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Estriol – A Safer Estrogen Alternative?
October 15, 2009 by Dee
Filed under Estrogen Dominance Treatment
We always hear the term estrogen represented as a single hormone but did you know estrogen is actually a blend of three different hormones rather that just one?
The weakest yet perhaps the mightiest of those three hormones is estriol.
Estriol – Small but Mighty
Estrogen is made up of a combination of three different hormones – estradial, estrone and estriol. Estriol has been basically overlooked by the mainstream medical community because it is the weakest of the three forms of estrogen. The human body only produces significant amounts of estriol during pregnancy. After menopause, estriol levels in a woman are about the same as estriol levels in men.
It was originally believed that estriol played an insignificant role in the health of women because it is so weak. Research has shown, however, that the weakness of estriol is what makes it so powerful.
The Benefits of Estriol
Traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has come under attack in recent years. It has been linked to increased rates of breast cancer, uterine cancer, stroke and other serious health issues.
Estradiol is the most powerful and “aggressive” of the estrogen hormones and is the most commonly used in HRT. It is also the form of estrogen most likely to encourage estrogen dominance and feed estrogen-sensitive cancer cells.
Estriol, on the other hand, is mild enough to not raise your risk of cancer or promote estrogen dominance but is strong enough to deliver the anti-aging benefits of estrogen replacement therapy.
One study of estriol use for menopausal symptoms was conducted at the University of Ulm in Germany. Its conclusion? “Estriol therapy was successful in 92% of all cases. In 71%, hot flushes and sweating were completely eliminated, in 21% they were ameliorated, becoming weaker and occurring more seldom . . . Depressive moods were abolished in 24% of the cases, and in 33% they were ameliorated, so that an overall improvement occurred in 57%.”
The study also showed the quality of the patient’s skin improved, showing less signs of aging, and the therapy also reduced forgetfulness and decreased vaginal dryness, migraine headaches and irritability.
There have been studies that show estriol is an effective treatment in women who have Multiple Sclerosis or osteoporosis as well and research indicates that not only does estriol not promote breast cancer, it may actually help prevent it.
Is Estriol Safer than other Estrogen Replacement Therapies?
Estriol has been used safely and effectively as the HRT of choice in Europe for more than 30 years. There is no evidence that it increases the risk of breast cancer, uterine cancer, stroke or any of the other problems connected to the traditional HRT used in the USA.
So why don’t U.S. doctors prescribe estriol compounds anymore instead of the typical HRT’s they normally dispense? Apparently, the big drug companies told the FDA not to allow it. In fact, Wyeth-Pharma, the manufacturer pushing hardest for the FDA restrictions on estriol compounds for HRT in the US, actually sells two types of estriol drugs in Europe. Unfortunately for us, they are also the manufacturers of Premarin and PremPro, costly synthetic hormones widely prescribed by mainstream physicians. Could it boil down to profits versus effectiveness and safety on this one?
Estriol Creams are Available
Although the companies who get rich selling harmful synthetic HRTs don’t like it, we can still buy estriol creams that are safe and effective. The estriol is combined with progesterone and applied topically, giving us a safe, natural way to fight menopause symptoms and other aging problems. Creams are the best way for your body to absorb estriol. If you would like to experience the benefits of estriol for yourself, you can obtain these creams from natural wellness stores and online retailers.
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Research on estriol is indeed provocative and it deserves further study.
The best clinical trial data on the hormone have to do with its ability to halt MS. Two major studies randomized women with MS to estriol or placebo and the the results were remarkable. The hormone eradicated >80% of the brain lesions in women with MS (lesions where the immune system is specifically attacking the myelin sheath around the neuron) and prevented the formation of news ones. This benefit was sustained as long as the participants were on the active drug. Cognitive function was also improved. As of now, it is unknown if these benefits are due to estriol’s DIRECT actions in the brain or if it’s due to estriol’s effect on the inflammatory immune response.
This is in stark contrast to “other” estrogens, which have been shown in clinical trials to be harmful to the brain in women without MS. Premarin (an estrogen mixture composed predominantly of estrone sulfate) increases the risk of stroke and dementia; it also causes a loss of brain tissue volume in the hippocampus and frontal lobe based on MRI studies. Premain, with and without progestin, also raises the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks, and gallbaldder disease. Now many people believe that this is because Premarin or conjugated equine estrogen is not “bio-identical”. That’s only partially true – Premarin contains many estrogens, some of which are foreign substances to the human body, namely equilin. But its main component is estrone sulfate, which is the dominant estrogen in postmenopausal women. Estrone is readily converted/convertible to estradiol in a woman’s body. And there are also small amounts of estradiol in Premarin. So while the source of Premarin is no doubt *GROSS*, it’s not wholly “unnatural”.
Proponents of estradiol should also be aware that this potent hormone carries serious risks. Having too much estradiol over a lifetime, whether a woman had more menstrual cycles or is obese, is a major risk factor for certain cancers and probably heart disease and cognitive decline. The clinical trials on estradiol have all been disappointing – women with a history of stroke or heart diseases had more cardiac events on the drug. Low dose estradiol in patch form also caused memory problems in a trial of women with osteoporosis.
(Excess estradiol in MEN is also hazardous.)
Which brings us back to the estriol question. This hormone deserves far more attention and study than it gets. Women need an alternative therapy for menopausal symptoms. Major trials should be done to look at whether this “weak” estrogen can globally benefit women. It’s not unreasonable to think that it might. We know that it is neurologically beneficial to women with MS and HAS to be present in sufficient quantities to protect the health of a pregnant woman and her fetus and to depose the potentially harmful effects of supraphysiological levels of estradiol that accompany a pregnancy.