Phytoestrogens: Helpful or harmful?
Q. I consume about 1-2.5 tbsp of ground flaxseeds per day. I know from my symptoms (breast tenderness etc) that I have a bit of estrogen dominance. Could the phytoestrogens be negatively impacting my estrogen balance?
A. Does flax contain phytoestrogens? Yes. In fact, flax seeds are a more potent source of phytoestrogens than soybeans. Is the ground flax causing your symptoms? Hard to say.
The whole issue of phytoestrogens (estrogen-like compounds found in plant sources including soy and flax) continues to bedevil researchers. Do they block the effects of estrogen, thereby protecting against things like breast cancer? Or, do they exert weak estrogenic effects, thereby protecting against things like heart disease and osteoporosis? Both? Sometimes one and sometimes the other?
Despite copious research, we still don't have a definitive answer on how phytoestrogens behave in the human body and why.
Searching for clues in a sea of conflicting and confounding information, it appears that phytoestrogens probably don't do much for hot flashes but may help preserve bone density and reduce risk of heart disease. The findings on cancer are even less conclusive. Phytoestrogens may protect some people against cancer, but those with hormone-sensitive cancers are usually advised to avoid them.
I have fewer concerns about whole foods like flaxseed and soybeans than I do about supplements which extract, isolate, and concentrate the bioactive compounds.
Returning to your question: I don't know if your symptoms are due to "estrogen dominance" or not. But the easiest way to find out whether flaxseed is contributing to them might be to stop eating flax for several weeks (try to keep everything else about your diet the same) and see if you notice any improvement.
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Posted by: Chris | Nov 9, 2009 12:44:00 PM
As an active vegan who is in great health and has not been sick at all for five years, I'm gonna have to go with TTC on this one.
Posted by: Monica Reinagel | Nov 9, 2009 11:13:32 AM
The evidence doesn't seem to support the theory that soy causes hypothyroidism or damages the thyroid gland: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16571087
Posted by: Curious reader | Nov 8, 2009 2:31:05 PM
@TTC
Well, if you want to call this an excuse, I do admit I was too simplistic, but let me put a more detailed picture.
The metabolism is much complex, involving whole of endocrine glands, boosters of the basal metabolic rate and thermogenesis, fiber to accelerate intestinal transit time/absorb fat, individual genetics/pharmacogenetics, even things not yet discovered yet.
Example: are hyperthyroid but normalizes the gland taking soy/fluorine in drinking water/toothpaste combination which is a total knockout to the thyroid with soy blocking thyroid peroxidase and fluorine as TSH analogue without the biological effects thus further disabling the gland, displacing/competing with Iodine in the thyroid, leeching out calcium from the body while raising potassium, which calms the glands and blood pressure.
And on the other hand, you eat a lot of fiber to push the food faster to elimination and absorb fat, take trans fatty acids like Conjugated Linoleic Acid from Safflower/carthamus tinctorius or from grass-fed/organic cattle and cows which raises oxidation to burn fat, drink coffee, work a stressful job which adds a little compensation to the above.
Posted by: TTC | Nov 7, 2009 8:21:12 AM
"Isoflavones, genistein, daidzen, and a few other chemical compounds in soy are powerful thyroid gland suppressors, causing hypothyroidism and obesity..."
Of course. That explains why vegetarians/vegans are so damn fat on average, right?
As an active vegan myself, I've literally met hundreds of vegans. And I can count on one hand the number of obese vegans I've met, even though most of us consume soy in some form (soy milk, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, soybeans). Do we all just have fast metabolisms? Do we all just have "good genes"? What excuse can one come up with to try to explain this away?
Anyway, in my experience, I think that fiber and total fat intake are more directly related to estrogen levels. After all, fat is responsible for creating hormones, while fiber flushes excess hormones out of your body. My advice: keep your fiber intake at 35g+ per day and your total fat intake relatively low (say, not more than ~20%). Within a few months, your estrogen levels are guaranteed to go down, and your period should become lighter.
Posted by: Curious reader | Nov 7, 2009 2:38:18 AM
Just a correction, I should have said micrograms, not miligrams.
And to those who are radical, eliminating ALL beans/legumes from the diet, please note that lentils, beans and peas does not impact the thyroid like soy do.
Many people actually make beans and lentils a staple.
Lebanon and India eat around 200 grams per day of lentils. A big serving in both lunch and dinner.
But you may wonder, why does India have endemic goitre?
The reason is the halogen Fluorine widespead in India, it antagonizes another halogen, Iodine, mimics Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, among other horrid biochemical pathways.
It is exhaustively researched and published in a hundred journals from 1900 to today, from English to German, from respected journals like "Nature" to other less known in the Americas but prominent in Europe, like those from Georg-Thieme Verlag, publisher of the famous medical atlases Thieme.
And you wonder why the blatant scientific religion/scepticism/greed in the USA with the CDC/ADA and their last attempt to protect their overlords Colgate-Palmolive Corporation with the money-manipulated York Review in 2000 all the while when other huge authority, the National Academy of Sciences which controls the IOM/Institute of Medicine 2006 report scolded the EPA to lower the 4 mg/L limit or stop fluoridation altogether.
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But more on topic with the post, flaxseeds phytoestrogens like highly concentrated lignans, does not affect the thyroid and have more biological action than those of soy.
Posted by: Curious reader | Nov 7, 2009 1:57:25 AM
***Disclaimer: I'm not a follower of Weston Price Foundation, I disagree with things from them, but this particularly, I agree***
I need to say something completely overlooked by most on the natural and vegetarian community.
The praising of soy in a wide array of channels, health/nutrition/food magazines, TV culinary shows, even many internet sites.
Soy is bad. You wonder why? It's an endocrine disruptor and goitrogen.
Isoflavones, genistein, daidzen, and a few other chemical compounds in soy are powerful thyroid gland suppressors, causing hypothyroidism and obesity(for hyperthyroid people, who can eat around 3000 kcalories without change in weight, you can't say anymore "I'm blessed with a high metabolism/good genetics", just a slip and you get obese).
NO amount of Iodine was found to reverse/counter the actions of soy.
Not even the Japanese dose in the range of 1000-3000 mg, from high seafood consumption.
Note the Japanese, famed for their tofu, miso and other soy foods, do not eat soy every day. Just a small serving of 30-50 grams once in a while.
