Is Estrogen a bad-guy? 

(cue… Billy Elish’s ‘Bad guy’ song… do doot, do do do do do, do doot, do do do do do do… 

The quick answer is no… it’s not.

But, keep reading. Because unfortunately estrogen can get a bad rap.
And I think it’s time we clear up this misinformation!

You have three estrogens in your body. Estradiol being the most potent of your estrogens. The two less potent estrogens are estriol and estrone. 

Estrogen is every cell in your body. It helps to create our femininity, supports our brain health, heart health, your bone health and supports 12 different systems in the body. 

Once your body utilizes your estrogens, it breaks them down and moves them through three phases of detox including the liver, your digestive track and ultimately out through stool. 

But… if our detoxification pathways are blocked, this can cause the spent hormones and toxins to circulate in the body, causing uncomfortable symptoms like joint pain, breast tenderness, brain fog, and much more.

Additionally, as estrogen breaks down, it breaks out into three different metabolites (or pathways). 

• 2-Hydroxyestrone or 2 OH
• 4-Hydroxyestrone or 4 OH
• 16-Hydroxyestrone or 16 OH

I often think of these metabolites like three different door ways. You clear the spent hormones (and toxins), through these open doors. 

Here is the tricky part…and where estrogen can get a bad rap. 

We have beneficial pathways. And pathways that can be proliferative (meaning not healthy) if they are out of range.

• 2-Hydroxyestrone or 2 OH is a beneficial pathway and ideally we want to have at least 70% moving through this pathway.
• 4-Hydroxyestrone or 4 OH you want to stay under 10%, as this can be a proliferative pathway when out of range. This pathway when out of range can do the most damage to our DNA and potentially lead to carcinogenisis.
• 16-Hydroxyestrone or 16OH you want to stay under 20%. This pathway is more nuanced, and we need some to maintain bone health, but not too much or it can be proliferative. When we metabolize a larger portion of estrogen through this pathway there is a much higher risk of breast cancer compared to women who metabolize the majority through the 2 OH pathway.

So it’s not estrogen that is the bad guy.
It’s how we clear estrogen through the body.

So… how do we check our estrogen metabolite pathways to know how if we are breaking down our estrogen?

The DUTCH test is really the only way to look at these pathways. This dried urine test can show how your body is breaking down estrogens. The DUTCH test is the gold standard of hormone testing. It not only shows what your hormone levels are, but how you break them down, and what your percentages are. 

I know the part about not breaking them down in a healthy way can sound a little scary.

Here’s the thing though… there are a lot of solutions if your body is not clearing your hormones properly. Nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle changes all can help get things moving down the healthy pathways once again, and correct your percentages.

This is an important piece to work with a practitioner on. So first Test-Don’t-Guess.
And… don’t DIY the supplements. Because when you throw the wrong supplements at your body to fix what you think might be an issue. You can also create further hormone imbalance issues.

Ready for support? Click the link below, and let’s get you started on your path to healing.

Resources:
https://dutchtest.com/video/estrogen-metabolism-101/