The Importance of Estrogen

The Importance of Estrogen

Determining the amount of estrogen that a patient is producing, including their exposure to environmental estrogens, for both humans and animals, has been recognized in the medical world as being vitally important to health.

Besides identifying exposure to phytoestrogens and xenoestrogens, the medical profession believes the main source of estrogen in females comes mainly from the ovaries, and in males from other tissues in their body that produce estradiol.

There seems to be a lack of recognition by the medical profession that large amounts of adrenal estrogen may also be present, but are rarely measured.

As a practicing, clinical veterinarian, I have found elevated amounts of adrenal estrogen in over 100,000 canine, feline and equine females that had no ovarian tissue, and also in castrated males.

Approximately 1,000 human patients, whether male or female, also had elevated amounts of adrenal estrogen when tested by their physicians for a variety of different estrogenic induced, chronic, inflammatory diseases.

Total estrogen MUST be tested for every patient, whether human or animal.

A total estrogen test is offered for humans by Quest Laboratories, LabCorp and possibly other human laboratories.

National Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is the only veterinary laboratory at this time that offers a total estrogen test for animals.

To determine the amount of estrogen that is being produced by the inner layer adrenal cortex, simply measure the amounts of E1, E2 and E3 and total estrogen.

In male humans and animals, merely measure estradiol and total estrogen.

In female humans and animals, patients without ovaries or patients that are postmenopausal, their E1, E2, E3 and total estrogen may be measured at any time.

If human females are still menstruating, it is best to determine their E1, E2, and E3 and total estrogen at the time their ovaries are the most quiescent, and tested once again at the time when their ovaries are the most active.

The amounts of estrogen produced by each patient will help determine the difference between ovarian and adrenal estrogen.

For further information on the importance of total estrogen, please go here.

Sincerely,

Dr. Al Plechner DVM

This was also posted on Cancertutor.com