Ever since the book “Feminine Forever”, extolling the virtues of hormone replacement therapy, hit the shelves in the early 1960s, middle-aged pre and menopausal women and their OBGYNs have been clamoring over prescription estrogen as an anti-aging panacea. While it’s true the hormone is associated with youthful feminine beauty, as it turns out it’s also linked to inflammation, immune symptoms, weight gain, fibroids, cysts and even cancer.
One of the most important reasons for the toxicity associated with prescription estrogen is the fact that it’s usually not estrogen that’s being prescribed, but rather a super toxic drug version of the natural hormone. That’s why, in the past few years, so-called bio-identical estrogen has become all the rage. Products with names like Trieste or Biased are being used by women who are smart enough to want to avoid the purely pharmaceutical stuff.
Still, because estrogen concentrations fluctuate so much in the human body, it’s very difficult to dose the potent hormone accurately. The term identical or bio-identical is more about marketing than exactitude.
If you’re a woman looking to get estrogen effects without resorting to drugs and risking adverse reactions, you might want to experiment with phytoestrogens, which are plant versions of the human hormone. To be clear, phytoestrogens are not, molecularly speaking, the same as human estrogens.
Nonetheless, there are some benefits that can be accrued, without the risk of toxicity. Women interested in plant estrogens should look for herbal formulas that contain yam, Vitex, red clover, Dong Quai, licorice root and black or blue cohosh.
