Quote:
Originally Posted by laurawd
Hi Cassandra,
What you write above implies that estrogen could be high even if it's not "high" on blood tests. (I.e., one might have the dreaded estrogen dominance thing going on but not be able to detect it w/ blood tests). How would you know if you're estrogen dominant, in this case?
(IT is possible to test ALL estrogens via a 24-hour urine sample, but it's a bit of a nuisance.)
Oh - and on the protein powder thing: hemp protein powder and pea protein powder - both of which are in Vega - are very good alternative sources. Doesn't just have to be soy.
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Yes Laura, that's correct. Honestly though, you can't really determine if you're estrogen dominant just with a urine test or blood test. The reason being is that it's not just the E in the circulation, but the E that your body takes up which then has the effects. You can tell if you're E dominant by looking at your body shape - are you womanly (i.e., good size breast, hips and a bit of fat around your baby holding area?) & do you have a "normal" amount of body fat for a woman (i.e., 20 to 30% {which IMHO is too high, but is really normal for most women})?
If you feel that you are like this... which is "normal" for our gender.... and want to change it, you can remove all exogenous E sources from your diet (i.e. flax, soy, et al), and consume foods that bind E, like broccoli and other cruciferous veggies. This may help to reduce E and it's effects in your body.
The other issue with monitoring E is that it cycle so much through the month, so even in women's research studies, they monitor E in women with urine tests for about 2 months. That's just not possible unless you're in research.