The Powerful Compound that Will Drastically Reduce Your Breast Cancer Risk
Breast cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer for women and 12 of the female population will be diagnosed with it at some point in their lives. The statistics may sound grim, but whether or not you will become a part of that statistic is largely in your hands. Understanding the role that estrogen plays in breast cancer, keeping a balanced ratio of estrogens and their metabolites, and maintaining high levels of a particularly beneficial metabolite of estrogen will help to vastly reduce your risk.
Understanding Estrogen
Estrogen is not a single hormone; more than 15 varieties of natural estrogens have been identified – all with their own particular function. Each estrogen is also broken down in the cell and transformed into a number of different estrogen metabolites. Different estrogen varieties vary in how they’re broken down and emerging research suggests the estrogen metabolism process plays a key role in breast cancer.
The Breast Cancer Fighting Estrogen Metabolite
Estrogens have been given a bad rep due to their connection to certain types of cancer, however they are not all bad. 2-Methoxyestradiol is a particularly beneficial estrogen metabolite with potent anti-carcinogenic (cancer fighting) properties. Maintaining adequate levels of 2-Methoxyestradiol appears to both prevent and reverse breast cancer. This particular estrogen metabolite attacks the tubular network in cancerous cells, causing the cancer cells to die, all while leaving the healthy cells fully intact. Recent test tube studies found it even helps to reverse one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancers: triple-negative cell. 2-Methoxyestradiol appears to not only fight cancer cells, but to also prevent them from spreading; and it enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. And the benefits aren’t limited to breast cancer either, emerging evidence suggests that it may also fight osteosarcoma, leukemia, and ovary, prostate and pancreas cancer. You can determine your 2-Methoxyestradiol levels through a simple urine test; and doing so is especially important if you’re post-menopausal, you have a family history of breast cancer, or if you experience chronic high stress levels.
How Stress Effects 2-Methoxyestradiol
Chronic stress increases inflammation, burdens the immune system, exhausts your adrenal and hypothyroid glands (which in turn imbalances your hormones), and interferes with sleep. All of these factors increase your risk for a number of diseases including breast cancer. Methylation is the process of taking a single carbon and three hydrogens (known as a methyl group), and applying it to several critical functions in your body, one of which is the production of 2-Methoxyestradiol. In addition to the above mentioned side-effects, chronic stress also lowers 2-methoxyestradiol stores by interfering with the methylation process that is required in order for your body to produce it. The reason for this is that your body needs to detoxify the extra adrenal hormones that are released every time you experience stress, and in order to do so, it uses the methyl groups that are required for the production of 2-methoxyestradiol. As such, it is important to actively reduce your stress levels by identifying stressors in your life and making the appropriate lifestyle alterations. Practicing yoga, meditating, journaling, getting adequate sleep and deep breathing exercises are also great ways to reduce stress levels.
The Battle for Ownership Over 2-Methyoxyestradiol
2-Methoxyestradiol is so powerful and effective, that a well known pharmaceutical company is now trying to slightly modify its chemical structure, so that they can patent it and claim ownership over it. They are lobbying for the FDAs approval by claiming that their lab-altered version of 2-Methoxyestradiol is longer acting then the natural form. Their molecular alteration brings with it a slew of side-effects however that do not occur with the natural form of 2-Methoxyestradiol. Fortunately, 2-Methoxyestradiol is still available in its natural form and it can be purchased at compounding pharmacies.
Supplements to Raise 2-Methoxyestradiol
If you undergo chronic stress or if a urine test shows low 2-Methoxyestradiol levels, then you should actively replace methyl groups in order to support the production of 2-methoxyestradiol. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to replace methyl groups and there are a number of methylated vitamins you can take to do so, such as: methylfolate, methylcobalamin, trimethylglycine, 5-methyltetrafolate (the natural form of folic acid) … basically anything that has ‘methyl’ as part of its name. DIM and indole-3- carbonal (I3C) are particularly helpful ingredients that not only help with methylation, but also help to shift the estrogen metabolite ratio into a healthy balance. EstroBlock (http://estroblock.com/) contains both DIM and I3C and can be a powerful tool for increasing 2-Methoxyestradiol.
2-Methoxyestradiol Boosting Diet
In addition to taking 2-Methoxyestradiol as a compounded prescription, and/or taking supplements that replace methyl groups, you can help keep your levels up naturally by avoiding toxic chemicals such as nicotine and alcohol and consuming a healthy, whole-foods, plant-based diet. Eat plenty of green vegetables, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts etc.), strawberries, citrus fruits, nuts, eggs, fish, toasted wheat germ and eggs — they are all rich sources of methyl groups, especially when eaten raw.
For products to help with issues related to estrogen dominance and other hormonal imbalances, please visit: http://www.unitynaturals.com
References:
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@research/documents/webcontent/acspc-042151.pdf
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/publications/in-vivo/Vol2_Iss10_may26_03/
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18521846
http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2009/11/the-unimportant- molecule-that- may-help- cure-cancer/page-01
