Updates regarding taking BHRT estrogen and the two experts who suggest they could be cancer-causing
Avoid supplementing with estrogen and testosterone based on Mercola and Dinkov
Below is an excerpt from a follow-up interview Dr. Mercola did with Georgi Dinkov in which they discussed four beneficial hormones. I copied this section from page 16 of the transcript because I think the points made below are very important to know.
I am stressing this section because I was one of those people who believed BHRT estrogens for women (depending on their hormone test results) could be beneficial.
Still, from what these two experts are saying, supplemental estrogens are not helpful and may be harmful and increase cancer risk.
They suggest taking progesterone, NOT as a transdermal cream, but instead opening a capsule and mixing it with ghee or grass-fed butter and consuming it in the evening.
I know quite a few people who take progesterone as a cream.
Dr. Mercola goes on to state that people should avoid taking supplemental testosterone as well.
Again, I know of numerous people who take testosterone as a cream.
Below is the pdf transcript link to learn more about the four hormones they suggest (not all 4 for everyone), dosing, and how to take them.
The four hormones they suggest that could be beneficial in supplemental form are pregnenolone, progesterone, T3, and DHEA
https://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/ExpertInterviewTranscripts/DrJosephMercola-GeorgiDinkov-TheFourVitalHormonesMostAdultsNeedForOptimalHealthSpanAndLifespan.pdf
Page 16 from the transcribed interview
Georgi Dinkov: Oh, not only that, I can send you – there was a – I don't know if you saw the debunking that a doctor did of the podcast you and I did on estrogen. You did not? I'll send you. There's a doctor who is, I think, a gynecologist [who] said, “Oh, these two. They poo-pooed all over estrogen, and here are my counterarguments.” And she said, “Yeah, the Women’s Health Initiative studies demonstrated these terrible effects, but then we reanalyzed the data,” which is a euphemism for, “We threw out the things we didn't like, and then we found these specific subgroups where if you change the dosage, estrogen will be OK.” And I responded to that with a slew of other studies showing that – basically, her main point was that estrogen is not carcinogenic. And I said, “Really? Here is a list of 40 cancers. Every single one of them, multiple studies showing that estrogen can both cause it de novo and if it's already there, it promotes its growth.” So, there's really no such thing as a non-endocrine cancer. All of them respond to hormones, and estrogen is a primary growth factor in all of them.
Dr. Joseph Mercola: Yeah. And I'll put a link to our previous podcast where we did discuss that, where we went deep and had a lot more time to do it. So, no excuse for ever taking bioidentical estrogen, but you want bioidentical progesterone and that's not hard to do. You don't want the synthetic. And synthetic progesterone, sometimes it's referred to as progesterone, but more accurately it's called progestin. That is dangerous. That's bad. It's almost as bad as estrogen. So, you don't want that. But most of the people who are encouraging, recommending, advising people to take natural progesterone, I would say it's probably over 99% that people who use it, they use it transdermally and that is not what you want to do. So, I'll let you talk – we actually talked about it. You want to use progesterone, but if you want to mention anything, the dangers of using it transdermally, we'll talk about it. But then I want to talk about the dose and then we'll go into the others. So, the dose I'm recommending – and a dose for a premenopausal woman, in other words, a woman who's still having her cycles, you have to be careful and only use it – not the entire month, and I forget the specific timing of it, but you can definitely [inaudible 00:48:51] up your cycle if you use it the wrong time. So, otherwise you can use it every day, and it's like 25 to 50 milligrams. I kind of like to err on the high side, like 50 milligrams, because there doesn't seem to be any downside. There's no toxicity. Other hormones like testosterone – and notice, I did not recommend taking testosterone, especially for men. I do not recommend it at all. You don't need to do it and I think it's potentially dangerous. You just need to get those four we mentioned. But unlike testosterone supplementation that many men are on, it doesn't have negative feedback. So, you can take it to the wazoo and it will – in fact, I think it enhances progesterone production when you take it, if I'm not mistaken. So, you don't have to be concerned about that. There doesn't appear to be any toxicity. And the women who are pregnant, man, this goes through the roof. I don't know how many orders of magnitude higher it is during pregnancy than it is in nonpregnancy. But the point being is that the human body can tolerate very high levels of this without side effects.
Bottom Line: If you are taking testosterone or estrogen replacement therapy, I would dive into the topic more and discuss it with the prescribing practitioner.
Thoughts?
Are you taking any BHRT or synthetic hormones? If so, will you continue taking them? What does your prescribing doctor say about BHRT for estrogens?
It can be confusing and upsetting to think you are doing the right thing only to find that it may be harmful, not beneficial.
There are hormonal cancers in the women on my mother’s side of the family, so I thought taking BHRT estrogens may be preventative for breast cancer.
I am still unsettled about this topic.
I started mammograms at age 40 due to a family history of breast cancer, but then, after the third mammogram, I learned that I could be increasing my cancer risk, and I switched over to thermography, which I do every few years. I do the full body scan.
Do you get mammograms? Have you ever tried thermography? I have found the Thermogram Center in Colorado to be exceptional with their test result explanation. Their website is www.thermogramcenter.com