Did you miss part 1 and part 2 of this series?  Read those first.  Then come back here.

If your calculated waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is greater than 0.85 for women or 0.90 for men, that might be an indication of too much estrogen circulating in your body.

Estrogen is a hormone that makes tissue grow like:

• maturinng the egg follicle for ovulation
• thickening the uterine lining for implantation
• increasing cervical mucus production to carry sperm to the egg (like Uber for the sperm)
• developing the breast during adolescence and pregnancy

Too much of it can cause symptoms such as:

• Weight gain (particularly in hips, midsection, thighs)
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Ovarian cysts
• Uterine fibroids
• Endometriosis
• PCOS

In men, the most obvious symptoms of too much estrogen are:

• man boobs
• belly fat
• decreased sex drive

If estrogen levels get too high compared to the other sex hormones, fertility issues in both women and men aren’t the only long-term health implications.

Remember what estrogen does at normal levels?

Too much estrogen can cause those same organs to grow out of control in the form of breast, endometrial, uterine, or ovarian cancer.

In fact, Tamoxifen, the medication used for breast cancer, works by blocking estrogen from entering the cancer cell to slow down and hopefully stop growth.  Kinda like how a bouncer at a club won’t let the riff raff in, bringing the hot factor down.

In men, long term implications include increased risk of enlarged prostate causing urinary problems (this is why you hear a lot of older men complain about problems peeing) and prostate cancer. In fact, estrogen is a key contributor to 50% of all prostate cancer cases.

So if your WHR is high and/or you show 1 or more of the signs & symptoms of high estrogen, how do you reduce your estrogen levels?

Ahhh, you’re gonna have to wait for tomorrow’s email…

All my best,
Julie Chang, L.Ac.
Natural Fertility Eggspurt