From the Doctor’s Desk: Salivary Hormone Testing Backed by Science
Saliva testing for hormones first appeared in the medical research literature in the early 1980′s. Salivary testing is becoming the testing method of choice for many reasons including: 
- Saliva testing evaluates the “free” (active) hormone levels. A hormone has to be unbound to elicit a physiologic action. Saliva testing looks at the active hormone inside the cell, at the site of action. Saliva testing has been validated as a testing method for measuring the hormones cortisol, estradiol, progesterone, DHEA, and testosterone to name a few.
- Saliva testing requires no needles.
- Saliva testing has been shown to be well validated and superior than blood, with sensitivities and specificities exceeding 100% and 97.4% respectively. Other than perfection, you can’t get much better than that.
- According to the National Institute for Health, saliva testing is useful in “detecting various cancers, heart disease, diabetes, periodontal disease…”
- Saliva testing is also useful in disease evaluation. Saliva testing of cortisol has been recommended as the first-line test for Cushing’s syndrome due to “high diagnostic accuracy.”
Testing hormones through saliva is backed by science. But don’t take my word for it. In fact, it’s well supported in medical literature and is the right thing to do. Below are links to several abstracts regarding salivary hormone testing. Read them for yourself and learn about the science behind this form of hormone testing.
- Belkien LD, Bordt J, Moller P, Hano R, Nieschlag E. Estradiol in saliva for monitoring follicular stimulation in an in vitro fertilization program. Fertil Steril 1985;44:322.
- Bolaji II, Tallon DF, O’Dwyer E, Fottrell PF. Assessment of bioavailability of oral micronized progesterone using a salivary progesterone enzymeimmunoassay. Gynecol Endocrinol 1993;7:101-110.
- Campbell BC, Ellison PT. Menstrual variation in salivary testosterone among regularly cycling women. Horm Res 1992;37:132-136.
- Aardal-Eriksson E, Karlberg BE, Holm AC. Salivary cortisol- and alternative to serum cortisol determinations in dynamic function tests. Clin Chem Lab Med 1998;36:215-222.
These articles are published in well-respected journals; and if you notice, they are not recent. Salivary testing of hormones has been well published in the medical literature for some time now.
Here are a few quotes from these studies:
- “…salivary cortisol may be used as an alternative parameter in dynamic endocrine tests.”
- “…assessment of ovarian function…can be performed precisely with the saliva estradiol assay.”
- “…saliva collection has provided the medical and research community with an excellent medium for the monitoring of plasma steroid levels.”
Nowhere else in medicine do we blindly treat people without assessing a baseline and post treatment level(s). Balance is the key; not one individual hormone. Unfortunately, the medical field is very slow to learn and change.
For more information about salivary testing, read Evaluating Hormones Requires More Than Just a Blood Test.
New Perspectives On Hormone Balance Ahead
Perspective. It affects everything. Take, for example, the beauty of the earth. Some might look at the magnificence of the earth and think of Darwinian theory. But as I stand in my back yard, I am amazed by God’s creation. When I look out of the window on my many plane flights, I am amazed by God’s creation. And when I see the perspective from space as seen by astronauts, I am still amazed at God’s creation.
Perspective colors the way we see everything around us. For those, like myself, who believe in the God of creation, I view the world a certain way. And for those who choose to believe otherwise, they view the world a certain way.
Perspective is an important part of the medical world as well. As technology improves, the amount of information available to me as a physician changes the way I treat my patients because I now have more data than I’ve had in the past helping me make a better decision.
So, let’s talk about how perspective is an important part of evaluating hormones! (And you thought the only important perspective about hot flashes was “where’s the air conditioner”!)
If men were only about testosterone and women were only about estrogen, life would be easy and all would be symptom free. Unfortunately, that is, in a nutshell, the current perspective on treatment of hormone imbalance issues. It is not, however, an accurate perspective based on physiology. Just watch an hour of TV in the evening. The pharmaceutical companies are inundating us with ads about testosterone creams and the like. Regardless of clever marketing, looking at the reality of physiology based on the latest testing methods reveals that hormones are a lot more complicated than treating the level of just one hormone.
When it comes to hormones, there are four important components necessary for physiologic function and symptom-free living.
- Hormone levels need to be in the “normal” range. We don’t need the respective hormone levels too high or too low.
- Hormones need to be balanced. This is where many in the medical field get it wrong since all hormones work together to communicate to the body.
- Your body needs to effectively use the hormones present. Hormone metabolism is a key element in evaluating hormones in the body.
- Hormone receptors must appropriately respond to the signal sent by the hormone to your body.
The past (and current) perspective of the medical community is that the absolute levels of individual hormones are what is important and little attention is given to balance between hormones. Very little attention is given to the balance between hormones. For example, women, post-hysterectomy, are prescribed estrogen only. But we know that prior to the hysterectomy, all hormones are needed for a normal, functioning cycle, not just estrogen alone.
Some of the risks associated with estrogen therapy pertains to how the individual metabolizes or detoxifies the estrogen. Hormone metabolism can be affected by internal factors like genetic variations, or SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), located in the detoxification pathways. These are small genetic coding errors. Hormone metabolism can also be affected by external factors such as magnesium and zinc, co-factors in those same internal detoxification pathways of hormone production and metabolism. Just the presence of the detoxification pathways does not a functional detoxification pathway make.
Finally, and the purpose of this post, are the receptors. Hormone receptors determine how the hormone’s signal to the body is then interpreted. Here’s an analogy to help you understand hormone receptors. I have four beautiful children. As with any parent, getting them to clean their room is an ongoing battle. The signal I give them is a verbal instruction such as “Kids, it’s time to get your rooms cleaned.” How that signal is interpreted is quite different. That signal may be interpreted differently based on the environment or pre-existing conditions. If my children are in one of their “moods” (side note: all four of my kids are redheads), then they may just not clean their rooms out of defiance. There is a reason we call the youngest one “the spicy tomato.”
All this to illustrate one important fact — how the signal is interpreted is just as important as the signal that is to be interpreted.
Scientifically speaking, hormone receptors are defined as “a large family of ligand-activated nuclear transcription regulators, which are characterized by organization into different functional domains and are conserved, to differing degrees, between species and family members.”
Was that as clear as mud? In plain English, hormone receptors are how the external signal, hormones, provide to the internal genome a message to turn genes on or off. There is also non-genomic signaling, but a large portion of signaling is actually done with your DNA. This is what hormones do — interact and turn on and off the expression of your DNA. Pretty amazing, huh? And you just thought hormones floated through your blood causing hot flashes in women or ED in men. That is the way most, including physicians, see hormones. However, that just couldn’t be more further from the truth. There’s so much more to it than that.
Hormone receptors are being used in the medical vocabulary today. If you know someone with breast cancer, you might be familiar with the term ER/PR positive or negative. This is in reference to estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors. This evaluation occurs from an actual tissue sample from the tumor itself and allows the medical team to determine the best course of action for that particular individual. In ER/ PR positive tumors, hormone therapy is used in contrast with ER/PR negative tumors where no hormone therapy is used.
The medical community is addressing the realities of hormone receptors and the role they play in disease. But what about those individuals with hormone imbalance symptoms like hot flashes or erectile dysfunction? Stay tuned. This testing hasn’t made it to the clinical setting yet, but animal testing holds great promise in helping to complete the full picture and improve the perspective that we have on hormones and all their related issues and factors.
Hormone receptors are my current area of research, and I’m writing articles on estrogen, progesterone, and androgen (male hormones) receptors as part of that research. Visit the Seasons Wellness Clinic blog often in the upcoming months so that YOU can become more educated on the body’s communication system — hormone and their receptors.
Yes, Virginia, There Are Zombies About
It is a Thriller night. “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand…”
Dr. Nathan Goodyear
It seems everywhere you turn, there are zombies on the move. There are zombie TV commercials, zombie games, zombie novels (the best I have read, by the way, is an unpublished zombie book written by my brother), and even dancing zombies. Michael Jackson showed us how well zombies can dance – better than myself, I might add.
But, of course, zombies are not a part of reality. Who really believes a soul-less human exists, a living body moving about but devoid of the qualities such as a conscience that make us human? Zombies just live in the world of fiction, right? Or do they?
I think, perhaps, the zombies we encounter today are different than those of Hollywood. Maybe zombies don’t roam earth terrorizing whole cities, but there are many who have become emotionless and mindless individuals, none the less. These zombies are just a product of the current medical paradigm, a point of view that works for the disease model of medicine but fails in a health-and-wellness model.
A recent analysis by Medco Health Solutions, Inc. revealed that 1 in 5 Americans take prescription medications commonly used to treat psychiatric and mood disorders. That statistic is even worse for women. One in 4 women take the same prescribed medications. The majority of those mood-altering medications are anti-depressants, with 20 percent of American women on some type of anti-depressant. According to the CDC, the use of anti-depressants has increased 400 percent over the last two decades, with the fastest-growing age group being middle-aged women. The question we need to ask is this: do 20 percent of American women need antidepressant therapy?
Even the bravest among us, our military, are not immune to this trend. The Army’s 5th Mental Health Advisory Team revealed that 12 percent of combat troops in Iraq and 17 percent of combat troops in Afghanistan are on prescription anti-depressants and sleeping pills.
As bad as the numbers appear for psychiatric medications, prescribed painkillers are the fastest growing addiction today. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the abuse of painkillers increased by 400 percent from 1998 to 2008. Prescription opiate abuse results in 13,000 deaths per year. In Toronto, oxycodone prescriptions increased by over 850 percent from 1991 to 2004. In the same time period, there was a 500 percent increase in deaths due to oxycodone. Prescription drugs account for an estimated 38,000 deaths annually. These numbers are staggering.
Don’t get me wrong. The purpose of this post is not to bash the use of these types of prescription medications. I am, however, strongly opposed to their misuse and abuse. For many people, these medications can and do change their lives. However, should that number be 20 to 25 percent of the population?
I advocate solution-based healthcare as opposed to band-aid based healthcare. I use the zombie analogy to make a point. Is our current status quo of healthcare in this country creating a legion of zombies? And what if there are alternatives, which I know there are, to treating the underlying issues which produce the symptoms these drugs are intended to minimize or alleviate? Don’t mask the problem. Solve the problem.
In my medical practice, which focuses on an integrative approach to medicine combining the latest advances in medicine with the most natural approach possible, I see patients daily who suffer from the list of symptoms these medications (particularly anti-depressants) are typically prescribed for. With proper testing and analysis of the results, we are able to treat these patients with pharmaceutical-grade vitamin supplements and reverse and/or eliminate their symptoms, returning them to a state of wellness. Wouldn’t it make sense to utilize that approach instead? According to the U.S. Poison Control Center annual analysis, no deaths have occurred from the use of vitamin supplements over a 27-year time period. Compare that to over 3 million deaths occurring from prescription drug use during the same time period (1983-2009).
While it’s the time of the year that zombies and scary things capture our attention, let’s not forget that zombies really do exist and that number is growing fast. With middle-aged adults being the fastest growing age group of users of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, and sleeping pills, the age of zombies is just beginning. I can only hope that more people will seek alternatives and look for solutions to the symptoms beyond prescription medication. We can solve these problems without simply masking symptoms.
Yes, Virginia, there are zombies about.
Navigate Your Health Journey With Good Reading
Because Tennessee ranks 39th in overall health of its citizens [according to America’s Health Rankings], we are passionate about educating the community on how to improve their health. I spend time daily reviewing the latest findings from scientific studies related to health and wellness topics to insure that Seasons is always offering the latest and best solutions for pursuing wellness.
Contrary to the belief of many, good health is not something that can be mandated from government or given to you by a physician. Health is a personal journey acheived only through education and self-awareness. At Seasons, our goal is to provide you with the resources you need to improve the health of you and your family.
Here are five books that are easy reads and are rich in good information for your health journey.
Inflammation Nation by Floyd H. Chilton, PhD
Inflammation Nation was written by Dr. Floyd H. Chilton in 2005. While the book goes back a few years, it is still incredibly relevant. Inflammation is one of the primary problems/obstacles to health today. Inflammation, in the short term, is a necessary part of the healing process. When you are cut, the “inflammation” present through redness, pain, and swelling works to protect the body from invasion and to start the process of healing. But the inflammation subsides quickly. However, in some, inflammation rages on and promotes disease.
It would make sense that if something, certain types of food for example, were causing inflammation in our body and ultimately leading to disease, we would want to eliminate the problem, reduce the inflammation and prevent disease, right? Dr. Chilton discusses the immune system and how our diet affects it. The old adage “you are what you eat” definitely applies here.
Inflammation Nation is an easy read and provides many easy recommendations to incorporate into your daily life.
The Wheat Belly by William Davis
The Wheat Belly is written by William Davis. Very rarely do I encounter clients that have not read or heard of this book. This book touches on a growing problem in America and the world today – an adulterated food supply. Not food supply that is adulterated with parasites or bacteria, but that is adulterated from within. What does that mean? In The Wheat Belly, Dr. Davis touches on the fact that the wheat of today is not the wheat our parents ate. Not only is the nutritional value present in wheat lost, but the genetic modification is likely contributing to inflammatory problems.
The problem with genetically modified foods (GMO) is we have limited knowledge of their impact on the body. And the federal government and its agencies have never done a good job of investigating these items before rushing them to market. Just look at the history of environmental toxins such as phthalates, parabenes, and other volatile solvents, all brought to market labeled as safe only to be removed from the market when revealed as seriously dangerous toxins.
This book is also a very easy read and provides easy dietary recommendations to immediately bring positive changes to your health.
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer by John R. Lee, M.D., David Zava, Ph.D., and Virginia Hopkins
This was the very first integrative medicine book I read in 2006. This book goes back to several founding people in the integrative medicine movement like Dr. John Lee, an oncologist who led the movement in bioidentical hormones and saliva testing. Dr. Lee was ostracized by the medical community, but his commitment to his patients and to true scientific evidence is an example for all to follow. In fact, Dr. Zava believed in this movement so much that he started a saliva-testing company.
As it relates to breast cancer, there are few more published than Dr. Lee and Dr. Zava. I have met Dr. Zava personally on several occasions, and there are few that I would put above his in both scientific integrity and commitment to true science.
This book lays out a different approach to breast cancer, one focusing on prevention instead of early detection. Traditional medicine focuses instead on early detection and cancer treatment. Don’t get me wrong. We need that, but true prevention is where we should first focus.
The book is deep at points, but is a good discussion of biochemistry and physiology as it relates to breast cancer. Its focus on more natural ways to prevent breast cancer is based on the scientific research. The book clears up much of the misinformation about hormones and breast cancer and equips the reader to be advocate in the prevention of breast cancer.
The book’s authors were unafraid to take on traditional medicine, but do so with a good foundation of science.
The Blood Sugar Solution by Dr. Mark Hyman
Dr. Hyman is a great proponent of wellness and a pillar in the integrative medicine community. This book, published earlier this year, is an easy weekend read with numerous tools to incorporate into everyday life. The focus of this book is nutrition, sugar, in particular.
Obesity is at epidemic levels in the United States. According to CDC data, 13 states now have an obesity rate greater than 30 percent, while in the year 2000, NO states reported obesity rates greater than 30 percent. This book takes the major culprit head-on: diet.
The Blood Sugar Solution delves into diet, insulin, insulin resistance, and a host of other factors contribute to poor health. The book provides many tools to succeed in the “battle of the bulge,” and even includes recipes to help you succeed in your personal health journey.
What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Hypertension by Dr. Mark Houston
If you ever have the chance to meet Dr. Mark Houston, you will surely be impressed. Mark Houston, M.D., is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Director of the Hypertension Institute and Vascular Biology, and Medical Director of the Division of Human Nutrition at Saint Thomas Medical Group, Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.
While his list of credentials are a mouth full, to hear him speak will fill your ear! As a cardiologist focused on an integrative approach, there are few that speak so eloquently on the deep biochemical disease found in cardiovascular disease.
While the subject matter might sound intimidating, this book, is a very easy read and focuses on the underlying dynamics of hypertension and associated complications. Dr. Houston defines the problem and lays out solutions with his wildly successful program for treatment of hypertension using an integrative medicine approach.
Dr. Houston also provides a health discussion of hypertension medications, when needed, and the mode of action and side effects of each. This a definite must-read for anyone on hypertension medications. You might just become more informed than your own physician!
While this book is a self-help guide to natural treatments of hypertension, it is based on sound science and the approach has been extremely successful. This book is also heavily referenced, allowing you the option of pursuing deeper learning if desired. This book removes every obstacle to reducing hypertension except you. It’s your job to act on what you read.
The Naturally Healthy Woman: Whole Health for the Whole Woman by Shonda Parker
Yes, I know I said five and this is number six! But this is a very good manual for women and their health. As an OB/Gyn, my first passion was women’s health. The author, Shonda Parker, whom I have met, is a true blessing to know. There are few who have a passion for health that exceeds hers, and she has an ever better spirit. Shonda is a nurse midwife, has authored many books, and speaks nationally on health and other related topics. This book highlights many of the health issues facing women today, and I predict that the edges of this book will become tethered due to your repetitive use after reading it.
As a nurse midwife, the author’s first passion is pregnancy. This book begins by touching and then builds into many other health issues affecting women. The author provides many natural remedies at the end of each section for the different health issues discussed. The book not only provides natural therapies for the mother/wife, but also for the rest of the household.
Every pathway to health is different. Every journey to wellness is unique. At Seasons, our desire for wellness for all begins with education and knowledge for you. I hope that these books will become additions to your library and provide you with the knowledge you need in your personal journey toward wellness.
Evaluating Hormones Requires More Than Just a Blood Test
Dr. Nathan Goodyear
“I just don’t feel right.” These are frequently the first words I hear a patient say. “I’m so hormonal…I know I’m not balanced. I’m tired, cranky….” and so goes the list of symptoms, all of which indicate hormone imbalance.
It’s amazing to me that most patients know intuitively that they don’t feel good and it has something to do with hormones, but they’ve had a blood test by their physician and everything checked out “okay.” That blood test, however, didn’t change the fact that they still feel terrible.
There is a lot of debate these days regarding the different methods of evaluating hormones: blood, saliva, and urine (oh my). In a few short weeks, school will start. So to get back in the swing of things, today school is “in session” and a science lesson is the order of the day. The topic? How are hormones evaluated and which is the best test for you?
Hormone Delivery and FedEx?
Understanding complicated topics is often made simple with a great analogy. My good friend, Dr. Eldred Taylor, uses the analogy of FedEx trucks to explain hormones and their delivery to the cells of the body. And I especially like this analogy because my dad has been a pilot for FedEx for many years!
FedEx trucks are everywhere during the month of December. It wouldn’t be unusual for a lot of trucks to pass your house during that month. But, if the FedEx trucks don’t stop at your house, it doesn’t really matter how many trucks have driven by your house or how many packages each truck contained. The fact remains that none stopped for delivery. It only takes one FedEx truck to stop at your house and the Christmas tree is full.
I’ll take it one step further. The day after Christmas, the boxes and wrapping paper are piled up at the road-side for pickup. You might comment as you drive by your neighbor’s house “It looks like the Jones’ had a good Christmas” based on the curbside aftermath. You can even make out what the gifts were based on the leftover boxes and debris on the curb.
What does it all mean? The FedEx trucks symbolize hormones in transport in the blood. It doesn’t matter how many hormones are transported through the blood (FedEx trucks), they are inactive (the truck didn’t stop at your house). When the FedEx truck stops at your house, it symbolizes when hormones are dropped off for action inside the cell. One truck can drop off 100 packages or 100 trucks can drive by, dropping off no packages. Finally, the post-Christmas driveway debris represents the hormones after the body has broken them down into metabolites.
Hormones can be evaluated through three different testing methods: blood, saliva and urine. Blood testing evaluates the number of FedEx trucks in your neighborhood. Saliva testing evaluates the number of packages delivered at your house. And urine testing evaluates the post-Christmas driveway debris to identify what packages were delivered and opened.
So what does the science say about the hormone testing methods of blood, saliva, and urine?
Blood Testing
Testing hormones present in the blood has been used to develop the current reference norms that we use in the diagnosis and management of many diseases. It has been around a long time. This kind of testing is effective in the disease model of medicine. However, in the wellness model of medicine, we are looking for dysfunction, not just disease. And this is where the effectiveness of blood testing breaks down. By identifying physiologic dysfunction, we hope to prevent disease. It is the move into true preventative medicine, not just early detection, the wellness model of medicine has found the blood testing of hormones to be lacking.
There are three main problems with blood hormone testing.
- First, is the whole idea of a needle. If we can evaluate hormone levels without puncturing the skin, then we should.
- Blood testing evaluates hormones in transport. This is typically reported as “total” hormone levels and the “free” active levels are calculated. Transported hormones are inactive. Hormones in the blood are bound to proteins (estimated at 95-99%) and inactive. Going back to the FedEx truck analogy, blood testing tells me how many FedEx trucks there are and how many packages they have to deliver. But it doesn’t tell me how many packages were delivered at your house. And that’s a very important piece of information. Are your hormones coming or going? And is your body utilizing the hormones you have?
- It is not the most accurate form of testing. Saliva testing is proving to be superior to blood testing for measuring hormones (see Saliva below).
Urine Testing
The use of urine to evaluate cortisol has been present for awhile. And this is a valid method to test cortisol, one of your body’s hormones. The problem with this form of testing is that most people don’t want to carry a jug around collecting urine for 24 hours.
Currently, the interesting research on urinary testing of hormones is in the measurement of metabolites. Think back to our analogy. Urinary testing is best used for looking at the curbside debris to see what presents were opened at Christmas. By measuring metabolites, we can see how effectively your body is metabolizing hormones. If your body is ineffectively metabolizing hormones, the resulting symptoms and conditions can include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, obesity, fatigue, and increased breast cancer and prostate cancer risk to name a few. These issues are all treatable at Seasons Wellness Clinic with a customized wellness plan based on your test results.
Saliva Testing
Saliva testing for hormones first appeared in the medical research literature in the early 1980′s. Saliva is becoming the testing method of choice for many different reasons. Going back to our analogy, saliva testing measures the number of packages that are delivered by the FedEx truck at your house.
- Saliva testing evaluates the “free” (active) hormone levels. A hormone has to be unbound to elicit a physiologic action. Saliva testing looks at the active hormone inside the cell, at the site of action. Saliva testing has been validated as a testing method for measuring the hormones cortisol, estradiol, progesterone, DHEA, and testosterone to name a few.
- Second, saliva testing requires no needles.
- Saliva testing has been shown to be well validated and superior than blood, with sensitivities and specificities exceeding 100% and 97.4% respectively. Other than perfection, you can’t get much better than that.
- According to the National Institute for Health, saliva testing is useful in “detecting various cancers, heart disease, diabetes, periodontal disease…”
- Saliva testing is also useful in disease evaluation. Saliva testing of cortisol has been recommended as the first-line test for Cushing’s syndrome due to “high diagnostic accuracy.”
Saliva testing gives me the information I need to diagnose what’s going in your body. And while that is my opinion based on my training, it’s also opinion based on scientific fact according to hundreds of research articles (see links to additional articles below). Saliva testing is now considered the “gold standard” for hormone evaluation.
Today you have learned about the three methods physicians use for evaluating hormones: blood, saliva and urine. You’ve also learned that each test is useful for measuring different things. We can evaluate hormones many different ways at Seasons and determine not only the amounts of a specific hormone in your body, but also how effectively your body is actually using (or not using) those hormones with saliva and urinary testing.
Most important is the clinical relevance of each test. Testing the hormones at the site of action provides the best physiologic approach (saliva testing). Testing the hormone metabolites provides the next best approach (urine testing). Through the evaluation of the body’s metabolism of hormones, the physiologic mechanisms of how the body removes hormones can be evaluated. The evaluation of hormones in transit (blood testing) provides the least physiologic assessment.
While each test provides an appropriate measure, the question is, does that measure provide insight into physiologic dysfunction? And, can an appropriate therapeutic intervention be undertaken to effect a change? At Seasons, we provide answers using those test results, creating a customized wellness plan that will put you on the road to a life with more energy, balance, and, ultimately, happiness.
Cheers to the pursuit of wellness.
Hormone Imbalance a Contributing Factor in Breast Cancer
Dr. Nathan Goodyear
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) increases breast cancer. Have you read headlines like that? Or perhaps you were told that HRT caused someone’s breast cancer.
Do hormones really cause or lead to breast cancer? Think about this: every women continues to produce hormones, even after menopause. So, it cannot be that hormones in and of themselves cause cancer. Scientific evidence indicates thatsynthetic hormones and hormone imbalance do contribute to breast cancer.
The ABC’s of Estrogen.
Estrogen’s effects in the body are regulated through two different kinds of receptors: alpha and beta receptors. Estrogen-alpha receptors stimulate breast cell growth. Estrogen-beta receptors inhibit breast cell growth.
- Estradiol, the most potent estrogen, equally stimulates alpha and beta receptors = growth stable
- Estrone, the second most potent estrogen, stimulates alpha receptors 5:1 over beta receptors = pro growth
- Estriol, the weakest variety of estrogen, actually stimulates beta receptors 3:1 = growth inhibitory
The key element here is balance of hormones. Higher levels of estrone present in your body (produced by fat cells) result in more breast stimulation. Higher levels of estriol present in your body results in less breast cell stimulation and, therefore, breast protection. Estriol = Good. Estrone = Bad. If you have heard of someone developing breast cancer after starting Premarin, there’s a logical explanation for that. Guess what Premarin is loaded with? Premarin contains (48%) estrone (estrone = bad = breast cell stimulation).
Here are some more ugly facts about Premarin, also know as conjugated equine estrogen. Premarin actually decreases estrogen beta receptors. So, if you take Premarin, then you are taking high doses of estrone (estrone = bad) and decreasing your estrogen receptors that inhibit breast cell growth. In a nutshell: you are taking more of the bad estrogen and decreasing your amount of the good estrogen. This equates to a prime set up for breast cancer. Don’t take my word for it. See the wonderful article by Kent Holtorf.
Progesterone: The Growth-Inhibitor Hormone
The confusion out there about estrogen and breast cancer is bad enough, but the confusion is even greater on the subject of progesterone.
Pregesterone is the key hormone in the second half of a woman’s cycle. Estrogen is the dominant hormone in the first half of your cycle (estrogen = growth = growth of the uterine lining to support implantation of an egg). The counteractive hormone to this growth phase is progesterone (progesterone = no growth = sloughing off of the uterine lining). It’s the amazing and fascinating way that woman was created.
Synthetic progestins, often prescribed, are NOT the same as the progesterone your body produces. Just look at the structure and you see that they are not. The one thing they do have in common is they both protect the lining of the uterus against excessive estrogen growth. But, that is where the similarities end.
While there are many differences between the two, our focus here will be on the difference in breast cancer potential. Simply stated, synthetic progestins are pro-breast cancer and bioidentical progesterone is breast protective. The Women’s Health Initiative (link) revealed a 26% increase in breast cancer as a result of taking synthetic progestin. The Nurse’s Health Study (link) found that synthetic progestins tripled breast cancer risk over that of estrogen only. The use of Provera, a synthetic progestin and component of Prempro, has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer by 800%!
The statistics for bioidentical progesterone are the opposite. Bioidentical progesterone has many positive breast benefits:
- Progesterone decreases estrogen production
- Progesterone moves estradiol to weaker estrone
- Progesterone moves estrone to inactive (sulfated) form
- Progesterone moves estrone to weakest/safest estriol
- Progesterone down-regulates estrogen receptors all together
- Progesterone activates the cancer protection gene, p53
The idea that progesterone is a safer alternative to synthetic progestins is not new at all. As early as the early 80’s, there has been a call for safer progesterone over synthetic progestin counterparts. In 1981, nearly 30 years ago, L.D. Cowan showed that just having low progesterone levels increases the risk of premenopausal breast cancer risk 5.4 times.
Unfortunately, progesterone-deficient states, (or estrogen dominance) are very common in women today as a result of many factors: being overweight, PCOS, environmental xenoestrogens, excessive estrogen therapy, and perimenopause. Another study, showed progesterone to have a 400% decreased breast growth rate.
The Scientific Evidence Is Clear.
The evidence in the scientific literature is clear with regards to estrogens, progesterone, and hormone balance.
You know, once we understand hormones and the balancing cycle between estrogen and progesterone, it makes perfect sense that imbalance would cause breast problems. And the scientific evidence indicates just that. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s time make sure your hormones are balanced and protect yourself from breast cancer.
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Bioidentical Hormone?
Dr. Nathan Goodyear
What is Progesterone? Do women need progesterone after a hysterectomy? Does it cause cancer as some have been told? Does it disrupt the thyroid as some also have been told? What is truth? What is fiction? What does the evidence show?
Let’s work through some of these questions systematically.
What is Progesterone?
Progesterone is the hormone a woman’s body produces after ovulation each month. It balances the effect of estrogen in the uterus and throughout the body. When everything is working well in your body, estrogen and progesterone balance each other to create a normal menstrual cycle. However, when progesterone levels fall and estrogen dominates, a woman can experience heavy bleeding, irregular cycles, PMS, weight gain…
Some folks would have you believe that synthetic progestins (especially Provera) are identical to progesterone. This just isn’t true. They are not similar in http://ww5.komen.org/, structure, or function. Progestins and progesterone do both protect of the lining of the uterus from excess estrogen. But that is where the similarities stop!
Race for the Cure… and a Better Understanding of Women’s Health
Breast cancer research has received a lot of attention lately through wonderful campaigns like Race for the Cure, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and similar efforts. All of this research has given us some wonderful insights into women’s health in general. Specifically, the research has revealed clear distinctions between bio-identical progesterone and synthetic progestins.
Seasons 'Race for the Cure' T-Shirt
Numerous large studies have shown that synthetic progestins, such as Provera, increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer. In contrast, bio-identical progesterone can reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer. This has been clearly tested and consistently confirmed. In fact, just having low progesterone levels makes a woman 5.4 times more likely to get premenopausal breast cancer. Even worse, such women are significantly less likely to survive a fight with breast cancer.
As a doctor, I am horrified by these statistics, and I want to help—through my own practice and through an attempt with many other doctors to educate women.
As a scientist, I am amazed that something as simple as progesterone deficiency results in a higher breast cancer risk.
Seasons Team, Racing for the Cure!
Still Not Convinced?
Here’s a quick summary of the down and dirty science. Estrogen is a powerful stimulant to breast cell growth. (Remember, cancer is unregulated cell growth). When researchers added synthetic progestin, the growth of breast cells increased significantly. In contrast, when researchers added progesterone, breast cell growth decreased by 400%.
And here’s what that means. A woman’s body needs progesterone even after a hysterectomy. Progesterone doesn’t cause cancer—in fact, the opposite is true! Finally, a woman’s thyroid is not disrupted by progesterone—again, the opposite is true!
Progesterone is safe. Women’s bodies produce it for a reason. They need it.
Hormones And Their Effects On The Body
Dr. Nathan Goodyear
People ask me all the time for more information about hormones and why we need them. Hormones are the communication tools of the body. They deliver messages. So here is a list of a few hormones and what they contribute to your body.
Estrogen
- Protects against osteoporosis, heart disease, memory loss, colon cancer, incontinence and tooth loss
- Enhances sleep, emotional well-being, mental acuity and focus, memory, attention span, communication ability, vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell, digestion, libido and skin tone.
- Relieves menopausal symptoms and depression
- Increases tolerance to pain
Progesterone
- Has a calming effect and enhances mood
- Regulates fluid balance
- Increases blood sugar, thyroid function and mineral balance
- Relieves menopausal symptoms
- Decreases risk of endometrial cancer and may help protect against breast cancer and fibrocystic breast disease
- Protects against osteoporosis and heart disease
Testosterone
- Builds muscles and promotes muscle tone
- Increases energy and libido
- Enhances sense of well-being
- Helps strengthen bone
DHEA
- Helps protect against heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer, memory loss, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis
- Can increase and enhance energy levels, libido, memory and immunity
- Protects against the effects of stress
- Aids weight loss and healing of burns
- Helps to prevent wrinkles and dry eyes
Cortisol
- Helps in responding and coping with stress, trauma, and infection
- Increases energy and metabolism
- Helps regulate blood pressure
- Enhances the integrity of blood vessels
- Reduces allergic and inflammatory response
Balance of each of these hormones is a key element of optimal health and absence of disease. Proper testing, a customized treatment plan for out-of-balance hormone levels, and follow-up testing are all important for achieving healthy hormone levels in your body. For more information about metabolic testing at Seasons, contact our office at 318-255-3223 (Ruston) or 318-387-2828 (Monroe).
