One nutritional supplement that is been touted to improve the ratio is indole-3-carbinole (I3C). However, I’ve recently learned that the safety claims about I3C may not be true. In fact, this popular supplement may have significant and hidden dangers. You need to know about it is problems.
I3C does improve the 2 to 16 ratio by generating more beneficial 2-hydroxy estrogen. However, that is not where the trouble lies.
I3C also causes your body to produce a third estrogen byproduct called 4-hydroxy estrogen. This byproduct is definitely one of the bad guys. In fact, it could be the worst! Its the most toxic of the estrogen byproducts. Far more toxic than 16-hydroxy estrogen.
This 4-hydroxy estrogen prevents cells from dying when they become abnormal. Such cells can further degenerate to cancer. In fact, 4-hydroxy estrogen can sit in one spot and spin out massive amounts of highly inflammatory and toxic free-radicals. This is possibly why women get more autoimmune disease than men (they have more estrogen to convert to 4-hydroxy estrogen).
In this way, I3C acts very similar to the xenobiotics mentioned earlier. We know that these man-made poisons often have a super hormone-like impact on sensitive tissues, such as in the breast, prostate, or uterus. If these toxins were left alone by your body, they might not be so bad. But when your body naturally tries to get rid of them, it has to produce an enzyme that attempts to detoxify the poisons. However, this same enzyme also generates large amounts of 4-hydroxy estrogen.
An example of how this works is the trouble we had with estrogen-loaded oral contraceptives when they came on the market many years ago. Shortly after they first appeared, we saw a lot of women smokers suffer from unexpected blood clots. The excess estrogen from the contraceptives coupled with the smoke (man-made poison) caused these womens bodies to create the enzyme that produces 4-hydroxy estrogen. The combination of estrogen and smoke created a time bomb in their bodies.
Whether you are a man or woman, taking I3C could create the exact same problem — too much 4-hydroxy estrogen. The resulting inflammation will greatly increase your risk of developing vascular or other problems.
And conventional medicine does not understand the problem and does not have a clue about treatment. But there is a lot you can do about it.
Action to Take: Obviously, if you have been using I3C, you have cause for concern. That is why I am now telling all my patients (and readers) to stop using it. Yes, I3C can be used in specific circumstances. The best use of I3C is to fight the papilloma virus, which causes growths on the larynx, and genital and skin warts. That is probably why I3C is so successful in treating abnormal growths in the cervix. Cancer of the cervix is now accepted to be a venereal disease caused by HPV (human papilloma virus).
Studies show you need 300-400 mg of I3C daily to change estrogen to the 2-hydroxy form. But 300-400 mg of I3C increases your risk of developing 4-hydroxy estrogen and the health problems that come with it. So using it for any reason carries significant potential side effects.
Incidentally, you do not have to take just my word on I3C. I recently spoke with Dr. H. Leon Bradlow. He is the Rockefeller University scientist who discovered the 2/16 estrogen modulating effects of I3C some 15 years ago and is considered the foremost expert on the subject.
Dr. Bradlow took I3C himself at the time of his studies stating, I would not want to give any of my human subjects something I would not take myself. But I would not ever take it again with the latest information. I3C is an ‘at risk compound if taken long term. There is indisputable evidence that 4-hydroxy estrogen is a human carcinogen. 4-hydroxy estrogen spontaneously forms semiquinones, which can directly damage DNA…. Even years ago, the National Cancer Institute held up funding for I3C studies due to FDA concerns over it is safety.
Do we have all the evidence we need to say this supplement definitely causes disease? Probably not. But if you couple the information of Dr. Bradlow with the indisputable evidence that 4-hydroxy estrogen is a human carcinogen (of which I3C is a major producer), you have all the reason you need to avoid this supplement.
The good news is there is a supplement that prevents most of these unwanted estrogen effects. Its one of the most important supplements I’ve ever used. It has none of the negatives of I3C, all of the positives, and so much more. It can help prevent all hormone-related cancers, many heart problems, and many inflammatory diseases, including arthritis. In fact, it is a supplement that I consider a must take for everyone. And Ill tell you all about it in next months issue.
Ref: Toxicol Sci., 2001 December;64(2):162-8.
A womans uterus is designed to deal with normal estrogen by way of her monthly period, which sheds estrogen stimulated cells. With menopause, her body decreases it is production of estrogen because her estrogen-producing egg follicles are all gone.
When a woman is exposed to too much estrogen, it creates a situation called estrogen dominance, which causes a whole host of problems. With estrogen dominance, cells stop dying (which is what cells are supposed to do as they age and become abnormal) and continue to divide uncontrollably. This can eventually lead to cancer.
Aside from cancer, estrogen dominance has other problems. Its related to mid-life obesity, PMS, recurrent breast pain, endometriosis, fibroids, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. For men, excess estrogen is now widely considered the likely culprit in prostate disease.
Estrogen dominance is caused by several factors. Age and obesity are the most common. As we age and gain weight, an unwanted enzyme found in fatty tissue called aromatase becomes more prevalent in our body. This enzyme captures precious testosterone, already in decline with age, and spits it back out as estrogen. That is why you are hearing a lot about aromatase-inhibitor drugs in estrogen-related breast cancer. Inhibiting the enzyme reduces testosterone conversion to estrogen. The best way to keep that enzyme in check is to keep lean and get plenty of exercise!
Another cause of estrogen dominance is genetics. Each of us has genetic factors that contribute to the development of estrogen-related cancers. In part, these factors are greatly magnified by your exposure to xenobiotics.
Xenobiotics are man-made poisons. They are everywhere in our environment, including the food chain. They include chlorinated hydrocarbons and pesticides, which can have powerful estrogen-like effects on your body that are far stronger than your natural estrogens.
Regardless of where the estrogen comes from, your body has to get rid it. To do so, the liver has to go through a biochemical process called hydroxylation. When the liver hydroxylates estrogen, it creates various types of estrogen byproducts.
There are many of these estrogen byproducts (rather than naming all of them, we typically refer to them by their hydroxyl position in the estrogen chain). Some are dangerous and some are beneficial. For instance, scientists and doctors typically pay attention to two of them: the 2 and 16 positions (a.k.a. 2-hydroxy estrogen and 16-hydroxy estrogen). The 2-hydroxy estrogen is considered beneficial. It works to cause normal cell death (called apoptosis), which prevents cancer.
On the other hand, 16-hydroxy estrogen causes cancer and inflammation. (Just remember that 2 is good and 16 is bad.)
Many labs measure the ratio of 2-hydroxy to 16- hydroxy estrogens to help assess your disease risk. A good ratio is 2:1. If the ratio is lower, you are at greater risk of cancer and any number of inflammatory diseases.
You already know that hormone-related cancers (breast, prostate, uterine, and ovarian) are epidemic. You also know autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases are rampant. If you, a friend, or a loved one has any of these diseases, you know how devastating they are.
But what you may not know is that there is growing evidence a popular supplement can fuel these diseases. That is right! Researchers are finding this supplement may actually contribute to cancer or make autoimmune diseases even worse. In fact, the supplement could be in your kitchen cabinet.
Researchers from Texas A&M University showed in 1996 that this supplement damaged the testicular lining cells of male rats. At one-fifth the usual human dose, the rats had reduced sperm production and cellular damage.
Another group of researchers showed ovarian damage in rats when exposed to the supplement at 10 times the usual human dose.
And in 1994, Dr. Midori Yoshida, who is a top cancer researcher for the Sasaki Institute in Tokyo, Japan, published a study demonstrating that this same popular supplement can induce endometrial cancer (cancer on the inside of the uterus) in animals. While all of these studies were done on animals, there is good reason to believe humans may find similar trouble with this supplement. Let me explain.
As we have already established, cancers of the breast, prostate, uterus, and ovaries are predominantly caused by abnormal hormone activity. Even many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases are influenced by hormonal abnormalities.
Your body makes a lot of hormones. When you put food, drinks, supplements, drugs, or anything else into your body, it affects these hormones. You already know that the type of food you eat will determine how much insulin (a hormone) your body produces to metabolize the food. Well, insulin and other hormones respond to every stimulus we put in our body.
Hormones are tricky to work with. They are absolutely required for the body to function properly. But if you have too much or too little, they can cause significant problems. Take the thyroid hormone for instance. Too little causes hypothyroidism. Too much causes hyperthyroidism. Neither of which are desirable conditions.
One of the trickiest hormones to work with is estrogen. Estrogen is required for many bodily functions, especially the sexual and reproductive functions in women. Both men and women require estrogen, though, just in different proportions. However, we now know that excess estrogen causes cancer.
If you are troubled with hot flashes and do not want to take an extract of horse urine (Premarin), I’ve got some great news. One of my favorite foods, flaxseed, was just found to curb troubling hot flashes.
Dr. Lorraine Turner reported her findings at the annual symposium sponsored by the Breast Cancer Therapy and Research Center. She took 85 postmenopausal women who experienced at least five hot flashes or night sweats per 24 hours. The women were provided with 40 grams of flaxseed food supplements or placebo for three months. Then they switched to the opposite treatment.
The average number of hot flashes dropped by 38% during flaxseed supplementation. The placebo had no significant effect. Interestingly, the decline of hot flashes correlated with a rise in urinary lignans. Lignans found in flaxseed are a type of phyotestrogen, which reduces hot flashes. These lignans are also associated with prostate health in men.
The researchers also noted that a key pituitary hormone, FSH, fell with flaxseed supplementation. FSH is the hormone that stimulates your ovaries to make estrogen. Less FSH means that the safe flaxseed phytoestrogens are, in part, satisfying estrogen needs. Further, there were no problems with the participants thyroid function. Soy products are used for postmenopausal symptoms. However, many believe soy isoflavones may contribute to hypothyroidism. Flaxseed will spare you of such potential problems.
Be sure to get golden flax from the northern high plains. Its much richer in the valuable omega-3 oils. Golden flax is available in health food stores and on the Internet. My wife, Terri, and I consume lots of ground flaxseed. We toss several tablespoons of flaxseed into a coffee grinder. It grinds it up into a fine powder, which we sprinkle on our salads. While we use the product marketed by Goldenflax4U. There are many outstanding products on the market.
