Cause and Effect of Estrogen Dominance

For too long, women have dealt with the effect of imbalanced hormones. New studies show that multiple female-related illnesses, such as PMS, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and the early onset of menopause have a common thread called estrogen dominance.

The two primary female hormones are estrogen and progesterone.They work together to maintain a hormonal balance for woman. Too much of one hormone or the other can lead to significant medical problems. Estrogen is a pro-growth hormone, meaning it is responsible for and signals the body to begin the physical changes associated with puberty and continues to trigger hormonal changes throughout a woman’s lifetime.

Too much of anything is generally not good, so progesterone helps to balance all of the changes that estrogen triggers. For example, estrogen stimulates breast cysts while progesterone protects against breast cysts. Estrogen enhances salt and water retention while progesterone is a natural diuretic. Estrogen has been associated with breast and endometrial cancers, while progesterone has a cancer preventive effect.

Estrogen dominance symptoms are often overlooked, such as anxiety, breast tenderness, digestive issues, food cravings and irregular bleeding. The good news is those women have the ability to control some of the factors that are associated with high estrogen levels. Five common causes of higher levels of estrogen include excess body fat, alcohol consumption, caffeine intake, birth control and animal products.

With excess body fat, more estrogen is created. Also, high estrogen levels cause body to make more fat.

Alcohol has a well-established link with high estradiol and estrone levels. These are both associated with estrogen dominance and hormonal cancers.

Caffeine stimulates adrenal glands causing them to release stress hormones. Regular consumption can exhaust these glands and cause them to stop producing certain hormones such as insulin which can lead to inflammation. This increases oxidative stress and the reduction of testosterone and progesterone.

Birth control floods the body with synthetic estrogen and the body then metabolizes this into harmful versions. Birth control also suppresses the production of progesterone which is needed to keep estrogen levels normal.

Consuming animal products can expose you to between 10,000-1,000,000 times more estrogen molecules. Also, fats found in animal products increase conversion of good estrogen in the more harmful forms.

These are five common causes that are easily overlooked but can also be avoided. It may be time to take matters into your own hands. If you think you may be suffering from estrogen dominance, take time to have your hormone levels checked. Kare Health and Wellness can check your hormone levels and offers a variety of hormone services that are specific to each patient’s needs.