Where do you get estrogen from after menopause?

Is it necessary to take estrogen therapy?

Estrogen can be manufactured in various ways depending on the amount of body fat we have, the health of our adrenal glands & ovaries, the food we consume, and our health in general.

Women with considerable body fat tend to have higher levels of estrogen than thin women. This is because there is a hormone called androstenediol found in body fat and muscle cells that is converted into estrone (E1) - one of the three natural estrogens produced by the body - before and after menopause.

The more fat the more estrone that is made.

Our ovaries do not produce progesterone after menopause, and often don?t produce it in the years leading up to menopause because progesterone is manufactured by the ovaries at ovulation.

No ovulation … no progesterone.

And as we’ve discuss in earlier chapters, many women experience anovulatory cycles (where they fail to ovulate) as early as thirty something.

The question is often raised why do women need progesterone after menopause more than estrogen? In our opinion, it stands to reason a woman needs progesterone supplementation because her ovaries are continuing to put out some estrogen and some testosterone but no progesterone.

In times gone by, this would not have posed a problem. However, we don’t live in the world that was our mother’s.

Given the way we live today, our non-stop hectic lifestyles, our intake of refined sugars and high carbohydrates, our estrogen levels - whether produced by our body fat or via exposure to xenoestrogens, our body’s reliance after menopause on our adrenal glands - which may not be functioning optimally (adrenal exhaustion) - to produce enough progesterone to oppose estrogen, well, you get the picture.

Estrogen is only the ‘baddie’ here when in excess.

For we now know that estrogen without the opposing action of progesterone is a setup for cancer.