This week’s anouncement that women using post menapausal hormone replacement therapy for longer than 5 years places them at increased risk of Breast Cancer repeats what the government health agencies has said numerous times before.
I can’t believe that these responsible people can be so ill informed. This health alert repeats what I have preached many times before:
1. The abnormal break down of estrogen is one of the key factors that cause cancer of the breast, uterus and prostate.
2. It is not the elevated levels of estrogen, but the deficiency of progesterone.
3. After menapause a women’s estrogen level goes down 50% but her progesterone level goes down almost 100%.
4. Estrogen is proliferative causing multiplication and division of breast duct cells. Progesterone is anti-proliferative and protects against the proliferating effects of estrogen.
5. The term estrogen dominance describes the great majority of our population, both women and men.
6. But estrogen dominance is caused not by excessive levels of estrogen but by decreased levels of progesterone.
7. In an interview by Suzanne Somers Dr. Nelson expreses these profound words: “I have never seen a woman with high levels of progesterone who ever developed breast cancer. Not one.”
8. No physician should ever prescribe estrogen without progesterone. It is like driving a car without a brake. You should only use a bioidentical progesterone never synthetic progesterone.
9. The statistics being used to warn against using post menapausal hormone replacement therapy is based upon use of estrogen only. Our Creator created the perfect system of hormone balance. We need to follow His directions so our hormones will be a blessing and not become a curse.
10. You should do periodic saliva hormone panels to be sure your level of progesterone is 200-600 times greater than your level of estrogen.
11. You should increase your dietary intake of cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, and brussles sprouts, which are rich in Indole 3 Carbinol, a substance that metabalizes estrogen to a safe non-proliferating form. Taking a supplement of I3C and its metabolite diindolylmethane (DIM) would also even the odds in your favor. This is true for both men and women.
12. Do what the Japanese do. Eating an Iodine rich food, kelp, results in this population having the lowest incidence of cancer of the breast and prostate in the world.
13. Finally, I can’t repeat often enough my advice to every woman. Screen your breasts annually beginning at age 25 with thermography. A procedure that is 100% safe with no radiation or compression and which is 99.7% sensitive and 98.4% specific.
The Center is here to help.
To your health,
Allan Lieberman, M.D., F.A.A.E.M.
Medical Director,
The Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine