Are Hidden Hormones Destroying Your Health?

By VRP Staff

The FDA calls them safe—but you’d be right to think twice.

Synthetic hormones saturate your daily environment—many of them lurking in the meat and milk products you’ve been consuming now for years. And they can come at a very steep price. In fact, if you’re having trouble losing weight, struggling with metabolic syndrome, or battling prostate or breast cancer despite having no family history of the disease, then you may already be paying the price.

The truth is, a lot of today’s modern health crises can be traced back to estrogen. It’s a potent hormone—and its effects can go both ways.

That’s because your body metabolizes estrogen into several different byproducts, including 2-hydroxy, 4-hydroxy, and 16 hydroxy estrogens. Two out of the three—4-hydroxy and 16-hydroxy estrogens—can pose some very serious threats to your health. Research has linked heightened levels of these inflammation-promoting estrogens to breast, cervix and prostate cancers—and to stubborn obesity that can eventually lead to metabolic syndrome and diabetes.^1-2

On the contrary, high levels of 2-hydroxy estrogens—or “good estrogens” as they’re sometimes called—have quite the opposite effect, serving to lower telltale PSA levels and protect vulnerable tissue in the prostate, cervix, and breast from cancerous developments.³

Whether the estrogen in your body hurts or helps you is entirely dependent upon how your body uses it—and fortunately, a natural phytonutrient called diindolylmethane (DIM) can ensure that it’s used properly. It’s a potent antioxidant found in cruciferous vegetables, and research shows that it can suppress the macrophage activity that sparks the inflammatory cascade of hormones and cytokines.^4-5 It also helps your body to metabolize and remove toxic inflammatory pollutants—thereby reducing these chemicals’ role in disease-promoting inflammation.

Most importantly, DIM has a direct effect on estrogen metabolism, yielding a much higher level of protective 2-hydroxy estrogens.^6-7 Not only does this stave off deadly cancerous developments, but it also contributes to weight loss in humans and animals—preventing obesity and metabolic syndrome.^8-9 As an added benefit, it also helps to preserve levels of tryptophan, the “feel good” hormone responsible for serotonin production—which is in turn responsible for better moods and appetite control.^10-11

DIM is an insoluble indole, meaning that it’s difficult for your body to absorb—but a pure, microencapsulated form of the product (such VRP’s BioDIM®) insures maximum bioavailablity.¹² And that means vital protection against the emerging—and potentially deadly—threat of environmental estrogens.

References:

1. Coffey DS. Similarities of prostate and breast cancer: Evolution, diet, and estrogens. Urology. 2001 Apr;57(4 Suppl 1):31-8.

2. Schneider J, Bradlow HL, Strain G, Levin J, Anderson K, Fishman J. Effects of obesity on estradiol metabolism: decreased formation of nonuterotropic metabolites. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1983 May;56(5):973-8.

3. Le HT, Schaldach CM, Firestone GL, Bjeldanes LF. Plant-derived 3,3’-Diindolylmethane is a strong androgen antagonist in human prostate cancer cells. J Biol Chem. 2003 Jun 6;278(23):21136-45.

4. Cho HJ, Seon MR, Lee YM, Kim J, Kim JK, Kim SG, Park JH. 3,3’-Diindolylmethane suppresses the inflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide in murine macrophages. J Nutr. 2008 Jan;138(1):17-23.

5. Harman-Boehm I, Blüher M, Redel H, Sion-Vardy N, Ovadia S, Avinoach E, Shai I, Klöting N, Stumvoll M, Bashan N, Rudich A. Macrophage infiltration into omental versus subcutaneous fat across different populations: effect of regional adiposity and the comorbidities of obesity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jun;92(6):2240-7.

6. Zeligs MA. Diet and estrogen status: the cruciferous connection. J Medicinal Foods. 1998;1:67 82.

7. Dalessandri, KM, Firestone GL, Fitch MD, Bradlow HL, Bjeldanes LF. Pilot study: effect of 3,3’-diindolylmethane supplements on urinary hormone metabolites in postmenopausal women with a history of early-stage breast cancer. Nutr Cancer. 2004;50(2):161-7.

8. Ackerman GE, et al., Potentiation of epinephrine-induced lipolysis by catechol estrogens and their methoxy derivatives, Endocrinology. 1981;109:2084-8.

9. Zeligs MA. Phytochemicals for promoting weight loss. US Patent #6,534,085, 2003, March.

10. Brandacher G, Hoeller E, Fuchs D, Weiss HG. Chronic immune activation underlies morbid obesity: is IDO a key player? Curr Drug Metab. 2007 Apr;8(3):289-95.

11. Cangiano C, Ceci F, Cascino A, Del Ben M, Laviano A, Muscaritoli M, Antonucci F, Rossi-Fanelli F. Eating behavior and adherence to dietary prescriptions in obese adult subjects treated with 5-hydroxytryptophan. Am J Clin Nutr. 1992 Nov;56(5):863-7.

12. Zeligs MA and Jacobs IC. Compositions and methods of adjusting steroid hormone metabolism through phytochemicals. US Patent #6,086,915. 2000, July.