Endometriosis and Menorrhagia

Endometriosis occurs when the endometrium does not slough off normally at menstruation. It is usually accompanied by menorrhagia (heavy bleeding), severe menstrual cramps, and pain with defecation, intercourse and even ovulation. In severe cases the endometrium or lining of the uterus migrates to other sites such as the intestines and the bladder. The islands of the endometrium cause pain when they go through the cycle of menses and bleed as if they were normal uterine tissue. Cysts and fibroid tumors are common side effects.

It is thought that endometriosis and related disorders are associated with a disruption in the estrogen-progesterone cycle, resulting in high levels of estrogen and low levels of progesterone. In monkeys, exposure to dioxin, which is an estrogen-like compound, resulted in moderate to severe endometriosis.23 In horses, endometrial fibrosis has been treated successfully with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which is approved for use in animals but not in humans.24

Orthodox treatment includes estrogen-blocking drugs, such as Danocrine, and laser treatment of the endometrium. Unfortunately Danocrine can provoke many side effects, including weight gain, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, acne, increased facial hair, pelvic and back pain, breast problems, cramps, hot flashes, depression, rashes and allergies. When laser treatment is not successful, the only remaining surgical option is hysterectomy. In fact, the leading cause of hysterectomy is excessive bleeding, often associated with endometriosis.

Most popular books on endometriosis warn patients not to eat animal foods such as butter, liver and eggs because these contain arachidonic acid, a long-chain fatty acid which serves as the substrate for localized tissue hormones—called prostaglandins—that provoke inflammation. Actually endometriosis is not really an inflammation of the type that occurs after an injury; and arachidonic acid also serves as the substrate for prostaglandins that counteract inflammation.25 The irony—actually the tragedy—of this advice is that animal foods like butter, liver and eggs are excellent sources of vitamin A. And endometriosis and excessive bleeding respond very well to vitamin A therapy. In South Africa, vitamin A has been used as standard practice for the treatment of menorrhagia (excessive bleeding) since 1977 with a 92 percent cure rate!26

Virtually every popular book dealing with women's health contains fundamental misinformation on vitamin A, asserting that vitamin A from animal foods is toxic and recommending carotenes from plant sources instead. Typical of the confusion about vitamin A is this statement from a book on endometriosis: "Vitamin A taken too enthusiastically can be toxic, since it is stored in the liver. Beta-carotene, however, is not converted into vitamin A unless the body requires it, and you cannot suffer from toxic levels of it."27 Actually natural vitamin A from cod liver oil and other animal sources is not toxic except in very large amounts. The liver is exquisitely designed to store vitamin A so that this vital nutrient is available in times of scarcity. Many conditions prevent the conversion of beta-carotenes into true vitamin A, including low thyroid function; and even individuals who convert beta-carotene easily cannot obtain optimum amounts from plant foods.28 Finally, both synthetic vitamin A and synthetic beta-carotenes can be toxic.29 Yet books on women's health usually recommend supplements containing the synthetic forms.

Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, potassium, iron and good quality protein are all recommended for endometriosis and related conditions. Yet the body cannot absorb these minerals and protein without adequate amounts of natural, animal sources of vitamin A and D in the diet. Iron deficiency is a critical problem for women suffering from heavy bleeding but iron cannot be absorbed without adequate vitamin A.30 Many women have reported that bleeding worsened when iron was given without supplementation with vitamin A.
Breast Cancer

Breast cancer was a rare disease in 1900. Today it occurs in epidemic proportions—by some estimates one in every eight women will contract breast cancer, many of them during their childbearing years. Peruse the scientific literature on breast cancer and you will find that the following nutrients are considered protective against this terrible disease: vitamin C, carotenes, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin CoQ10, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), sphingomyelin and butyric acid.31 Of these, only the first two (vitamin C and carotenes) are found in plant foods. The rest are provided exclusively from animal foods, particularly butter and fats from animals allowed to graze, but the vast majority of popular books on breast cancer promote a lowfat vegetarian diet for women with breast cancer!

The animal-based nutrients promote breast health in many ways. In particular, they support both thyroid and adrenal function. Low cortisol salivary levels are associated with decreased survival in breast cancer patients.32 Corticoid steroid hormones are secreted by the adrenal glands and help the body deal with stress. Like the various sex hormones, they are made from cholesterol.

For patients with benign breast disease, treatment with 150,000 IU vitamin A resulted in notable pain reduction in nine of 12 participants.33

Breast cancer has a strong association with low levels of vitamin D and lack of sunlight.34

Although women with breast cancer often develop a deep fear of dietary fats, a study by Walter Willet of Harvard found no correlation with fat intake and breast cancer.35 In other words, women on lowfat diets had just as much breast cancer as women on high-fat diets.

Popular writers point to other studies which do show a correlation between fat consumption and breast cancer. The problem with such studies is that all fats are lumped together for purposes of analysis when actually some fats can cause breast cancer while others are protective. Trans fatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils have been positively associated with cancers of organs rich in fat tissues, such as the breast and prostate glands.36 Yet when we checked the indices of all the popular books on breast cancer in one bookstore, we found not one entry for trans fatty acids. These altered fats are found in almost all processed foods, particularly foods consumed by vegetarians who want to avoid "cholesterol and saturated fat." Processed liquid vegetable oils high in omega-6 fatty acids have also been associated with increased rates of breast cancer.37 The diets of healthy traditional peoples, including Americans at the turn of the century, did not contain these factory-produced oils.

Conjugated linoleic acid has been shown to be very protective against breast cancer.38 It is found in butterfat, beef fat and lamb fat of grass-fed animals. Unfortunately, most butter in the US comes from cows fed only dry feed.

The biggest scam promoted in the guise of women's health is, quite possibly, the promotion of soy foods, rich in plant-based estrogens such as genistein, for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. "I think soy protein is still the best choice for breast cancer prevention," says Susan Love, an author and researcher noted for her writings on breast cancer. "I have a soy protein drink for breakfast and I eat tofu."39 Women are not being told that an exhaustive report by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries found that the phytoestrogens in soy offer no protective effect;40 or that Mark Messina, author of a popular book on soy foods, now admits that soy does not protect adult women from breast cancer.41 In fact, in 1997, researchers found that dietary genistein stimulated breast cells to enter the cell cycle, a condition that presages malignancy.42 The same books that recommend calcium, zinc and magnesium for protection against breast cancer do not mention the fact that soy blocks absorption of calcium, zinc and magnesium.43 Soy is also a known goitrogen—it depresses thyroid function.44

Women diagnosed with breast cancer face difficult choices—do they submit to surgery and if so, how extensive should that surgery be? Do they take tamoxifen or chemotherapeutic drugs, all of which have serious side effects, or do they choose less toxic "unproven" remedies? Only the individual patient can make that choice, but whatever route she chooses, whether orthodox or alternative, the right diet will go a long way to increasing her chances for long-term survival and improving her quality of life. That means a diet rich in protein and fat from grass-fed animals and from which all processed foods, including all soy foods, are excluded.
Infertility

An estimated 25 percent of American couples cannot conceive children. The fault may lie with either the male or the female. In both sexes, influences on the development of the sexual organs during infancy and childhood can determine the ability to conceive later in life. Unfortunately, damage to the reproductive organs from lack of nutrients or exposure to environmental estrogens during early life is frequently irreversible.

Even when the reproductive system has developed normally, nutritional deficiencies can inhibit conception. Much of the heartbreak of infertility can be traced to the substandard diet of teenage girls, diets usually high in sugar and trans fatty acids and low in the all-important fat-soluble activators. The fad of vegetarianism, so prevalent today in American high schools and universities, puts young women at great risk for infertility problems.

The fat-soluble vitamins play a critical role in fertility. Vitamin A is essential to the proper development of the follicle of the ovary, the structure that develops monthly to extrude an egg from the ovary and produce hormones that foster its successful implantation in the uterus.45 Low levels of vitamin D are also associated with infertility.46

Any woman trying to get pregnant, either in the traditional way or with the aid of the various methods offered at fertility clinics, can benefit from the kind of diet that Weston Price recommended, one high in nutrient-dense animal foods from grass-fed animals. That often means overcoming a fear of cholesterol and saturated fats as these are contained in the very foods that nature uses to ensure successful reproduction.

Actually, cholesterol is a woman's best friend. At a workshop held in 1992 at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, researchers looked at every study that had been published about the risk of having high or low cholesterol and came to the same conclusion: mortality was higher for women with low blood cholesterol than for women with high cholesterol.47
Menopause

Natalie Angier, author of Women: An Intimate Biography, points out that the condition of menopause is unique to humans.48 In all other species, the female is fecund throughout her life, able to give birth until the time of death; but human females enjoy a long period in later life in which they are freed from the role of child-bearer.

Actually, menopause occurs in human females for a very practical reason. Human mothers in foraging societies can care for one infant, but because human children develop slowly, they are not able to provide food for themselves and their children when a second child is born. Assistance comes from grandmothers and aunts who no longer bear children and are thus freed up to aid in the nourishment of the younger generation.

Humans differ from other animals in the complexity of their nervous systems, complexity that requires many years to develop. If human females did not experience the cessation of fertility that allows them to assist in providing for growing children, the human race could not exist. Yet modern medicine treats menopause as a disease requiring treatment with powerful drugs.

The drugs used to "treat" menopause are estrogens, derived from mares' urine (as in Premarin); plant foods (such as soy); or even "natural" estrogens extracted from human urine. They are prescribed to millions of women with the promise of prolonged youth, protection against osteoporosis, relief from vaginal dryness and freedom from hot flashes. According to the popular press, "Estrogen helps keep skin thicker and less wrinkled by slowing the breakdown of collagen."49 How can any forty-ish woman resist such claims?

But the search for the fountain of youth through Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) carries considerable risk. According to the patient insert that comes with Wayerst Laboratories drug Premarin, side effects include nausea and vomiting, breast tenderness or enlargement, enlargement of benign tumors of the uterus, retention of excess fluid that may worsen certain conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, migraine, heart disease or kidney disease, and "a spotty darkening of the skin, particularly on the face." More serious side effects include cancer of the uterus and breast, gallbladder disease and abnormal blood clotting, according to the insert. When these dangers are cited in magazines and newspapers, the most common response is the claim that HRT reduces the risk of heart disease, so much so that this reduction more than compensates for the "slight increase in risk" for breast or uterine cancer. But a 1998 study reported 24 percent more deaths from heart disease in a group of women taking HRT than those taking a placebo.50 These results were not statistically significant but they do suggest that HRT is not protective against heart disease.

To counteract the effects of estrogen therapy, some practitioners are recommending progesterone as an antidote—either in synthetic form or as a "natural" ingredient of various rub-on creams. Because the "natural" progesterones come from plant sources, they are assumed to be safe. But these "natural" progesterones must undergo several synthetic chemical conversions. The soybean product is derived from a sterol compound called stigmasterol, which is then synthesized to progesterone. The yam product is derived from diogenine. Whether rubbed on or taken by mouth, progesterones, like estrogens, can interfere with the body's natural cycle of hormone production. The long-term effects are largely unknown and it is easy to overdose. The amount of progesterone in a cream may vary greatly from one product to another and there is no way of telling how much reaches the bloodstream.51

Not to be outdone in the hormone-meddling activities foisted on the American woman, some clinicians now recommend the addition of androgens—male hormones—to the estrogen cocktail. They cite evidence that these male hormones may improve a woman's energy and mood, reduce breast pain, energize waning libido and protect against osteoporosis, citing "a direct, positive correlation between post menopausal circulating levels of androgens and protection from vertebral crush fractures."52

The truth is that every woman in the world experiences a decline in the level of female hormones and a rise in the level of male hormones at menopause. This is nature's way of equipping the female sex for her new role as forager, worker and sage. Like the male youth of eighteen, she experiences hotbloodedness, signalized by hot flashes, as she prepares for a lustier life than the cloistered one she led as a mother of small children. If she falls for the promises of the estrogen-peddlers, she inhibits the forces that push her into the role of activist and extrovert and throws cold water on the fire that her hormones have set to pry her out of her nest and into the brave new world of adventure and challenge.
Healthy grandmother from Torres Straits