-3-carbinol and 25 milligrams of Diindolemethane. So, you can do this at least one capsule three times a day. Okay. Another one I want to highlight is high lignan flax seed, flax or flaxseed powder. This contains alpha linoleic acid which is omega three fatty acid. It is very beneficial for someone actually with estrogen dominance. Flax seeds contain lignans, which is a type of phytoestrogen that can support the metabolism of estrogen by blocking estrogen signaling and lowering high blood levels of estrogen. † [00:08:00]
5 SIMPLE WAYS TO INCORPORATE ORGANIC FLAXSEED POWDER INTO YOUR DIET
[00:08:01] In the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, there was a study done where they took 24 mice, a set was induced with PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome. The positive control group received hydroalcoholic flax seeds for 30 days, the treatment group received flaxseed extract for seven weeks after being induced with PCOS. In the treatment group, progesterone levels were increased testosterone levels, were decreased compared to the PCOS control group. The number of cystic follicles decreased, and diameter of actual follicles decreased. So, flaxseeds are considered a functional food, so I would definitely, if I’m someone experiencing estrogen dominance, you definitely want to be make sure you’re taking flaxseed, you could take it in powder form to getting capsules and actually Invite Health, we do carry that. So, you can do the capsules where you do like two capsules a day with food, right? Twice a day with food. And then you can take the powder, put in your smoothie, make a delicious smoothie with it. So, flaxseeds are considered a functional food, consist of alpha linoleic acid of omega three, which is a polyunsaturated fatty acid which not only support hormone balancing but modulates the gut microbiome and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Invite Health High lignan flaxseed as I said contains about 300 milligrams per capsule, so two capsules twice a day can be very supportive. NAC, I’m sure a lot of you’ve heard of NAC, especially during COVID and all this stuff. Right. N-acetyl cysteine, which is derived from the amino acid L-Cysteine, which is mainly used for immune function and detoxification support. This actually increase the production of glutathione.† [00:09:41]
[00:09:42] Glutathione is a major antioxidant that our body produces. Right. But as we age, that can and also with environmental toxicity and the stress of the world and all this stuff can actually decrease the production, affect the production of glutathione. And this is very supportive for our liver. Remember I was saying earlier to love on your liver, because your liver is what processes your estrogen, right? So, you want to do NAC, which is great for cellular repair. So, taking one capsule three times a day can be very helpful for someone with estrogen dominance, including men. Okay, well, until next time, this is Kayanne McDermott, naturopathic doctor at InVite Health. You can listen to our podcast at www.invitehealth.com/podcast or anywhere you listen to podcasts. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers. Tag us with your favorite supplements. And I look forward to talking to you again soon. Bye. † [00:09:42]
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