Stages of conversion from wild yam to synthetic HRT

Broadly speaking, there are three stages of conversion from wild yam to synthetic HRT.

The substance called ‘diosgenin’ is chemically extracted in a laboratory using wild yams, soya beans and other plants from the tuber family. Diosgenin is used as the active ingredient in Wild Yam creams. However, there is no proof that diosgenin can be converted by the body into the hormone progesterone. Though it is reported to have estrogenic properties. Since it is not classified a drug, it is not regulated by therapeutic governing bodies. You can buy wild yam creams and tonics in virtually any healthfood store.

Stage Two of Conversion

Back in the laboratory, diosgenin is then converted (with the aid of an enzyme not present in our body) into United States Pharmacopeia (USP) grade progesterone, rendering it a hormone that is bio-identical to the progesterone made by a woman’s ovaries. Bio-identical, USP progesterone has a good safety record and extremely low toxicity. It is a regulated prescription medicine (S4 poison) in some countries like Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada.

Stage Three of Conversion

Major pharmaceutical companies ‘tamper’ with the molecular structure of USP progesterone to produce progesterone’s synthetic cousin - progestin - that the body no longer sees as bio-identical. Typically, this is the artificial HRT that our doctors insist on prescribing despite new emerging evidence that these unnatural-to-the-body drugs ineptly replace our natural hormones, and have been found to increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and blood clots.

Bottom Line: Wild yam creams that contain no progesterone cannot do the work of progesterone in the body.