Our primal ancestors had a tough life. They were constantly threatened by cold, famine, woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and more.
In many ways we have a much easier life. But in other ways our modern world may be more deadly. You see, in the last 100 years our environment has been flooded with man-made chemicals, toxins and pollutants.
What Are The Worst Toxins?
Some of the worst toxins we face are what I call “xenoestrogens.” These alien estrogens mimic estrogen in your body. And they destroy your delicate balance of estrogen, testosterone and other hormones.
Research proves the link between these environmental toxins and hormone effects in both wildlife and humans.1 And I’ve seen how these chemicals can lead to estrogen dominance in both men and women.
Estrogen Dominance Symptoms in Man and Women
All this excess estrogen lowers a man’s reserve of testosterone — the hormone that makes a man feel like a man. Men become more feminine, tired, depressed and unable to perform in the bedroom. Chest muscles soften into breasts. Spare tires build up around the middle.
In women these alien estrogens slow down thyroid function and cause weight gain. They also bring on extreme symptoms of PMS and menopause. Girls as young as 7 and 8 years old go through early or “precocious” puberty and develop breasts and sexual traits.
Most doctors don’t recognize estrogen dominance. And they don’t realize it can result in serious damage — and even premature death. Let me explain.
At higher levels, estrogen is a known cancer-causing agent. It acts like radiation, producing extremely destructive free radicals. It causes your DNA to “misfire” and produce the defects that are the beginnings of cancer.
At the same time, these high estrogen levels decrease one of your body’s “master” antioxidants, glutathione. This raises oxidative stress in your cells and can be an early step in cancer cell formation.
In other words, high estrogen is a one-two cancer punch. It raises your levels of cancer-causing free radicals and wipes out your body’s best defense against them at the same time.
That’s one reason breast cancer, prostate cancer, and testicular cancers have all been directly linked to xenoestrogens.
One study from the University of Texas examined the effects of bisphenol-A (BPA), one of the most common chemical estrogens. Biochemists looked at urine samples from 60 urology patients. Those with prostate cancer had 400% more BPA than people without cancer.2
They also found that prostate cells exposed to even tiny amounts of BPA had up to 8 times the abnormalities of other cells.
BPA works fast, too. The researchers exposed normal cells to BPA. Within just two hours, almost 60% of cells had abnormalities.
These fake estrogens are particularly strong in plastic products like polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In one Swedish study men exposed to PVC had a six-fold increase in risk for testicular cancer.3
The news is no better for women. A recent English study detected these chemical estrogens in the breast tumors of 19 out of 20 women tested.4 In another study researchers tested 40 breast cancer patients. They found higher fake estrogen levels in the same area where the most breast cancer tumors developed.5
It’s Almost Impossible To Get Away From Estrogen Dominance
These hormone-disrupting chemicals are everywhere. They’ve permeated almost everything you eat, drink and even touch. They’re in the coatings of food and drinks cans, water bottles, baby bottles, dental fillings and sealants. They’re in your eyeglass lenses, DVDs and CDs, household electronics, and sports equipment. They’re in pollution, pesticides, cosmetics, receipts and even garden hoses.
In other words, it’s almost impossible to escape them. But there is an antidote.
How To Lower Excess Estrogen?
For the past 20 years, I’ve been studying ways to lower excess estrogen in the body. And on one of my recent trips to Bali, I found something that modern medicine has overlooked.
I was visiting my friends Westi and Lelir. In their garden they had trees that smelled heavenly. They were covered with cream-colored flowers and purple berries. I watched as these berries were picked and dried. They called them “cengkeh.” But you know them as cloves.
What are cloves?
Cloves are a natural antidote to fake estrogens. They have an amazing anti-estrogen nutrient called eugenol.
Eugenol helps keep your body from absorbing the fake estrogens that seep into your body from our chemically polluted world. The eugenol in cloves stimulates enzymes in your stomach. It helps your stomach convert these fake estrogens into harmless water-soluble compounds.6 Then it flushes them from your body.7
How to Use Cloves to Naturally Lower Estrogen Levels
- A good way to supplement with eugenol is by using clove oil. Make sure you buy 100% pure clove oil. Dilute just a tiny bit in almond or olive oil. They will help you absorb it better.
- I like to use cloves in baking or in cooking bean soups or stews. They are delicious when you drop a few into mulled apple cider or wine.
- I also like to make a clove and cinnamon tea. Here’s how.
1. Grind one teaspoon of cloves in a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
2. Add the clove powder and a cinnamon stick to a cup of water and boil for 5 – 10 minutes.
3. After that you can add some black tea or another type of tea leaves to the mix if you like. Let it steep a few more minutes.
Cloves are just one of the amazing medicinal herbs I found in Bali. There are many more and I’ve written about them in my brand new book Healing Herbs of Paradise. I’ve been working on it for a long time and I’m excited that it’s finally ready for you.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Sonnenschein C, Soto AM: J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1998 Apr; 65(1-6):143-50.
2. Tarapore P, Ying J, Ouyang B, et al. “Exposure to bisphenol a correlates with early-onset prostate cancer and promotes centrosome amplification and anchorage-independent growth in vitro.” PLoS One. 2014;9(3):e90332.
3. Carl-Göran Ohlson, Lennart Hardell. “Testicular cancer and occupational exposures with a focus on xenoestrogens in polyvinyl chloride plastics.” Chemosphere Volume 40, Issues 9–11, 2000, Pages 1277–1282.
4. Darbre PD, et al, “Concentrations of parabens in human breast tumours.”
J Appl Toxicol. 2004;24(1):5-13.
5. Barr, L, Metaxas, G, Harbach, C A J, Savoy, L A, Darbre, P D “Measurement of paraben concentrations in human breast tissue at serial locations across the breast from axilla to sternum.”
J Appl Toxicol, 2012;32(3), 219–232.
6. Basu N, et. al. “Gastrointestinally Distributed UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A10, Which Metabolizes Estrogens and Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs, Depends upon Phosphorylation.” J Bio Chem, 2004;279, 28320-28329.
7. Basu N, et. al. “… Properties of the Major Human UGT1-encoded Gastrointestinal UDP-glucuronosyltransferases Enhance Potential to Control Chemical Uptake.” J Bio Chem, 2004;279, 1429-1441.