The last article covered information on “How Hormonal Imbalances Can Affect your Health” and information on what “Estrogen Dominance” is and some of the symptoms to related to it. This article covers some of the most common causes of Estrogen Dominance and therefore leading to hormone imbalances.

When I was experiencing my hormone imbalances, I wasn’t aware of many of these causes and that they were contributing to my hormone imbalances and was quite surprised by many of them as I continued my research and education on this topic.

What are some possible causes of estrogen dominance?

There are a lot of possible causes of estrogen dominance, some of which may surprise you, as they initially did me. They can include a combination of external and environmental factors as well as causes that are internal to the body.

And they include items that are often prescribed by medical doctors, as a solution to hormonal imbalances.

This list gives you an idea of some of the major contributors towards estrogen dominance:

• HRT – which contains Premarin and other estrogens
• Birth control pills, injections and implants all contain estrogen
• Fertility drugs – they contain estrogen
• Anovulatory cycles – not making any progesterone each month
• Exposure to environmental hormone disruptors – chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, dioxins, PCB’s, etc.
• Hysterectomy – which can lead to ovarian dysfunction
• Overeating – especially sugar and refined carbohydrates, which increase estrogen levels
• Stress – high cortisol levels deplete progesterone levels
• Sugar – high insulin levels increase estrogen levels
• Candida – makes estrogen and feeds on estrogen
• Faulty liver metabolism interferes with metabolising estrogen safely out of the body
• Poor digestion and lack of healthy gut flora, which is necessary to properly metabolise estrogen
• Commercial personal care products, fragrances, nail polish and dry cleaning – all of which contain xenoestrogens
• Exposure to xenoestrogens in industrial chemicals (from paints to detergents) and also phthalates from plastics
• Meat and poultry that has had estrogen and growth hormones added
• Alcohol consumption can raise estrogen levels
• Our own body fat can increase steroid levels and produce a store of estrogen, therefore overweight people have more estrogen in their bodies.

As you can see from this list, the contributors to excess estrogen are all around us and are accepted as a normal part of our environment. I’m sure that you never imagined that a lot of the items on the list could be contributing to your hormonal imbalances.

What are xenoestrogens?

As I mentioned “xenoestrogens” above, I thought you may want to know what xenoestrogens actually are. Xenoestrogens are powerful environmental chemicals that mimic oestrogens in the body, which contribute to hormonal imbalance. Xenoestrogens are fat-soluble, non-biodegradable and they are extremely harmful. They include substances such as pharmaceuticals, dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, pesticides, plasticisers and preservatives and also include the endocrine disrupters listed.

Xenoestrogens affect the hormonal system of all living creatures and are particularly damaging to ovaries and testes during the embryo stage. This can lead to a general hormonal imbalance, fertility problems and even to cancer.