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Lignans and
Fibroid - Free Living —
by Chris Serafini D.C. – Doctor’s Prescription for
Health Living Article
One important step for helping women with fibroids is to
balance their hormone levels. I find Brevail® is one of the best defenses
against estrogen dominance.
Brevail’s clinically studied
flax lignans act like estrogen buffers to favorably alter the environmental
balance of women. In effect, lignans, which are a type of completely safe
plant hormone, quiet down the hormone cascade within women’s reproductive
tissues, which especially occurs within the fibroid tumor. Hormone balance
is a key to women’s reproductive health and particularly critical to
preventing future bouts of fibroid tumors.
Genetic susceptibility is certainly a factor in some
women’s fibroid tumors, but the underlying risk factor is too much of the
women’s reproductive hormone estrogen. Estrogen, which stimulates
development of the uterine lining for pregnancy, may also promote the growth
of fibroids. Experts say that fibroids contain more estrogen and estrogen
receptors than do normal uterine muscle cells.
Compounding the problem of the body’s own natural
estrogen, unfortunately, is the assault from synthetic by-products of fossil
fuels that get into women’s bodies—toxic forms of estrogen, known as
xenoestrogens. As petroleum is converted to phthalates, pesticides and
plastics, these manufactured products contain molecules that resemble the
hormone estrogen. Once ingested, they are absorbed into women’s tissues and
become part of the bloodstream, much like estrogen. When they pass by an
estrogen-sensitive cell receptor on the breasts, ovaries or uterus, they
congregate there, unlocking genetic materials linked with cell receptors on
the cell membrane. But because these are toxic to the body and constantly in
the bloodstream, they are now thought to play a subtle role in making women
more susceptible to a whole host of challenging health conditions, including
breast and ovarian cancer, endometriosis, and possibly uterine fibroids.
All women’s bodies now contain xenoestrogens that some
researchers link with increased rates of uterine fibroids among modern
women. At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, L.C. Hodges
and co-investigators reported in the December 2001 Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences that they have found xenoestrogens to be a possible
cause of the current high incidence of uterine fibroids (leiomyomas).
They report that xenoestrogens “can mimic the effect of
estrogen on leiomyoma cells.” In other words, these compounds stimulate
genetic transcriptions or messages via the cell membrane estrogen receptors
“and up-regulate the expression of an estrogen-responsive gene in uterine
leiomyoma cells.” This causes the formation of uterine fibroids and is the
smoking gun of experimental research that suggests estrogen dominance plays
a role in uterine fibroid formation.
Besides using systemic enzymes, women should also make use
of safe and effective selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) to
displace the xenoestrogens. Once again, nature outperforms any kind of
pharmaceutical drug.
Brevail contains flax lignans
that the body converts into secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), which
alters the metabolism and action of estrogen in women’s bodies so that women
produce more of the safest, least-toxic forms of the hormone. In a study
published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention,
it was shown that flaxseed lignan supplementation favorably alters estrogen
balance in healthy postmenopausal women.
Twenty-eight women (nuns, with no history of pregnancy)
completed a series of seven-week supplementation periods where they: 1) ate
their usual “control” diet; 2) took a 5 gram per day supplement of flaxseed
meal: or 3) took a 10 gram per day supplement of flaxseed meal, rich in
lignans. A “washout” period of at least seven weeks followed each seven-week
dietary treatment period.
During the periods when the women consumed the flaxseed supplements, the
concentration of 2-hydroxy estrogen (2OH-E; the “safe” estrogen ) in the
urine increased, with the 10 gram per day dose producing 2OH-E increases
significantly greater than both the 5 gram per day dose and the control
diet.
Other studies show that flax lignans displace more toxic
types of xenoestrogens like pesticides from attaching to reproductive cells,
thus providing protection against this cause of estrogen dominance.
Think of dietary lignans as an estrogen buffer that helps the body quit
fueling fibroids to stay fibroid-free, or at least quiescent.
Lignans and Estrogen Metabolism
I think of Brevail as an
all-natural and safe SERM. Brevail is comprised of a very special and
specific plant lignan that has been isolated, purified, concentrated,
standardized, and guaranteed for potency from flaxseed.
Flaxseed is the most highly researched source of plant
lignans. While flaxseed is the world’s most abundant source of lignans, the
concentration of lignan from crop to crop, variety to variety and, for that
matter, from seed to seed, can fluctuate up to 300 percent. Brevail ensures
an exact dose every time, designed to raise the body’s physiologic
concentration of lignans to that of women on a very conscientious,
vegetarian diet and with an excellent history of reproductive health.
Seldom do individual plant actives work alone, but rather
are exponentially more beneficial in the presence of other like compounds.
In nature, as in Brevail, lignans coexist in natural foods in harmony with
other phytochemicals, and accessory and antioxidant nutrients. These
potentially synergistic constituents have been carefully retained during the
Brevail manufacturing process and are thought to enhance your body’s use of
lignan, as well as have unique nutritional attributes of their own.
Brevail has been carefully crafted to preserve the
synergistic and value-added constituents in proper balance and proportion.
Brevail’s product profile is a perfect fingerprint, true in integrity,
profile and balance, provided by a master formulator—nature.
As a health professional, I especially like Brevail
because it is the only product of its kind to have validated the exact dose
with a clinical, human oral-dosing, pharmacokinetic study. Thirty women
participated in human oral dosing clinical studies with Brevail. Lignan
levels were raised and maintained in urine and blood comparable to women
with an extraordinary history of breast and hormonal health.
One hundred women participated in a subsequent trial-usage program with
Brevail and reported improvement in mood, sense of well-being and peace of
mind, as well as relief from symptoms related to PMS and peri-, pre- and
postmenopausal discomforts. In addition, lignans have been shown to play a
role in helping to preserve women’s long-term cognitive function.
Medical science shows lignans offer so much in the way of
women’s health benefits. Brevail is an important self-health care discovery
for women experiencing menstrual or menopausal discomforts, and for women
concerned with breast health.
How long before Brevail starts working?
The effect of Brevail is
almost immediate. Within one week of taking Brevail, lignan levels match or
slightly exceed those in women who have demonstrated a high degree of
hormonal balance.
Is it possible for Brevail to flush out too much good
estrogen?
No. Lignans, by nature’s design, cannot fully saturate
available estrogen receptor sites, nor fully displace estrogen. The result
is a delicate balance between body and nature, just as nature intended.
Resources
Brevail is
distributed by Christine’s Cleanse Corner, Inc
Click here for Brevail product or ordering
information. Or visit us on the web at
www.TransformYourHealth.com
or call us toll-free at 877-673-0224.
References
Haggans, C.J., et al. “The effect of flaxseed and wheat
bran consumption on urinary estrogen metabolites in premenopausal women.”
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2000;9:719-25.
Hodges, L.C., et al. “An in vivo/in vitro model to assess endocrine
disrupting activity of xenoestrogens in uterine leiomyoma.” Ann NY Acad Sci,
2001;948:100-111.
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