Estrogen and fat are related. Estrogen is the antithesis of Testosterone. While testosterone is created by men and have certain effects on fat, estrogen is created by women from their ovaries.
Estrogen produces fat. Because of the difference between estrogen receptors in men and women, you will find a natural difference in the difference between fat levels in men and women.
Estrogen produces fat around the female body. Fat cells also produce estrogen.
Estrogen regulates the sexual development in the female body.
It can also inhibit thyroid and liver function.
The Estrogen Problem
The problem with estrogen and fat is not about being a man or a woman. What has become evident is that both men and women now are exhibiting estrogen characteristics at younger ages. Both young boys and young girls are also exhibiting mature estrogen characteristics earlier and earlier in life.
Young boys are developing extra breast tissue and fat deposits usually associated with females. Young girls are also developing breasts earlier, beginning menstruation earlier and earlier, and girls are developing larger breasts. As a whole these, changes are date-coincident with increases in obesity and obesity in younger and younger people in the US.
There is also evidence that immigrants and visitors coming to America will develop one or more of these characteristics, but almost always increases in fat. However, upon returning to their homeland, they lose all these symptoms.
Estrogen in the Environment
The common denominators are two things: Hormones in the animals we eat and toxic chemicals in the environment that mimic estrogen.
*As a note here, this site is about weight loss. I can go on for hours about all the effects of the artificial chemicals proliferate in our society. However, I am focusing on weight loss. I also do not want to cause alarm and fear. That will not help anything. I will provide things you can do to help.
In America animals grown for meat are grown in mass quantities. They are sold by weight. Not lean muscle mass. Doctors have known about the effects of hormones for five decades. Animals grown for meat production are fed extra hormones and specific diets to increase their weight. Increasing muscle is helpful but it is also expensive. Increasing fat is cheaper. It is cheaper because it is faster. Estrogen causes excess fat.
We eat these foods and ingest these estrogens. So do our children.
So even an Atkins or South Beach Diet can cause a person to ingest foods that contain hormones that cause fat to be created.
The Second Estrogen
There are things called endocrine disruptors. Endocrine means relating to internal secretion [encarta]. Hormones are secreted by glands. The endocrine system in the body is the system that regulates the secretion of hormones from these glands. When a gland secretes a hormone, the hormone goes through the blood. When the hormone reaches the place where it is supposed to go, the gland stops secreting it. How does the gland know when the hormone has reached its destination? There are receptors at the receiving end. When the receptor has received the hormone, the nervous system communicates to it through the brain to let the gland know.
Endocrine Disruptor
An endocrine disruptor is something that disrupts the endocrine process (the process of glands sending and receiving hormones). These chemicals act as if they were hormones.
But they are not. They can block, excite, or inhibit. Some of these chemicals go into the receptor and block the real hormone. Some go into the receptor and give a signal strength that is too strong. Others will go into the receptor and give a signal strength that is too weak. Imagine stepping on the gas while driving and the brakes have a blocker or inhibitor which prevents the brakes from receiving the signal. Your car won't stop.
Some of you can't put the brakes on your fat-creating functions.
Examples of endocrine disruptors are:
- pesticides: pest killers
- insecticides: insect killers
- herbicides: weed killers
- fungicides: fungus killers
- plastics
- solvents
- heavy metals
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has and is still doing major research on the effects of these endocrine disruptors.
What has been found is that tiny amounts can create hormone damage. Also, schools, restaurants, golf courses, yards, foods, etc. are sprayed with chemicals that mimic estrogen. These toxins accumulate in bodily organs.
Between 1938 and 1970, doctors prescribed an artificial estrogen called DES (diethylstilbestrol) to prevent miscarriages in women. It was not until 30 years later that doctors discovered that DES caused miscarriages in women, a rare form of cervical cancer, and other health problems. One dose of DES was equivalent to 5,000 birth control pills. DES was the main growth hormone being given to animals during the same time.
DDT is another chemical that mimics hormones and was recently found in fat tissues of 99% of children. Even though this was banned in 1969. Where is it coming from if it is banned? Many foods, especially produce, are purchased from countries that do not have these laws. The manufacturers found other buyers. So fruits and vegetables from other developing countries imported here are bringing the problem straight back.
In any study of toxicology (study of poisons) you will find that endocrine disruptors and carcinogens are synonymous. A carcinogen is a cancer causing agent.
The problem with this is that it is hard to prove a direct correlation because carcinogens can be dormant for up to 30 years or more.
Again, I am not trying to cause alarm or fear. The first thing to making a lasting change is to get good data and enough data to provide you with perspective.
What You Can Do
- Reduce or eliminate red wine. Red wine creates estrogen like effects.
- Buy organic. Don't buy "Natural". That has a different legal meaning. Organic means that these harmful chemicals were not used.
- Trim the fat. I talk about fat being a storage device for toxins. This is true in animals as well. Trim the fat from animal meat you are eating. This is if you are eating commercial meat. If you are not in control of that, then choose fish.
It takes 60 pounds of pesticide-sprayed feed and hay to produce 1 pound of edible beef, not to mention growth hormones given throughout the lifetime of the cattle. It takes only 1 pound of feed to produce 1 pound of edible fish & fewer hormone-disrupting chemicals.
- The same is true of coffee. Get organic. I love organic columbia and arabic coffee.