Estriol The Safe Estrogen

To understand Menopause, you need to know a little about your hormones estrogen and progesterone. Starting in a woman’s 30s, blood levels of estrogen and progesterone gradually decline. This is what nature intended.
Estrogen is necessary for the monthly production of new endometrial cells to line the uterus in preparation for a baby. Progesterone increases the vascular development of the uterus and breasts. When the child bearing years are over, the hormone levels decrease dramatically.
The use of synthetic estrogens, first isolated in the 1920s, did not become popular until the 1960s, when it was touted in Feminine Forever, by Robert Wilson, as the antidote to aging in women by preventing the otherwise inevitable thinning and wrinkling of the skin, drying of the vaginal membranes, and thinning of the bones that caused stooping of the shoulders.
By 1975 more than half of the 30 million postmenopausal women in the United States were being prescribed estrogen. However, about that same time, studies began showing that these women were five times more likely to develop uterine cancer than women who did not take this Estrogen Replacement Therapy. More recent studies have shown that estrogen also increases the incidence of breast cancer.
There are three types of estrogen in a woman’s body that work together to safely produce the desired effects. The three types of estrogen are Estrone (E1), Estradiol (E2), and Estriol (E3). Estrone and Estradiol have now been shown to be carcinogenic when given by themselves, while Estriol has been found to be anticarcinogenic and therefore protect the body from the harmful effects of the other two.
However, all of the current estrogen drugs used in this country are combinations of synthetic copies of estrone and estradiol.Rather than admit they were wrong and open themselves up to millions of dollars in law suits, doctors and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. continue to make the synthetic copies of the forms of estrogen that are known to be carcinogenic, although the safe estrogen, Estriol, has been prescribed in Europe for a number of years.
Doctors and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are either afraid to learn the truth and therefore don’t investigate it, or they are involved in a horrible cover-up that is killing thousands of women every year.

Estriol is considered the “forgotten” estrogen. Is has been labeled historically in the US as a weak or ineffective estrogen, while in Europe Estriol has been recognized for its benefits and has been used for years.

With recent articles and studies stating that women using traditional estrogen therapy for five or more years have a 30 to 40% increased risk of cancer, the need to use a safer form of estrogen seems crucial. Estriol is the best choice. It has never been associated with cancer activity in the female body, but has been shown to prevent or even reverse Breast Cancer.

BENEFITS OF ESTRIOL
Estriol has a much less stimulating effect on the breast and uterine lining than estradiol and estrone. Estradiol is 1000 times more stimulating to the breast tissue than is Estriol.
One of the most exciting things about Estriol is the fact that not only does it not promote breast cancer, but considerable evidence exists to show that it protects against this disease.
In 1978, A. H. Follingstad, M.D. of Albuquerque, NM, wrote as article for the Journal of the American Medical Association, calling for the use of Estriol instead of estrone and estradiol. In support of his position, he cited a group of post menopausal women with metastatic breast cancer. When given small doses of Estriol, 37% of the women experienced either a remission or a complete arrest of the metastasized lesions.
In 1966, H. M. Lemon, M.D. demonstrated that women with breast cancer have lower Estriol levels. Later he showed that women without breast cancer had naturally higher Estriol levels (compared to estrone and estradiol) than those with breast cancer.
Doses of 2-4 mg. Estriol is considered to be the equivalent of .625 and 1.25mg conjugated estrogen respectively.
Dr. Julian Whitaker, Publisher of the “Health and Healing ” newsletter, says that Estriol’s anti-cancer effect is thought to be due to its anti-estrone characteristics. It apparently blocks the stimulatory effect of estrone on the breast.
Estriol as an estrogen supplement does not lose its unique identity when given orally as does estradiol. It remains Estriol.
Estriol is thought to help prevent or stabilize the conversion of estradiol to estrone. Estrone being labeled by many researchers as the “villain” estrogen in the female body.
Estriol seems to be well tolerated when given orally.
It is also remarkable that Estriol, different from estradiol, does not provoke endometrial proliferation and shedding when given in one dose a day. Thus, Estriol is characteristically suitable for postmenopausal women who no longer want to have uterine bleeding and who have comparatively higher risk of endometrial hyperplasia.
A Taiwan study concluded that Estriol was very effective in the improvement of major subjective climacteric complaints in 86% of patients, especially hot flush and insomnia within 3 months. The atrophic genital thinning caused by estrogen deficiency were also improved satisfactorily. This study was not able to show that Estriol will prevent bone loss.
Receptor binding studies have indicated that Estriol has only low relative binding affinity to endometrial estrogen receptors (about 10% of Estradiol), whereas it has a relatively strong binding affinity to vaginal estrogen receptors (equal to Estradiol). This means that after a single dose of Estriol, the binding to the endometrial estrogen receptor is too short to induce true proliferation, while its binding to the vaginal estrogen receptor is sufficient to exert a full vaginotropic effect. Because of Estriol’s strong vaginotropic effect it is thought to be the estrogen most beneficial to the vagina, cervix, and vulva. In cases of postmenopausal vaginal drynes and atrophy, which predisposes a woman to vaginitis and cystitis, Estriol supplementation would theoretically be the most effective (and safest) estrogen to use.
Of all the estrogens, Estriol has the shortest receptor occupancy. Therefore providing a short duration of action in certain estrogen receptor tissue. A consequence of the short duration of action of Estriol at the receptor level is that there are hardly any systemic effects. Studies indicate absence of effects on: blood pressure, body weight, liver function and blood clot formation.
Current studies do not show Estriol to have any cardioprotective effects through changes in lipid metabolism.
Literature searches produced only one study which showed that Estriol had a positive effect on Bone Mineral Density. A Japanese study. Seventy -five natural postmenopausal women with a BMD of more that 10% below the peak bone density were treated for 50 weeks with 2mg/ day Estriol cyclically (4 weeks on / 1 week off) and .8gm / day calcium lactate continuously. The BMD increased by 1.79% (p<0.01 vs. pretreatment) after 50 weeks.
The Japanese study also concluded that the parameters of lipid metabolism in their study showed no significant changes after 50 weeks.
The intravaginal administration of Estriol prevents recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women, probably by modifying the vaginal flora.
It is suggested that Vitamin E administered daily with Estriol therapy will improve Estriols activity in the body.
Oral doses of up to 16mg per day have been documented. The most common oral dosage range is 1-4mg per day.
Mode of Administration
Dr. Hansen recommends the oral, sub-lingual (under the tongue) route for Estriol. Dosing Estriol under the tongue allows the hormone to be absorbed directly into the blood stream from the mouth. This route allows the hormone to directly to work without being partially removed by the liver and eliminated from the body too quickly.Because it is taken orally, the dose can be changed as needed, and excesses do not build up, whereas the SottoPelle® implants cannot be changed for 4-6 months, unless they are surgically removed.
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