Nutritional Supplements for Estrogen Dominance

July 24, 2004

Perimenopause

Nutritional Supplements for Estrogen Dominance

In addition to your dietary program, the

following supplements can help to reduce estrogen levels.

• Soy isoflavones — 50 to 100

  mg of soy isoflavones as food and in pill form.

• Bioflavonoids

  — 750 to 2,000 mg per day.

• Flaxseed oil or ground flax meal

  — 1 to 2 tbsp of flaxseed oil; or 4 to 6 tbsp ground flax

  meal mixed into cereals and shakes.

• Vitamin B-complex

  — 25 to 100 mg daily assists the liver in detoxifying estrogen.

• Herbs such as turmeric (400-500

  mg two to three times a day), or dandelion (150-500 mg

  daily) or milk thistle standardized extract (150-175 mg

  one to three times a day) and amino acids like L-methionine

  (200-1,000 mg) or L-cysteine (200 mg twice a day) also

  promote healthy liver detoxification.

• Oat or rice bran for fiber (1-2

  tbsp per day in 8-12 oz water).

Soy isoflavones have estrogen-like

effects similar to your own estrogen, but in a much weaker and less

toxic form. According to a 1992 study published in Lancet,

women in Japan, who regularly eat a more soy-based diet than American

women, are rarely troubled by such menopausal symptoms as hot flashes.

Soy isoflavones interfere with estrogen production and prevent the

hormone from binding to tissue receptors.

Bioflavonoids, found in the peel and

pulp of citrus fruits and buckwheat, are weakly estrogenic and can

be used as a safe, nontoxic substitute for estrogen. Many studies

have shown that bioflavonoids and vitamin C in combination also

strengthen blood vessels and thereby reduce heavy menstrual bleeding.

Essential fatty acids are critical

for reproductive health and must be supplied by diet. They can be

found in fish, nuts and seeds, but the most effective source of

fatty acids I’ve found are flaxseeds.

Ground whole flaxseeds and cold-pressed

organic, rich, golden flaxseed oil are also excellent sources of

the two essential oils, linoleic acid (omega-6 fatty acids) and

linolenic acid (omega-3 fatty acids). Flax oil is weakly estrogenic.

Flaxseeds are rich in lignans—part of the seed’s cellular structure.

When ingested, these lignans are broken down by intestinal bacteria

to weakly estrogenic substances. Flaxseeds are 100 times richer

in lignans than any other plants. (Caution: the seeds must be ground

into flax meal to release the fatty acids and lignans that deliver

the health benefits.)

Flax lignans both reduce your production

of estrogen and compete with your own more potent estrogen for tissue

receptors. In addition, flax oil is a rich source of omega-6 and

omega-3 fatty acids that your body converts to the series 1 and

3 prostaglandins.

Read More on Perimenopause:

Getting Started

Quiz: Is it Menopause or Perimenopause

Undoing Estrogen Dominance

Estrogen and Progesterone Are Normally

Balanced

Checklist for Estrogen Dominance

Keep it SIMPLE Tip — Acupressure for Insomnia

Nutritional Therapies

Diet for Combating Estrogen Dominance

Nutritional Supplements for Estrogen

Dominance

Nutritional Supplements to Promote Progesterone

Production

Other Power Supplements for Perimenopause

Complementary Therapies

The Pump