June 2003

New Women’s Health Paradigm

Encouraging breakthroughs in breast cancer research are fueling a new paradigm in women’s health. Breast health, or the proactive approach to lowering breast cancer risk, focuses on educating and equipping women with new options for optimal health in every stage of life. A primary aspect of maintaining breast health is the management of estrogen levels, due to their direct correlation with breast cancer incidence. In addition to recommending diet and lifestyle changes, experts are closing-in on foods and specific nutrients that protect women by balancing the amount of estrogen circulating in the body.

Importance of Hormone Balance

Estrogen is the primary feminine group of sex hormones. Estrogen is vital to the health of breasts, ovaries, uterus and sex drive and is responsible for cyclic changes such as menstruation and pregnancy. In addition to naturally occurring estrogen, women are exposed to artificial and environmental estrogens, including those used in hormone replacement therapy and pesticides. While the presence of estrogen is critical to the body’s health and function, establishing the right balance of estrogen levels is imperative. When there is too little natural estrogen, women may experience menopause-related symptoms, such as hot flashes, mood changes, and bone loss. Too much estrogen in a woman’s body can result in PMS symptoms or more serious conditions.

People frequently assume family history is the leading cause of breast cancer when, in fact, it accounts for less than 10 percent of all cases. Instead, mounting evidence points to the cumulative effect of excess estrogen exposure as the primary risk factor. Research indicates that reducing lifetime exposure to estrogen is possibly the most powerful and effective way for women to reduce individual risk for breast cancer and the key to optimal breast health.

Understanding the Estrogen Window

Too much estrogen circulating in a woman’s body can increase breast cancer risk and stimulate tumor growth. Women are exposed to many forms of estrogen throughout their lifetimes and the effect becomes cumulative. This cumulative exposure to estrogens can be best explained using a scientifically proven model called the “estrogen window.”

Influences that extend estrogen exposure, or widen the window, include: an early period, late menopause, no pregnancies or first pregnancy after age 30, obesity, xenoestrogens (environmental toxins), and hormone replacement therapy. The following factors reduce or shorten estrogen exposure, and narrow the window: pregnancy, breastfeeding, exercise, plant-based diets containing the right amount of fats, and consuming the specific lignan, SDG (secoisolariciresinol diglycoside). Women can learn to manage lifestyle, environmental and artificial estrogen exposure to positively and proactively impact health through understanding this estrogen-window concept

Lignan’s Role in Estrogen Balance

Research suggests that women’s bodies may rely on natural plant lignans, (found in trace amounts in whole grains, fruits and vegetables) to buffer and balance the harmful effects of excess, or toxic forms of estrogen. Because lignans imitate estrogen in their basic shape, their structures fit perfectly into estrogen receptors in the body (think of estrogen as cars and receptors as parking spaces). When lignans “park” in these receptors, they function like a weaker form of estrogen. With lignan filling up some of the spaces that would normally be taken by the body’s natural estrogen, excess and bad estrogen is harmlessly flushed from the body as waste.

Brevail® for Lifetime Breast Health

Brevail® is the first supplement for women designed specifically to help narrow the estrogen window, and features a highly researched lignan composition for lifetime breast health. University research involving human oral dosing has shown that Brevail safely and effectively raises lignan concentrations to the same levels as those of women with an extraordinary history of breast health. Brevail offers a proactive approach to health, as women seek to reduce estrogen exposure and related risks throughout their lives.