Natural Hormone Balance Vs. Dangerous Synthetic Hormone Drugs

Like all drugs, synthetic hormone drugs impose serious health risks. Estrogen drugs are known to greatly increase the risk of heart attack, cancer, and stroke. One of the main reasons these drugs carry such serious risks and side effects is that the form of estrogen the drugs contain cannot be properly metabolized by the body. Instead of being excreted from the body, the excess estrogen builds up, causing breast tumors, breast lumps, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, and endometriosis.

Pharmaceutical companies make most of the estrogen products on the market today. The objective is to produce a formula which can be patented. The patent defines the product, which is then promoted to doctors. Because the product never changes, insurance companies can give it a D.A.E. Number, and then negotiate a price. In other words, "it fits the system." For women, it means "one size must fit all." For horses (the drug Premarin comes from pregnant mare urine), it means several excruciating months in a barn stall with a catheter stuck in her bladder. Synthetic estrogen drugs are based primarily on the aggressive Estradiol (E2), and provide a simple approach for dealing with the major symptoms of menopause. This approach also produces complications and side effects such as: headaches, muscle cramps, fatigue, and an increased risk of cancer & heart disease. As a result, statistics indicate that less than 40% of patients continue using these prescribed drugs beyond one year.

What many people don't realize is that there is a safer, better way to balance hormones - naturally with phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogen is estrogen found in certain plants such as the soybean, that mimics the estrogen produced by the human body. When phytoestrogen come in contact with the bacteria of the body's digestive tract, they are converted from a plant estrogen into an estrogen form the body can use. The body only converts the amount it needs at that time, so there is no danger of getting too much estrogen. This perfect design of nature makes plant estrogen much safer than synthetic estrogen alternatives.

Estrogen has many important functions in the body. It promotes the development of female secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts, and is also involved in the thickening of the endometrium and other aspects of regulating the menstrual cycle. In males estrogen regulates certain functions of the reproductive system important to the maturation of sperm and may be necessary for a healthy libido. Estrogen also has an important role in the balance of fluid and cholesterol levels, protein synthesis, bone formation, and the maintenance of vessels and skin.

Upon entering the body, the phytoestrogen is programmed (by nature) to occupy any available estrogen receptors. Estrogen receptors exist in many cells throughout the body (both female and male), and act as on/off switches. When estrogen comes across an estrogen receptor, it fits into the receptor similar to how a key fits in a lock. This turns the switch "on" activating a process inside the body, commonly cell growth and replication. If the cell happens to be a cancer cell, then that cancer cell starts reproducing and spreading. The stronger the particular estrogen, the more intense and rapid this "on switch" reaction is.

The estrogen naturally produced inside the body is fairly strong estrogen. The "bad" forms of estrogen, like that commonly found in automobile exhaust, pesticides, aerosol sprays, non-organic meat and milk products, is also strong estrogen. However, a phytoestrogen is weak estrogen. These weaker forms of estrogen still fit in the lock (estrogen receptors of our cells), but unlike the bad estrogen, these weaker forms of estrogen don't activate excessive cell growth and duplication. When you keep a constant supply of this weaker phytoestrogen in your body, the estrogen receptors remain occupied, so normal cell functioning takes place. The dangerous estrogen compounds have no receptors to attach themselves to, and are continually excreted from the body. This makes phytoestrogen a safe & effective way to balance hormones.

Some foods that contain phytoestrogen include: soy products, millet, flax seed, rye, and barley. The bonus to adding these phytoestrogen-rich foods to the daily diet are that the foods containing phytoestrogen properties are also nutritious and disease-fighting. Some herbs that contain phytoestrogen include: black cohosh, red clover, motherwort, wild yam, and licorice root.

Before opting for the dangerous hormone therapy a doctor prescribes, a woman is wise to try natural methods first. Many women successfully balance their hormones through menopause, after hysterectomy, and throughout their lives by way of phytoestrogen in foods and herbs, exercise, and lifestyle changes. Avoiding synthetic hormone drugs could protect you from developing cancer and heart disease, as well as the long list of side effects associated with these drugs.