Progesterone’s Health Benefits

By nature, progesterone is a calming or tranquility hormone. It can even cause you to feel a bit sleepy; that’s one reason why it is taken at night. It makes a woman feel better from the symptoms of PMS such as:

• Bloating.
• Irritability.
• Breast tenderness.
• Migraine headaches.
• Anxiety.

Progesterone is also used to reduce heavy or painful periods. In fact, symptoms of progesterone deficiency include bloating of the face, hands and feet from water retention before your period. Tension in your face and feeling a lot of pressure during this time of the month can also indicate that progesterone levels are insufficient. Breasts that are painful or develop cysts can be a sign of low progesterone, too. The same holds true for ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids.

Progesterone supplementation is also used to stop the symptoms associated with early menopause when ovarian function slows and the ovaries stop producing estrogen. The symptoms include:

• Hot flashes.
• Breast tenderness.
• Worsening PMS.
• Decreased sex drive.
• Vaginal dryness.
• Irregular periods.
• Fatigue.
• Urinary problems (leakage, urgency).
• Mood swings.
• Insomnia.

Health Protection

Beyond helping with the bothersome symptoms of PMS and perimenopause, there are more urgent reasons women use natural progesterone supplementation: Progesterone helps protect women from heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis (brittle bones). This is largely because progesterone can decrease certain ill effects of estrogen, reducing the chances of uterine cancer and breast cancer. Many scientific studies have shown that progesterone decreases breast cancer risk:

• A study reported in the Journal of Epidemiology[1] in 1981 looked at 1,083 women who were treated for infertility. The researchers followed these women for 13 to 33 years, noting their incidence of breast cancer. The premenopausal risk for breast cancer was 5.4 times higher in women with low progesterone levels compared to those with normal levels. There were 10 times more deaths from cancer in the low progesterone group compared with those with normal progesterone levels.

• A 2002 case-control study reported in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention [2] looked at third trimester progesterone levels and breast cancer risk. It found increasing levels of progesterone were associated with decreased risk of breast cancer. This association was strongest before the age of 50. They also found that those in the highest quartile of progesterone levels had a 50 percent reduction in breast cancer risk compared with those in the lowest quartile of progesterone levels.

• In 2004, a prospective study of progesterone levels and associated breast cancer risk in 5,963 women was reported in the International Journal of Cancer.[3]

• In 2008, researchers reported that they had followed 80,000 postmenopausal women for more than eight years. They showed that using progesterone along with estrogen significantly reduced breast cancer risk compared to the use of synthetic progestin.[4]

Progesterone also is beneficial to heart health. It actually has a vascular relaxation effect. The Women’s Health Initiative studies showed that progesterone (unlike progestins) increases the cardio-protective effects of estrogen and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. Progesterone also improves lipid profiles and helps estrogen improve lipid profiles (unlike progestins). Many studies which compare progesterone with estrogen versus progestins with estrogen prove this fact.

Dosing Guidelines

If you are sufferPMS symptoms, you can use the daily sustained release or topical cream progesterone on days 14 through 25 of your cycle. If you are having perimenopausal symptoms, the same dose of progesterone as for PMS applies, but starting on day 12 of your cycle works best to control irregular bleeding.

Vaginal suppositories also have good absorption like creams. If progesterone alone does not control your perimenopausal symptoms, you should add in bi-estrogen (estradiol plus estriol usually in a 50:50 or 20:80 ratio) in a topical cream starting at a dose of ¼ to ½ mg daily.

After Menopause

After menopause you should consider using both progesterone and estrogen even if you have no symptoms. These hormones have significant benefits for your heart, liver, brain, bones and skin. After menopause these can be taken daily or with a break for three to five days per month. You also may need the strengthening and libido-enhancing benefits of daily low dose testosterone (¼ to 1 mg) or consider taking DHEA (a precursor hormone to testosterone).

Progesterone reduces the bothersome symptoms of PMS and also of perimenopause. It improves mood and sleep. It lowers risk for breast cancer, uterine cancer and heart disease. It’s even an effective protection against osteoporosis. Progesterone supplementation can be a pretty good deal for those of you who need it. Be assured it is safe because it is not a progestin. I’ll discuss the health benefits of transdermal estrogen supplementation in my next article.

To your best health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

Not Just For Kids

Celiac disease, the autoimmune reaction to gluten that can destroy the walls of the small intestine, was originally considered to be a childhood illness. After World War II, when scientists figured out that gluten was the culprit in killing children with celiac, it wasn’t believed that older adults could develop the disease.

Bread shortages in Europe during the war had helped provide the clues needed to understand the roots of celiac disease. Until then, no one had been able to discern why children with celiac failed to thrive even though they seemed to be eating a nutritious diet. But when many Dutch kids were forced by the war to do without bread in the early 1940s, the children with celiac enjoyed improved health. When bread was reintroduced to the country, they became sick once again.

A doctor from Holland named Willem-Karel Dicke is credited with making the connection between consuming wheat proteins and celiac. In 1950 he wrote the thesis that helped convince the rest of the medical world that foods made from wheat, barley and rye were to blame for causing the misery of celiac.

Gluten For Adults

But what was first thought to be a digestive disease that afflicted children has now proven to be a disorder that increasingly strikes older adults. Research shows that “a substantial portion of (people with celiac) are diagnosed after the age of 50.” One out of three people discovered to have celiac are now over the age of 65. Researchers estimate that anywhere from 2 to 3 million Americans with celiac — about 95 percent of its victims — don’t even know they have the disease.

That high rate of undiagnosed disease is causing major health issues. Older adults may already have difficulties properly absorbing nutrients from their diet. But if they have celiac, which interferes with the proper functions of the digestive tract, their absorption of nutrients may grow even more defective.

A shortage of iron and other micronutrients is responsible for the fact that up to 80 percent of older people with celiac suffer anemia. They also frequently experience deficiencies of folate and vitamin B12.

Additionally, celiac can interfere with the absorption of calcium and vitamin D, nutrients that are needed to keep bones strong and help protect against a wide range of disease.

Autoimmune Dangers

If you’ve got celiac you also run a higher risk of other autoimmune dysfunctions. Autoimmune thyroid issues are rampant among people with celiac and most elderly adults with celiac suffer from an underactive thyroid.

Some of the most common signs that you have celiac include:

* Frequent stomach aches and cramps

* Diarrhea

* Anemia

* Depression

* Persistent fatigue

* Memory problems

* Muscle cramps

* Nerve tingling in hands and feet

Celiac Headache

A growing number of researchers now also believe that gluten can be linked to severe headaches. In a study reported in the Journal of Headache Pain, researchers emphasize that eliminating wheat may be an important step in relieving headaches. In addition, other research has shown that migraines are one of many neurological problems linked to celiac.

Nobody fully understands why older people are increasingly susceptible to gluten reactions. But it is understood that eating a gluten-free diet can make a big difference in your health if gluten is giving you serious health issues.

“We found that loads that were quite heavy and comparatively light were equally effective at inducing muscle growth and promoting strength,” says researcher Cam Mitchell.

The research, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, challenges the widely accepted dogma that training with heavy weights — which can be lifted only six to 12 times before fatigue — is the best avenue to muscle growth.

“Many older adults can have joint problems which would prevent them training with heavy loads,” says Mitchell. “This study shows that they have the option of training with lighter and less intimidating loads and can still receive the benefits.”

Hormone balancing seems to be a field that few doctors know about. Most of my knowledge in this area comes largely from the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the pioneers of functional and metabolic medicine.

Cholesterol And Hormones For Better Health

In the new medical specialty of anti-aging and hormone-balancing medicine, we know that low cholesterol in the diet is largely to blame for the body’s insufficient production of steroid hormones. The hormone metabolic pathway chart below shows that cholesterol must be present in order for the body to manufacture the important steroid hormones. The hormones in red are the ones we measure and can replace with supplementation if needed. I’d like to first discuss testosterone, the most critical for men and which women also need for health and a good sex life.

 Source: Michael Cutler’s notes from American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine Fellowship training

Testosterone

Testosterone is produced mainly in the testes and to a degree in the adrenal glands in men. Women produce it in their adrenals and ovaries. It is the “life force hormone,” and it’s the primary source of libido and sperm production.

But it is much more: Testosterone helps maintain bone mass, male patterns of fat distribution, male hair patterns, muscle mass, muscle strength and positive mood.

When a man’s testosterone levels decrease to a point where unwanted symptoms occur, the condition of being testosterone-deficient is called “andropause.” It is a wonder that more doctors don’t learn about hormone balancing. I suppose it’s because more men don’t want to discuss these problems.

Remarkably, one in five men already suffers from andropause symptoms by the time he reaches age 40. By age 65, one in three has this problem. By age 80, one in two have it (in a conservative estimate). [1]

Testosterone Deficiency

For men, these symptoms, at any age, indicate a testosterone deficiency that leads to sub-optimal health and faster aging:

• Decreased muscle mass and strength.
• Decreased sex drive (low libido).
• Reduced ability to obtain and maintain a firm erection.
• Reduced frequency of spontaneous erections.
• Reduced ejaculate volume, intensity of orgasms and genital sensation.
• Shrinking testes.
• Breast enlargement, increased body fat and body mass index.
• Loss of pubic hair, axillary hair and normal hairy areas.
• Decreased energy.
• Hot flashes (yes, even in men).
• Emotional or high sensitivity to situational difficulties.
• Unnecessary worry, anxiety or fear.
• Decreased memory or concentration.
• Depressed mood.
• Loss of self-confidence.
• Persistent fatigue with physical activity; joint pains.

Hormonal Protection

But testosterone is not just a hormone for sexual function, strength, good mood and energy. It also protects against many serious diseases that can take your life early. Testosterone in optimal levels has been proven to decrease your risk of:

• Osteoporosis.
• Heart attack and stroke. [2]
• Diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
• Alzheimer’s dementia.
• Inflammation in metabolic pathways.
• Anemia.

In fact, even the rate of death has been found to be 33 percent higher in men with the lowest testosterone compared to those with the most in a study of 800 men over the age of 50 who were followed for 18 years. [3]

Next week, I will discuss what causes testosterone to become low in such a large number of men. I’ll accompany that information with the best treatment options in my next column.

To your best health,
Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

The Incontinence Dilemma

While doing some research recently, I came across this statement in a mainstream health publication: “Incontinence is a problem that affects millions of people all over the world. In recent times, the adult diaper has emerged as one of the best solutions to this problem. This is a far better solution than many traditional remedies, such as a catheter or frequent clothing changes.”

While using an adult diaper can help save you from an embarrassing situation, wearing one does not solve the problem of urinary incontinence.

Some studies show that as many as one in three women over age 60 experience urinary incontinence. It stems from weakened muscles caused by childbirth, hormonal imbalances resulting from menopause and loss of muscle tone due to aging. For men, incontinence can be traced to prostate problems, low levels of testosterone and aging.

In the United States, as many as one in six suffer from incontinence. Those experiencing it suffer from an overactive bladder that can chain them to the bathroom or give them the unexpected surprise of a sudden wetting episode that occurs while laughing, exercising, coughing or sneezing. It’s certainly not pleasant, and wearing an adult diaper is not a solution.

Widespread Annoyance

Urinary incontinence falls into four categories:

1. Stress incontinence: Mostly affects women after childbirth or menopause, but occasionally men who have had prostate surgery. It manifests as a leak of urine when you exercise, laugh, cough, sneeze or lift a heavy object.
2. Urge incontinence: Affects people over age 60. This is what you have if you experience sudden, involuntary contractions that make you feel the need to urinate even if you just left the bathroom.
3. Mixed incontinence: This combination of a leaky bladder and the urge to urinate primarily affects women.
4. Overflow incontinence: A rarer form of incontinence that occurs if the bladder becomes too full due to an inability to completely empty it. This can affect a man with an enlarged prostate or someone who has suffered an injury, blockage or infection.

Pumpkin Patch

American Indians used pumpkin seeds to treat their urinary problems. But science has done them one better by creating a special blend of pumpkin seed extract that can help eliminate bladder problems. It’s called EFLA® 940 and it contains a complete spectrum of specialized pumpkin seed extract to give you the best nutrients from the whole seed.

Soy isoflavones are natural plant estrogens called phytoestrogens that can help the body naturally rebalance estrogen levels.

Researchers have found that a combination of pumpkin seed extract and soy isoflavones can inhibit the aromatase enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen. Testosterone helps to maintain the strength of the pelvic floor muscles that help to hold urine. Plus, testosterone helps you relax those muscles allowing for complete emptying of the bladder.

By inhibiting the aromatase enzyme, your body has more available testosterone. This is key to maintaining the muscle tone of the urinary tract and ensuring complete voiding of the bladder.

Many natural supplement manufacturers sell products containing EFLA® 940. Look for it at health food stores and online.

A study at Emory University shows that older individuals who spend a significant amount of time throughout life playing musical instruments have brains that don’t succumb as readily to the vagaries of aging.

“Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging,” says lead researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy. “Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older.”

Hanna-Pladdy’s research shows that high-level musicians who study the longest perform the best on the cognitive tests, followed by the low-level musicians and non-musicians, revealing a trend relating to years of musical practice. In her experiment, the high-level musicians had statistically significant higher scores than the non-musicians on cognitive tests relating to visual and spatial memory, naming objects and cognitive flexibility (the brain’s ability to adapt to new information).

Researchers have found that knowing more than one language seems to strengthen the brain and afford it protection against the vicissitudes of aging. The need to monitor two languages in order to select the appropriate one recruits brain regions that are critical for general attention and cognitive control. Using these cognitive control networks for bilingual language processing may reconfigure and strengthen them, perhaps enhancing mental flexibility, the ability to adapt to ongoing changes and process information efficiently.

“Our conclusion is that lifelong experience in managing attention to two languages reorganizes specific brain networks, creating a more effective basis for executive control and sustaining better cognitive performance throughout the lifespan,” says Dr. Ellen Bialystok of York University in England. “It should not be surprising that intense and sustained experience leaves its mark on our minds and brains, and it is now clear that the bilingual brain has been uniquely shaped by experience.”

Dr. Bialystok’s research is published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

“We found that, given the choice between skin color caused by suntan and skin color caused by carotenoids, people preferred the carotenoid skin color, so if you want a healthier and more attractive skin color, you are better off eating a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables than lying in the sun,” says researcher Dr. Ian Stephen.

David Perrett, who heads the Perception Lab where the study took place, adds: “This is something we share with many other species. For example, the bright yellow beaks and feathers of many birds can be thought of as (advertisements) showing how healthy a male bird is. What’s more, females of these species prefer to mate with brighter, more colored males. But this is the first study in which this has been demonstrated in humans.”

What You Don’t Hear Can Hurt You

Seems like every time researchers take a look at the health effects of noise, they discover another alarming consequence. For example, when scientists from the Imperial College London examined how the sounds of airplanes overhead affected people sleeping in houses near London’s Heathrow airport, they found that any noise louder than 35 decibels caused a measureable increase in blood pressure. And 35 decibels isn’t that loud; the average conversation is at 60 decibels. The researchers found that the level of 35 decibels could result not only from a plane overhead but also from a bed partner snoring or automobile traffic outside. Plus, this hypertensive threat occurred even if the noise did not wake the sleeper.

The study, which was published in the European Heart Journal, discovered, as you might expect, that the louder the noise, the larger the increase in blood pressure. For every 5dB increase in aircraft noise, there was an increase of 0.66 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading).

Another study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, demonstrated that people who live for at least five years near an international airport, under a flight path, have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure than people who live in more peaceful surroundings.

Losing Your Hearing

But airport noise may only be a minor player in today’s epidemic of noise exposure. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that nine of 10 city dwellers may experience enough noise exposure to risk hearing loss. And much of the exposure is self-inflicted because people listen to their iPods, MP3 players and stereos at ear-busting volumes.

“That two out of three people get the majority of noise exposure from music is pretty striking,” says Rick Neitzel, one of the researchers. “I’ve always viewed the workplace as a primary risk for noise exposure. But (our findings) suggest that just focusing our efforts on the workplace isn’t enough…”

Stroke Risk

Stroke is another risk associated with noise. A study that appeared in the European Heart Journal showed that for those over the age of 65, every increase of 10 decibels in daily traffic noise raises the stroke risk by a shocking 27 percent.

“Our study shows that exposure to road traffic noise seems to increase the risk of stroke,” says Dr. Mette Sorensen, senior researcher at the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, Denmark. “Previous studies have linked traffic noise with raised blood pressure and heart attacks, and our study adds to the accumulating evidence that traffic noise may cause a range of cardiovascular diseases.”

Tumors In The Ear

Years of loud music can also increase your risk of developing tumors in your ears that cause hearing loss. While these tumors are not cancerous, research at the School of Public Health at Ohio State University shows that these growths, called acoustic neuromas, press on the cranial nerve that is responsible for sensing sound. They also impinge on nerves that help with balance. The tumors can cause tinnitus (unceasing ringing in the ears) along with hearing loss.

The scientists found that the two types of loud noise that posed the greatest risk of acoustic neuroma development were exposure to machines, power tools and construction equipment and exposure to loud music. People employed in the music industry were 2.25 times more likely to develop these tumors.

Risky Business

Other health problems linked to noise include:

• Insomnia: A study published in the journal Sleep found that if you suffer noise-related hearing loss, you have a greater risk of having difficulty falling asleep, being sleepy during the daytime, waking up at night and not being able to go back to sleep, snoring and being subject to excessive restlessness at night.
• Impaired work performance: If your bedroom fills with nighttime traffic noise, your morning work performance suffers. Research in Germany showed that noise at night affects how well your muscles and nerves function the next morning.
• Hearing loss: While it’s no surprise that excessively loud music hurts your hearing, researchers have been surprised to find that 30 million Americans are exposed to dangerous noise levels daily.

Ear Protection

The simplest way to protect yourself from noise is to turn the volume down on your portable music player and on your stereo. In addition, wearing ear plugs in noisy places like the subway or in heavy traffic can also help.

Scientists have also discovered that taking supplements of beta carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E, as well as magnesium may also help save your hearing. Lab tests at the University of Florida found that giving these supplements to animals before exposing them to loud noises prevented both temporary and permanent hearing loss.

“Ear protection, such as ear plugs, is always the best practice for the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, but in those populations who don’t or can’t wear hearing protection… these supplements could provide an opportunity for additional protection,” notes researcher Dr. Colleen Le Prell.

If you don’t want to be a victim of noise, preventive precautions against a loud world are your best bet. Antioxidant supplements and keeping your music at a manageable level can not only preserve hearing, it may be just as important for the health of your heart and the rest of your body.

Physical Vitality

Most of us don’t think of meditation as being important in maintaining physical vitality. We know that healthy diet, proper supplementation, regular exercise and a positive social support system are important for our health on all levels — physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. However, despite these healthy habits, many of us still struggle with managing our stress levels. Science is proving over and over that chronic stress can be deadly, contributing to our most serious health conditions.

This direct mind-body connection is something that Eastern philosophies have taught for millennia, and recent research has supplied us with a revealing new technical perspective. Clinical studies demonstrate that chronic stress may have a profound effect on our DNA by shortening our DNA telomeres. Telomere deterioration puts us at higher risk of developing cancer and other harmful conditions. The good news: There’s an ancient and well-known mind-body practice which is now proving successful in physically repairing this telomere DNA damage, while restoring peace of mind at the same time. What is this practice? Simple meditation.

What Are Telomeres?

Our genes are located on twisted, double-stranded molecules of DNA called chromosomes. At the ends of the chromosomes are stretches of DNA called telomeres. These are essentially caps that protect our genetic data, allow for cells to divide properly and reflect how we age. Similar to the plastic covers on the ends of shoelaces, telomeres protect chromosomes from fraying due to aging, poor health and environmental influences. Telomeres are shortened every time the cells divide; and when they become too short, the cells are not able to divide properly. While researchers are already aware that telomeres shorten and deteriorate with aging, new studies demonstrate that chronic stress also contributes to their reduction. Further research shows that as telomeres shrink, cancer risk grows.

Telomeres And Cancer

There is a scientifically established correlation between shortened telomeres and the incidence of many types of cancers, including pancreatic, bone, prostate, bladder, lung, kidney, head and neck tumors. Shortened telomeres and reduced telomerase activity have also been identified as important contributing factors in prostate carcinogenesis, ovarian cancer, genomic instability and breast cancer pathogenesis.

Without telomeres, chromosome ends can fuse together and cause the health of the cell to deteriorate, making the cell malfunction, become cancerous or die. Research is showing more and more evidence that loss of telomere function, either by altering telomere-binding proteins or by loss of telomeric sequences, is associated with the deterioration of cellular health leading to increased aging and disease.

Meditation Protects Telomeres

The inevitable wear and tear of your telomeres cannot be halted altogether, but it can certainly be delayed and even reversed through the activation of a key enzyme called telomerase. Telomerase protects the ends of telomeres from weakening and fraying. So how do you reap the benefits of this super-charged enzyme? Studies show that psychological changes associated with regular meditation improve your ability to cope with stress and contribute to increased telomerase activity.

“We have found that meditation promotes positive psychological changes, and that meditators showing the greatest improvement on various psychological measures had the highest levels of telomerase,” says Clifford Saron, associate research scientist at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.

Regular, mindful meditation promotes relaxation, stress relief and improved circulation. This allows for advanced telomerase activity, naturally promoting cellular health and longevity.

Simple Practice For Beginners

If you’re not sure how to begin meditating, studies show that even just 10 minutes a day can provide significant mental, emotional and physical health benefits. Here’s a simple technique to get you started: Simply sit quietly and focus your attention, as well as your breathing, on a particular object such as a small stone. As thoughts and emotions arise, simply acknowledge and release them, bringing your attention back to your breath. As your practice unfolds, you may find that there is more and more space between your internal monologues, allowing for a sense of openness and freedom from everyday stresses and distractions. This is where the meditation and healing process truly begins. Initially, you should notice tangible benefits like better mental focus, improved emotional balance and increased energy.

Meditation And Healing Retreat

My own two-year meditation sabbatical has been profound for me; and, as this process winds down, it is my deepest desire to share what I have learned with anyone seeking deep healing and rejuvenation. In this spirit, I invite you to join me April 26 to 29 for a meditation and healing retreat at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, Calif. (For more information, go here.) During this retreat, I will be guiding participants through the practical aspects of meditation and healing, based on my extensive experience in the field combined with insights and techniques I’ve gained from years of dedicated meditation practice. My previous retreat, held in September, was a great success among participants. I am honored to have the chance to share this important aspect of healing again in 2012.

Meditation Can Benefit Anyone

No matter your age, health or belief system, simple regular meditation practice can benefit you on all levels. More and more doctors and health practitioners are recommending this ancient, time-tested practice; and meditation now holds a well-deserved, positive reputation in the medical field. It is a simple yet powerful and safe modality for supporting health, preventing illness and increasing overall quality of life.