How Phytoestrogens Protect Your Bones (And How To Get Them) - Save Our Bones

Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring biochemicals found in certain plants. The “phyto” part of the word indicates the compound's plant origins. As you may guess, the “estrogen” part refers to the human hormone of that name.

Today, we'll look at the growing body of research about phytoestrogens. You'll learn how they interact with your body's estrogen receptors and what benefits they confer.

You'll also get a list of phytoestrogen-rich foods and learn how a diet that includes them may help to manage menopausal symptoms, avoid chronic disease, reduce the risk of cancer,and build stronger bones.

Estrogen, Health, And Bone Mass

Estrogen is a hormone mainly produced by the ovaries. During menopause, the body's estrogen production slows, often resulting in undesirable effects such as hot flashes.

This change in hormone levels also contributes to bone loss. That's because the body uses estrogen to regulate the bone-remodeling process by keeping bone resorption levels in check. As estrogen decreases, bone resorption increases. That can cause an imbalance if new bone isn't deposed as quickly as old bone resorbs.1

The Medical Establishment and Big Pharma developed a drug that artificially boosts estrogen levels. But this pharmacological intervention, known as hormone replacement therapy or HRT, had serious cardiovascular side effects and has been linked to increased cancer risk.2

Hormone replacement therapy is yet another pharmacological response to a natural process. This is part of a pattern in which the Medical Establishment pathologizes aging, redefining normal changes as diseases that require pharmaceutical treatment.

Synopsis

Estrogen is a hormone produced by the ovaries. As we get older, estrogen production slows, which leads to an increase in bone resorption. The Medical Establishment and Big Pharma created hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to artificially boost estrogen levels, but that treatment has been linked to cardiovascular problems and increased cancer risk.

Phytoestrogens Naturally Help Balance Hormones

Phytoestrogens are not identical to the hormones produced by the human body. However, they are similar enough to activate the same estrogen receptors that endogenous estrogen activates.

That means that phytoestrogens, absorbed through the foods you eat, can perform many of the same functions as the estrogen your body produces.

Studies have found a connection between high dietary intake of phytoestrogens and lower rates of some types of cancer, cardiovascular problems, and undesirable effects of menopause.3,4

The estrogen response system has two forms of estrogen receptors (ERs): ER-alpha and ER-beta. Phytoestrogens appear to have different effects on each type of receptor, downregulating ER-alpha and activating ER-beta.

That aligns with the effects observed above. Alpha estrogen receptors are most prominent in breast and uterine tissue. The downregulation of cellular responses in these tissues is potentially the mechanism by which phytoestrogens reduce the risk of cancer in those parts of the body.5

Beta estrogen receptors are present in cells that activate cardioprotective and bone-building metabolic processes. This early research suggests that phytoestrogen has the same bone-protective effect that estrogen has, suppressing bone resorption to ensure balance in the bone remodeling process.5

Synopsis

Because of phytoestrogens’ similar structure to estrogen, they function like estrogen in the human body. They interact with different estrogen receptors differently. The result is decreased breast and uterine cancer risk and a stabilizing effect on cardioprotective and bone-building metabolic processes.

Foods High In Phytoestrogens

This research provides crucially important information for Savers. By increasing dietary levels of phytoestrogens we can help prevent the bone loss that often accompanies aging.

The list below contains the foods with the highest levels of phytoestrogens:6

*Foundation Foods

Be sure to regularly include these foods in your 80/20 pH-balanced diet. That can be easily achieved considering the wide variety of foods that contain phytoestrogens, many of which are alkalizing Foundation Foods.

Synopsis

The foods listed above are all excellent sources of phytoestrogens. Be sure you're incorporating them into your bone-healthy diet.

What This Means To You

Eat phytoestrogen-rich foods to help maintain optimal hormone levels naturally. As the studies above show, the compounds in these foods can help reduce the risk of bone loss, chronic disease, and cancer.

Unsurprisingly, when you follow the Osteoporosis Reversal Program you'll be consuming these foods on a regular basis, since most of them are Foundation Foods. The Program was created on a scientifically proven drug-free, all-natural approach to reversing and preventing osteoporosis through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.

If you haven’t yet, try the Program to strengthen your bones, so you can live a happy and healthy life.

References

1 https://www.jci.org/articles/view/28550

2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6780820/

3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12107024/

4 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11006924/

5 https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/focus-on-phytoestrogens

6 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781234/

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Comments on this article are closed.

  1. Rebeca

    Hello !
    I would like to know if The Osteoporosis Reversal Program is also for Vegetarians.
    Thank You

  2. Mary Candia

    I was lost, and now I see the light! Thank you so much, Vivian!!

  3. Patricia

    Excellent article. Thank you Vivian.

  4. Janet Lasser

    What about estrogen dominance. Will eating phytoestrogens help with that? What about Estrogen/Progesterone balance?
    Thanks!

  5. Joyce

    I lose programs on the computer. Is there a way to get the reversal program in book form?

  6. Diana

    Do raw cashews have higher levels of phytoestrogens than roasted cashews? Does roasting nuts, in general, reduce some of their benefits?

  7. Badria Khalaf

    Five years ago I had a breast cancer thay was estrogen positive I was treated with medications to remove the estrogen from my body. That medication probably closes the estrogen receptors. Would the food containing phytoestrogen help?

  8. CHA HUI OKAMOTO

    what effect does phytoestrogen have on men?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      A meta-analysis and systematic review published in the British Journal of Urology concluded that men could safely consume dietary phytoestrogens. Moreover, the same study has found that phytoestrogens may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol, and blood pressure, and improve the control of blood sugar.

  9. Frances Higgins

    Are there any negative side-effects of phytoestrogens? Do they affect fibroids? Also is it ok for men to eat phytoestrogen rich food?

    • Vivian Goldschmidt, MA

      Frances, research shows that phytoestrogens have practically no side effects. In a study titled “Side effects of phytoestrogens: a meta-analysis of randomized trials”, the authors conclude that:

      “Phytoestrogen supplements had a safe side-effect profile with moderately increased rates of gastrointestinal side-effects, such as abdominal pain, as well as myalgia and sleepiness. They were not associated with increased risks of breast cancer, endometrial cancer, vaginal bleeding, and endometrial hyperplasia.”

      Bear in mind that they’re referring to supplements rather than eating foods that contain phytoestrogens. At the Save Institute, we don’t recommend taking them in supplement form.

      There’s no scientific evidence that phytoestrogens can prevent uterine fibroids nor that they affect a man’s health in any way. In fact, many healthy foods contain them, so men should not abstain from eating them.

  10. Simone Wood

    Please add me to your mailing list

    • Save Institute Customer Support

      Dear Simone,

      We’re happy to help you, so please check your email inbox within the next 24-48 hours.

      In good health,
      Customer Support

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