Category: Hormones

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…for an abundance of festivities, celebrations, decadence, indulgence, and pounds of sugar. Sugar is far more than just a dietary carbohydrate. Its meaning and significance run deep culturally, environmentally, psychologically, and physically. Unsurprisingly, it becomes so tempting and addictive for many people, especially during the holiday season. Let’s dive into the impact of sugar and how it profoundly influences your physical health and emotional well-being, with a targeted effect on your female reproductive hormonal health. Unpacking Carbohydrates Our bodies depend on carbohydrates, along with protein and fat. This macronutrient is the primary source of fuel or energy required for creating and sustaining human life. Under that large umbrella of carbohydrates, we have various types and forms based on their biochemical structure. The biochemical structure of carbohydrates—along with your individual health and metabolism—will determine how quickly or efficiently they are absorbed and metabolized and, ultimately, how they affect your body. This is a crucial point to remember. Metabolism refers to your ability to biochemically extract and convert food and beverages into energy, build and repair your cells, tissues, and organs, and nourish, regulate, and maintain human function and life. Generally speaking, there are two...

Testosterone Benefits Testosterone has many beneficial effects, including increasing bone strength and density, inducing the creation of red blood cells, improving sexual function, enhancing libido, protecting the heart and increasing muscle strength in men and women. Testosterone and other steroid hormones are cleared from the body through the liver. The pathway that clears testosterone is called Glucuronidation. The enzyme responsible is called UDP-glucoronosyltranserase (UGT2B17). Once testosterone has circulated in the body and worked its magic, it goes to the liver to be excreted through the Glucuronidation pathway. Once here, it is converted into testosterone glucuronidase and then is excreted out of the body through the Kidneys primarily. How Your Diet Makes an Impact In 2012 and 2013, researcher Carl Jenkinson et al conducted studies published in Medical Journals (Frontiers of Endocrionology, Nutrition Journal and Steroids), demonstrating the Effects of Dietary Components on Testosterone Metabolism via UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase (UGP). What they found was that red wine samples inhibited the glucuronidation of testosterone by up to 70% over 2 hours. The ethanol content had no significant effect. They went on to discover that green and white tea preparations inhibited the UGT2B17 enzyme by circa 20% with a white tea powder inhibiting glucuronidation by...

As many of you know we have been offering testosterone pellet therapy for many years. Testosterone pellets are safe and effective as an alternative for testosterone replacement therapy. We have provided a study below documents safety and effectiveness. STUDY: J Sex Med. 2017 Jan;14(1):47-49. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.11.305. Epub 2016 Dec 15. Testosterone Pellet Implantation Practices: A Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA) Member Questionnaire. Piecuch MJ(1), Patel BG(2), Hakim L(3), Wang R(4), Sadeghi-Nejad H(1). Author information: (1)Department of Urology, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA. (2)Department of Urology, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA. Electronic address: brijesh_g_patel@rush.edu. (3)Department of Urology, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL, USA. (4)Department of Urology, University of Texas-Houston, Houston, TX, USA. INTRODUCTION: There has been renewed interest in the use of subcutaneous testosterone pellets for the treatment of hypogonadism since the introduction of Testopel in 2008 by Slate Pharmaceuticals (Durham, NC, USA). Manufacturer guidelines recommend using two to six pellets; however, in the clinical setting, this is deemed insufficient. This has produced a wide variety of testosterone pellet usage that is not fully understood. AIM: To better understand subcutaneous testosterone pellet implantation practices among members of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA)....

By Steve Parcell, ND Study: Different Hormone Therapy Formulations May Pose Different Risks for Heart Attack and Stroke We at NatureMed, especially Kelly Parcell, ND, in Boulder are known for doing quite a bit of natural hormone replacement. Here is a post from Cedars Sinai demonstating that what we have been saying for years is trure. Natural hormones are safer. Post-menopausal women whose doctors prescribe hormone replacement therapy for severe hot flashes and other menopause symptoms may want to consider taking low doses of Food and Drug Administration-approved bioidentical forms of estrogen or getting their hormones via a transdermal patch. A new observational study shows bioidentical hormones in transdermal patches may be associated with a lower risk of heart attack, and FDA-approved products - not compounded hormones - may be associated with a slightly lower risk of stroke compared to synthetic hormones in pill form. “If confirmed by future randomized trials, these findings may be significant because for the past decade, many women who experienced severe menopause symptoms opted not to use hormone therapy because of the reported increased risk of stroke and heart attacks,” said Chrisandra Shufelt, MD, director of the Women’s Hormone and Menopause Program at the Barbra...

Starting in the fifth decade of life, during perimenopause and manifesting in a more pronounced way in the sixth decade when complete menopause has established itself, chronic diseases may begin to emerge in many women. Menopause is characterized as a decrease in sex steroid hormones  (testosterone estrogen, and progesterone) due to ovarian (gonadal) failure. This decrease in hormones affects hormone responsive organ systems such as the cardiovascular system, bone and the nervous system. Women can also begin to get metabolic disorders at this time, which are responsible for the chronic diseases that can occur. These metabolic changes can include cholesterol problems, high triglycerides, blood sugar irregularities, weight gain and insulin resistance (which may lead type II diabetes). All these conditions can be prevented and treated. Lets go into a bit more detail here on each disorder and condition. The specific changes to cholesterol during this time include increase in low-density lipoprotein (LDL), an increase in triglycerides (TG) and it decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL). In addition, the protective effect of HDL also appears to diminish after menopause and this is thought to be because the HDL particles become smaller. After menopause the decline in estrogen makes the blood vessel wall more susceptible to...