so much for "natural" products! These are potent drugs!

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Arugula:

I find this to be terrifying!

I read a book last year called: "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer", and from what I understand, we have created an environment that really promotes estrogen overload, and we don't even realize it.

I don't know if this is something you are familiar with or have ever done any looking into, but it seems pretty alarming to me.

I would greatly love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Seems to me I read somewhere about kids getting puberty at ridiculously young ages due to additives to the meat they were eating. As for me personally, I experienced uterine fibroids years ago, during my pregnancies. Nobody ever suggested to me that this could be a symptom of estrogen dominance, or that this was anything more worrisome than an annoying (internal) blemish! (the book talks about this, among other things)

I'd love to be able to pass on the information to my daughters/sisters/friends and so on as to how not to let estrogen dominance ever become an issue for them in the first place, but it seems to be bombarding our lives in ways we don't even suspect. Even the "healthiest" of choices are suspect - soy for instance, or foods that would otherwise be perfectly healthy, but comes to you in a plastic container. (And doesn't everything these days!) Or your next cup of herbal tea, or something else you never thought about before! It can be overwhelming!

Anyway, what do you think? ......

Sapphire

Well, I can share my thoughts:

Many years ago as I was reading about EOs I came across a claim that some should not be used during pregnancy as they could cause contractions. I was at first skeptical, but further reading about how they are produced led me to believe that there was a possibility. Enormous quantities of plant matter are used to produce tiny amounts of EOs. They are extremely concentrated and potent and could very well have medicinal properties in some aspects.

On the whole, they haven't been very well studied. The few studies per EO are mostly not very rigorous, except for the antimicrobial and antioxidant effects and similar (superficial) findings.

I am not afraid of estrogenic plant substances for my own dietary use or certain regular use topicals that might have traces of estrogenic actives or peripherals (including shampoos, lotions, etc.). I don't think these are appreciable risk factors for most people, because almost everyone uses them but there are almost always other more important risk factors in operation for those who do get diagnosed with cancers.

I think there is a lot to be said for estrogen therapy. Estrogens are photoprotective (your skin will be somewhat protected from UV damage before menopause but damage will occur at an accelerated rate (sags, wrinkles) after menopause, either naturally or surgically induced. Estrogens also help to protect the bones, they have other skin benefits such as keeping it smooth, supple, and moisturized, they might protect against certain types of cancers (while promoting other types), they might help one maintain an attractive waist/hip ratio and youthful vigor and appearance for an extended period of time. The appropriate dose and form are debatable.

I still eat modest quantities of soy and I have no fears regarding soy, any other legumes (which also contain phytoestrogens) or seeds (which also contain phytoestrogens) or other phytosterol containing plants (which includes many other plants aside from nuts and seeds). But if you have these fears, then go fruitarian (trying not to court any deficiences though).

I plan to take estrogens after menopause, a light dose. I want the protection and I am willing to live with the risks. I think this is a very private and personal health decision for a woman and I would not judge her either way. My mother died of breast cancer when she was fairly young (50, diagnosed at 43, my age exactly). But she never took hormones of any type. I find that there are many other risk factors, such as being overweight (more fat in the body means more estrogens), possibly eating too much of the wrong types of fats or animals/animal products, or growing too fast during adolescence, being tall, not eating enough raw vegetables, etc. I don't worry much about the dietary factors, I am thin and I get lots of exercise and I have never had heavy or uncomfortable periods or anything like that.

But the environmental effects of hormones are much more clear cut, these are facts: they end up coming out in the urine and eventually make their way into the ground and surface waters where they damage the fish and other types of wildlife and have other adverse environmental effects. This alone is enough reason to avoid them.