Natural Estriol USP is developed through DNA technology. The resulting hormone is bio-identical in chemical structure to the estriol produced by the human body. European medical studies suggest that bio-identical hormones are safer than synthetic versions. Bio-identical hormones have been around for years, although most practitioners are unfamiliar with them.

What are Bio-identical Hormones?

Bio-identical hormones are manufactured in a lab to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body. By contrast, synthetic hormones are intentionally different. Drug companies can’t patent a bio-identical structure, so they invent synthetic hormones that are patentable. Premarin®, Prempro®, Premphase®, and Provera® (being the most widely used examples) are conjugated equine estrogen being synthesized from pregnant mare’s urine.

Are Bio-identical Hormones better than Synthetic Hormones?

The great appeal of bio-identical hormones is that they are natural, and our bodies can metabolize them as it was designed to do, minimizing side effects. Synthetic hormones are quite strong and often produce intolerable side effects.

The Three Types of Estrogen: Estriol, Estrone and Estradiol

Estriol is the weakest of the three major estrogens. In fact it is 1,000 times weaker in its effect on breast tissue. Estriol is the estrogen that is made in large quantities during pregnancy and has potential protective properties against the production of cancerous cells.

An important article in the 1966 Journal of the American Medical Association by H.M. Lemmon, M.D., reported a study showing that higher levels of estriol in the body correlate with remission of breast cancer. Dr. Lemmon demonstrated that women with breast cancer had reduced urinary excretion of estriol. He also observed that women without breast cancer have naturally higher estriol levels, compared with estrone and estradiol levels, than women with breast cancer. Vegetarian and Asian women have high levels of estriol, and these women are at much lower risk of breast cancer than are other women.

Estriol is the estrogen most beneficial to the vagina, cervix and vulva. In cases of vaginal dryness and atrophy, which predisposes a woman to vaginitis and cystitis, topical estriol is the most effective and safest estrogen to use. Because of this, estriol is better than estradiol for the treatment of urinary tract infections.

Because estriol cannot be patented it does not hold much interest for the pharmaceutical industry. Its availability through natural laboratories has caused its use to grow rapidly throughout the country.

“What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause” by Dr. John R. Lee, MD

The following excepts are from “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause” by Dr. John R. Lee, MD, “All the available evidence we have so far indicates that estriol is the safest estrogen to use to control menopausal symptoms, and that it may even be protective against breast cancer. If you need to supplement some estrogen, you can use a natural estrogen in a cream 1 to 4 mg daily for estriol. We can’t emphasize strongly enough that no women, with or without a uterus or ovaries, should ever take estrogen alone. It should always be combined* with natural progesterone.”

Estriol appears to be effective at controlling many symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, and frequent urinary tract infections. Results of research on its bone density-maintaining effects have been contradictory, with the most promising results coming from Japanese studies. Estriol’s effect on cardiac risk factors has also been somewhat equivocal; however, unlike conventional estrogen prescriptions, it does not seem to contribute to hypertension. Although estriol appears to be much safer than estrone or estradiol, its continuous use in high doses may have a stimulatory effect on both breast and endometrial tissue.
(Alt Med Rev 1998;3(2):101-113)

Estriol’s Effect on the Skin Estrogen is an important hormone for maintaining skin elasticity. The effect of local estriol treatment on abdominal skin was examined in postmenopausal women for three weeks. It was found that the application of estriol for this short period of time resulted in thickened, better-oriented, and slightly increased numbers of elastic fibers in patients using the estriol cream, compared to no change in the placebo group.

* “Combined” means use Natural Progesterone Cream in the same month that Natural Estriol Cream is used.