Home » Hypothalamus » Estradiol and Estrone Hormones | How To Metabolize Estrogen Safely

Estradiol and Estrone Hormones | How To Metabolize Estrogen Safely

by | Last updated: Apr 7, 2022 | Hypothalamus | 4 comments

Today, I’m going to tell you how to metabolize estrogen safely. This is one of my favorite subjects, talking about estrogen and I like to talk about estrogen in terms of the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m going to teach you exactly what you need to do to get your estrogen metabolized as safely as possible. All in order to protect you throughout your aging process, whether you are a young woman or an older woman, to have the safest estrogen metabolism.

But first of all, you need to understand something: estradiol produced by your ovaries is the main hormone.

It is a short acting hormone and the strongest hormone that you make, in terms of estrogen. It affects your brain, it helps your memory, it gives you youthfulness, it helps you grow beautiful hair, skin, nails. Estrogen, estradiol particularly, helps your vision. So when you start losing that estrogen as you go through perimenopause, and menopause, you start getting near-sighted or you have what I call short arm syndrome where you cannot read very well without reading glasses. That’s all an estradiol effect. Estradiol I also call the joy hormone. It actually helps you produce serotonin and keeps you in balance and happy.

Estradiol is great, except it doesn’t last very long in your body. So, luckily for us women, we have some fat cells that allow us to use enzymes stored in those fat cells to create a longer acting estrogen.

That estrogen is called estrone, but they’re not created equally.

You do not always make the same types of estrone. You have three types of estrone, you have the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now, the good estrone is called 2-hydroxyl estrone. What that means is, on the little circular carbon group, you have a hydroxyl group. If it is one the second carbon it’s called 2-hydroxyl. The 2-hydroxyl estrone is the good estrone. You make this when you are young. You also make this if you stay fit and slim, you do not have a lot of extra body fat and you are very, very active. It is super important to keep a healthy weight and to be active even as you age in order to try to make more of good estrone or 2-hydroxyl estrone.

Now, the bad estrone, and by bad I mean the carcinogen estrone, is the one that is more likely to cause cancer. It is called 4-hydroxyl estrone. Now Premarin, pregnant mare’s urine, which is a form of estrogen given to menopausal women as hormone replacement is almost always converted into 4-hydroxyl estrone or the bad carcinogenic estrogen. So why don’t all women get cancer, breast cancer in particular, when they take Premarin? Because breast cancer, as are all cancers, is a multi-factorial disease. It’s not just one thing that causes breast cancer. You can actually counterbalance it with other things that you are doing in your lifestyle. But this is the estrone that we want to avoid.

Hormone Healing Tip #1: Lower Bad, Inflammatory Estrone

Now, what we make a lot of as well is what I call the ugly estrone. 16-hydroxyl estrone. It is inflammatory, it causes inflammation in your body. It causes your breasts to get super full. Actually, it is the 16-hydroxyl estrone that causes fibrocystic breast disease or those lumpy painful breasts. It’s a 16-hydroxyl estrone that contributes to fibroid uterus or those benign tumors in the uterus.

It is the 16-hydroxyl estrone that causes the really heavy bleeding in periods that are extremely heavy and cramping.

This is the one that’s inflammatory. We do not want this one. Why do we make this one? Well, as you age, you make more 16-hydroxyl than 2-hydroxyl. We cannot control that part. What you can control is your weight. Obese women make a lot more 16-hydroxyl estrone. Women who are sedentary, they are not moving, they are not active, they make more 16-hydroxyl estrone. Women who consume xenoestrogens in the form of plastics, as well. For example, drinking your water out of a plastic bag, especially if it has been heated.

This is also a concern with consuming pesticides like DDT or even certain drugs, like Cimetidine or Tagamet that is used for ulcers. They can actually enhance the production of 16-hydroxyl estrone and alcohol. Now moderate alcohol intake, which is considered one ounce of hard alcohol for a female daily is fine but when taken excessively will increase your 16-hydroxyl estrone or the ugly inflammatory estrogen. We do not want that.

Hormone Healing Tip #2: Increase 2OH Estrone

So what are we going to do in order to change this? One of the things you might notice is there is an arrow to another estrogen here and this estrogen is called estriol. Well, luckily for you, for all of us women, our 16-hydroxyl estrone can be converted into estriol and this is a protective estrogen.

But unfortunately, it goes back and forth. So the more your lifestyle is favoring the bad stuff, you are drinking too much, you are not very active, you’re exposing yourself to xenoestrogens and soy and plastics. Then you are going to have more issues with the 16-hydroxyl estrone and estriol converting back up to this. Estriol is the pregnancy hormone. It is considered one of the safest hormones but it can be converted back to the 16-hydroxyl estrone by your fat cells. So how do you actually increase your own production of 2-hydroxyl estrone?

Hormone Healing Tip #3: Supplements to Safely Metabolize Estrogen

Well, you can take certain supplements. Now, in your diet, if you are eating lots of cruciferous vegetables, cruciferous vegetables are those stinky ones like broccoli and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts and cabbage and kale, those vegetables actually have a sulfur molecule, that’s what smells stinky in them. But it is that stinkiness, that particular chemical, called DIM, that we want.

diindolylmethane

D-I-M, is from IC3 indoles that actually helps to protect you and help you make more 2-hydroxyl estrone. Now, the dose of DIM that you wanna take is 200 milligrams once or twice a day in order to protect you, especially if you are aging, especially if you are overweight, you are sedentary, you are exposing yourself to xenoestrogens to try to convert this back over to the 2-hydroxyl estrone you want to be taking DIM.

The other thing in your diet that is super healthy, and really helps your body to make more of the safe good estrone, are fish oils and it is the EPA in fish oils.

Unfortunately, you won’t find DHA, which you can get from algae and vegetarian sources but the actual fish body and skin oil, EPA, that actually increases the 2-hydroxyl estrone or protective good estrogen production. And lignans, which are basically like the fiber’s aspects of things like flaxseeds. That will increase your 2-hydroxyl estrone and protect you. And, of course, I have put within my Genesis Gold® Product, protective plants to help you metabolize your estrogen much more safety.

Genesis Gold - New Bag

Genesis Gold®

About the Author - Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

Known as the Hormone Queen®️, I’ve made it my mission to help everyone – no matter their age – balance their hormones, and live the energy and joy their DNA and true destiny desires. See more about me my story here…

     

4 Comments

  1. Patty

    I am applying bHRT in the form of estradiol along with taking oral progesterone. I see much controversy as to whether to apply it on my lower abdomen because of amylase I think it is and the estradiol being converted to estrone. Is this true? It’s one of the last spots on my body that I feel somewhat safe in regards to not transferring it to my husband and pets.

    Reply
    • Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

      Transdermal estrogen is best applied on your inner thighs
      It should absorb within 15 minutes

      Reply
  2. Serene

    I’m on Biest 50/50, T cream, oral P and Estriol suppositories (for vaginal dryness). I had a couple of recent tests done to see where my levels are at, a blood test and a urine DUTCH test. On the DUTCH test it shows that my Estriol is extremely high-and was told that my body seems to be converting my Estradiol to estriol. It’s 146.1 ng/mg…my estradiol is 0.78 . On the blood test Estradiol is 7.7 pg/mL. Is it possible my estriol is high due to the suppositories? I’m also developing skin darkening around the groin and bikini area with a dark line that runs up to my belly button. Is this common from taking hormones? Thank you!

    Reply
    • Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

      It’s normal to convert estradiol to estriol
      But the vaginal suppository is probably not the issue, it’s the Biest which is systemic hormones and may be causing the melasma you’re describing in your groin area

      Reply

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