How do you get natural oestrogen?

May 2009

How do you get natural oestrogen? "Would it be from soy?" my hairdresser asked as she snipped away.

Hmm, I pondered. What is natural anyway? Strictly speaking, there is only one source of natural oestrogen and that is your body. Trouble is, at menopause a woman has run out of eggs and the ovaries therefore stop producing oestrogen. This does not mean that no oestrogen is produced at all.

Other tissues and organs produce it, though in a different form to the one from the ovaries. So, after menopause a woman will continue to produce oestrogen, in the form of oestrone, which is less active than the oestradiol produced in the fertile years.

Typical menopausal symptoms of:

• hot flushes
• night sweats
• mood swings
• incontinence
• dry skin
• dry vagina

are caused by low levels of oestrogen. It follows then that to relieve those symptoms you would be looking for a way to boost your oestrogen levels.

We can get estrogen-like substances, called phytoestrogens, from plants, but they are only a weak version of the real thing. However, as we women age, and hormone levels decline, these phytoestrogens can become more important and by the age of 60 they may be an important source of estrogens for women.

Phytoestrogens are close enough in structure to estrogen to bind to hormone receptors and so produce some activity. The most potent are isoflavones and these are found only in legumes. For example, soy, lentils, chickpeas and beans. Soya beans and soy products have the highest concentration.

• The average Australian has very low levels of isoflavones in the blood, but in Asia blood levels of isoflavones are 20 to 30 times greater than in the Australian population.
• The incidence of hot flushes in Asian women is 14% to 18% compared to 70% to 80% in European women.
• An Australian study found that supplementing soy in the diet of menopausal women resulted in a 40% reduction in symptoms.

So how much soy isoflavones do you need then? Based on the traditional Asian diet, 6mg to 9mg of soy protein daily or the equivalent of 18mg to 30mg of isoflavones is recommended. Explore Asian cuisine for tofu and tempeh recipes, the traditional soy-based foods.

The following servings contain 18mg to 25mg of soy isoflavones:

• half a cup non-GMO or organic soy milk
• quarter cup of tofu
• quarter cup of tempeh
• quarter cup of green soy beans – fresh or frozen
• heaped handful of roasted soy nuts

Not too difficult to factor this into your diet, is it? Allow up to 6 weeks to feel the full effects.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Blomberg at mind body insight. You can also schedule a consultation online.