Methylation boosters - Managing Your Estrogen Load

Methylation boosters - Managing Your Estrogen Load

Methylation boosters. Methylation is one of the biochemical pathways used by the
liver to detoxify estrogens and other compounds, specifically raising 2-hydroxyestrone
levels and lowering harmful 4-hydroxyestrone levels. For this reason and because there
is a growing consensus that deficient methylation is a major contributor to not just
cancer but also many major degenerative diseases, we want to do all we can to
support healthy methylation. Cruciferous vegetables, the ultimate dietary multitaskers,
help this process along, as do foods high in vitamins B6, B12, and folate. You’ll get
abundant amounts of these nutrients by Eating for Health and taking a high-quality
foundational multinutrient.

Please note, however, that after age fifty, it becomes more difficult to absorb
vitamin B12 through the gut, and deficiency is common. Your doctor can check your
B12 status using simple blood tests. Some women can enhance B12 levels through
oral supplementation, while others need regular B12 injections.

To get a rough idea of how well you are methylating, your doctor can check the
homocysteine level in your blood, because elevated serum homocysteine is a classic sign
of a methylation defect. Try the previous suggestions and retest. If your homocysteine
remains stubbornly high (above 10 micromoles per liter), you’ll want to consider
adding other known methylation-enhancing nutrients like trimethylglycine (TMG),
choline, or S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe).

Vitamin D. Vitamin D protects us from breast cancer in a variety of ways, and here’s
yet another. Aromatase, the enzyme that activates estrogen synthesis, is essential for
the progression of ER+ breast cancer in postmenopausal women. This is why
postmenopausal women are frequently prescribed aromatase-inhibiting drugs for
estrogen-positive tumors.

Emerging evidence indicates that vitamin D “helps regulate the expression of
aromatase in a tissue-selective manner” (Krishnan et al. 2010). In other words, it
appears that vitamin D can limit the conversion of aromatase to estrogen in breast
tissue but not in the bones, where it is needed to preserve bone density. Thus it would
appear that vitamin D not only functions as a preventive but also has great potential
as an adjuvant treatment to existing protocols. This is something to watch with
excitement!

Exercise Helps Reduce Estrogen Levels for breast cancer survivors

Exercise Helps Reduce Estrogen Levels for breast cancer survivors

The results of over two dozen epidemiologic studies on exercise and estrogen
levels show us that women who exercise regularly have a reduced risk of developing
breast cancer (see, for example, Campbell and McTiernan 2007). Moreover, a 2002
study (Chlebowski, Aiello, and McTiernan) assessed the direct effect of exercise on
estrogen levels and found that women who exercised and lost more than 2 percent of
their initial body fat had a 14 percent decrease in estradiol levels. Is it the loss of body
fat or the exercise itself that reduced estrogen levels in this study of postmenopausal
women? The results don’t tell us, but we do know that both a healthy weight and
healthy estrogen levels are essential to managing breast-cancer risk. If exercise can
accomplish one or both of these goals, we’re in good shape!

Think Before You Drink

Steering clear of excess alcohol intake is important, because the same liver
enzymes that break down alcohol are also used to clear estrogen. What’s more, excess
alcohol consumption is linked to higher estrogen levels (Seitz and Maurer 2007).

Guidelines for Managing Your Estrogen Load

Guidelines for Managing Your Estrogen Load

Because an overabundance of the wrong kinds of estrogens can place a burden of risk
on your body, consider making it a top priority to lighten your estrogen load. Here are
our suggestions for doing just that.

Avoid Xenoestrogens

To beat this drum one last time, it is truly essential to be aware of estrogenic
compounds (known also as xenoestrogens) in the environment, which are having a
greater and greater impact on not only breast cancer rates but also all other cancer
rates. In particular, avoid conventional meats and dairy products; pesticide-laden
produce (see ewg.org/foodnews /summary/ for a list of the “dirty dozen” fruits and
vegetables); plastic items, especially heated or frozen plastic containers and those
made with BPA; and personal care products with ingredients you don’t immediately
recognize. In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson (2000) discusses the effective use of
low-heat saunas (which induce sweating) to help remove xenoestrogens. Also,
curcumin—a powerful phytonutrient in the spice turmeric—is currently the subject of
multiple studies, with preliminary research suggesting that it may also be effective for
this purpose.

Breast Thermography: Visually Evaluating Estrogen’s Effects on the Breasts

Breast Thermography: Visually Evaluating Estrogen’s Effects on the Breasts

Blood and urine tests can provide information regarding estrogen that is circulating
throughout the body, but the question remains as to how much actually ends up in the
breast tissue. The amounts are certainly not the same; in fact, the concentration of
estrogen in the breasts may be ten to fifty times the concentration in the bloodstream
(Jefcoate et al. 2000).

Breast thermography offers a solution to this problem by providing an indirect way
to visualize the effects of estrogen on the breasts. While it does not measure estrogen
per se, a thermography exam can identify the type of blood vessel patterns that
estrogen would commonly produce. Excessive levels of estrogen in the breast would
normally produce a vascular pattern that is different from a breast with normal
estrogen levels. If you are taking birth control pills or undergoing hormone replacement
therapy, a thermogram can be especially valuable to you to determine
whether or not the estrogen you are taking is harming your breasts and increasing your
cancer risk.