DIM

Dear Member,

The FDA allows estrogens in your food. I think it’s a big problem.

These chemicals may preserve our food, kill insects and make farm animals grow big and fat incredibly fast. But these benefits are for the food producer and neglect the health of you, the food consumer.

In women, this causes anxiety, worsens premenstrual symptoms and increases risks of endometriosis, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts and breast cancer. It’s also responsible for the dramatic worsening of menopause symptoms in modern times.

For men, it relentlessly signals their prostates to grow. It causes feminization, weakness and fatigue and worsens the loss of virility that occurs with age. It appears to be nature’s plan to gradually withdraw masculine capabilities as we grow old. But now men are living longer yet losing virility younger than ever. This combination of trends is creating a whole generation of “avirile” tired old men. And some of them aren’t that old. The fast pace of this trend occurring in younger and younger guys is alarming.

If I look at the list of patients I saw last week, I’ll bet at least 10 had problems related to excess estrogen. For some the level was so high and the medical consequences so severe that I had to use prescription medications. (The pharmaceutical industry developed these medications to treat estrogen-dependent breast cancers. You can imagine the calls I get from pharmacists when I use them for men.) But for most, I used a nutritional solution.

Today I want to tell you about this same nutritional solution I used for them.

The first step to combat your involuntary dosing with estrogens is simply to eat more “crucifers”. Crucifers are a group of vegetables including broccoli, Brussels’s sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage.

When you eat a vegetable like broccoli, your body breaks down the broccoli’s glucobrassicin into a compound called indole-3-carbinol (I3C). I3C plays an active role in flushing your body of cancer-causing chemicals. I3C is naturally broken down in your digestive tract to DIM (diindolylmethane). DIM is a key to prevent estrogen-generated cancers in men and women.

DIM is clears rogue steroids into your urine. These steroids cause cancers to grow in both men and women. Breast, cervical, and prostate cancers all fit this scenario. We have known that these cancer cells grow slower in the presence of DIM for several years. Many animal and human studies have focused on breast, uterine, and cervical cancer. All have had positive results. Cancer cell growth slows down when introduced to DIM.1

But the most impressive result is from a recent Journal of Biological Chemistry. University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered that when DIM was administered to prostate cancer cells, they stopped growing. And the cancer cells were reduced by 70%. 2

The most natural way to get DIM is through eating cruciferous vegetables. They have an abundance of I3C, vitamins, and other nutrients. Try to eat cruciferous vegetables at least daily. I find this easy to do if I plan my meals ahead of time.

You can also take DIM as a supplement. I usually start patients with a 100 mg DIM capsule. 2 capsules can provide the DIM equivalent to a pound of vegetables.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

P.S. – For more easy-to-follow strategies, check out my 12 Secrets to Virility. It’s packed with strength-building and disease-fighting tips every man should know.

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1 Auborn K., et al. Indole-3-carbinole is a negative regulator of estrogen. J Nutr 2003 Jul; 133(7 Suppl): 2470S-2475S

2 Le H., et al. Plant-derived 3,3-Diindolylmethane is a strong androgen antagonist in human prostate cancer cells. J Biol Chem 2003 Jun 6; 278(23): 21136-21145