tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5641890471375686565.post2637049425150095900..comments2008-01-07T00:27:48.869-08:00S.2http://www.blogger.com/profile/01480698852373592493noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5641890471375686565.post-39488190101382455042008-01-07T00:27:00.000-08:002008-01-07T00:27:00.000-08:00So, I haven't actually tried phyto-estrogens supplements myself. I've heard from one or two people that they did spend big bucks on them over a year or so and saw little to no effect. Other people seem to swear by them but it's hard to tell how much is wishful thinking. Your mileage may vary and all that.<BR/><BR/>I just want to comment. I'm not a doctor but I have studied biochemistry and have an avid interest in this particular subject.<BR/><BR/>Anything you take orally goes through your liver as soon as it gets absorbed, so most of it gets broken down right away and has no effect (other than possibly to inflame your liver). This goes for pharma pills as well as herbals. Oral estradiol pills have to have a much higher dose for the same effect as transdermal patches.<BR/><BR/>Anything that's not estradiol (your body's most potent natural estrogen) will not have the same exact effects as estradiol. Phyto-estrogens are similar enough in shape to "dock" with the same receptors on your cells. Depending on the differences it can either mimic the effect of real estrogen to some degree, or even block its normal effects. Since estrogen has many effects in the body, different phyto-estrogens will show different patterns of mimicking or blocking natural estrogen's various effects. And no, your body does not convert phyto-estrogens into "real" estrogens. The only thing it can convert into estrogen is testosterone, with the aromatase enzyme.<BR/><BR/>That being said - if it's working for you, awesome. It'd be nice to know what brand, dosage, and what effects you're seeing from it. There's not a lot of specifics on what actually works out there. If they can't patent it, pharma companies won't do clinical studies, and supplement companies aren't required to by law so they're not going to shell out for it either (especially when it might show their product is ineffective or can have nasty side effects). So if we want this info we have to gather it ourselves.<BR/><BR/>By the way - it's not the natural buffers in willow bark that make it less upsetting than aspirin - it's the lower dosage. Aspirin was actually developed as a less-upsetting version of willow bark extract (salicylic acid). It was a little better, but not much. Bufferin was an attempt to improve that but didn't help much either. Same with enteric-coated aspirins. We now know the upsetting effect of aspirin is mostly due to the side effect of preventing the stomach from making its protective lining, not from the medicine's acidity itself which pales next to your natural stomach acids so it turns out all such attempts were doomed to fail.<BR/><BR/>Herbals are more variable, less controlled than pharma doses, no doubt. The variability in active ingredients can be factors of ten or a hundred, not just a few percent. Some people find this scary. Others trust in thousands of years of accumulated wisdom (mostly wiped out in Western culture over the past 2000 years but still surviving elsewhere) regarding the proper cultivation and use of plants as medicines.<BR/><BR/>Manufacturers of herbal supplements are no less profit motivated than big pharma though, so don't take their word for it.Justhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550396719780602190noreply@blogger.com