Roger Mason, chemist and author of the book “No More Horse Estrogen”
Has suggested a number of products in order to help women through Menopause, pre menopause and post menopause.

Better Estrogen (oestrogen) Levels for Men and Women
- Roger Mason

Recently this column was devoted to a new supplement I3C (indole-3-carbinol) and it's metabolite DIM (di-indolyl methane). I warned you that both I3C and DIM were very overpriced.

Seriously folks I want all of you over 40, male or female to take this supplement for a lot of good reasons which I'll explain right now.

It is a myth that Western women are deficient in estrogen and need to take horse estrogen (Premarin from PREgnant MARes urINe) to raise their levels especially after menopause. Western women are up to their ears in estrogen gobbling down endless amounts of saturated fat, drinking alcohol, not getting any exercise and being overweight. Why do you think American women get 1 in 8 cases of breast cancer? One in eight women you know will end up with breast cancer which is the direct result of excess estradiol and estrone (the two most powerful human estrogens). Not to mention all the other cancers, diseases and conditions that excess estrogen causes. So what does estrogen have to do with men? Men over 50 have literally higher estrogen levels than their wives. Frightening, huh? That' s a big reason men get fat, grow breasts, get prostate disease and lose their hair. The same reasons apply for this excess load of estrogen- gobbling down animal fats, drinking, laying on your dead butts watching TV and being overweight. All American men will end up with prostate cancer if they live long enough. Fact.

It is almost impossible to lower estrogen levels except by big changes in diet and lifestyle. Most people simply are not willing to do this. Can't medical science do anything? Yes, give you dangerous, toxic, expensive "anti-aromatase" drugs. Bad choice there.

You have another choice to change your estrogen metabolism and lower your levels. Eat a half head of cabbage a day or a pound of broccoli or cauliflower. Don't like that choice, huh? Then take 400 mg of I3C which is overpriced. Or take 200 mg of the direct metabolite DIM or di-indolyl methane.

When I read the Journal of the National Cancer Institute from 1990 (vol. 82, p. 947-9) I just couldn't believe what I had been missing for 11 years. Real live humans were given I3C and lowered their estradiol (the most powerful and carcinogenic) levels 18% in a week! It also improved the entire metabolism of estrogens. DIM will do the same thing with only half the amount for less money since it is the direct digestive metabolite of I3C. The authors of this study concluded, "These results indicate that indole-3-carbinol strongly influences estradiol metabolism in humans and may provide a new chemopreventative agent."

DIM Lowers Estrogen (oestrogen) in Men and Women
- Roger Mason

One of the most pervasive medical myths is that women are estrogen deficient as they age and need supplementation. On the other hand, one of the most unknown medical facts is that men over 50 generally have higher estrogen levels than their post-menopausal wives! This is called "estrogen dominance". In women the loss of progesterone means a higher estrogen-to-progesterone ratio and thus more illnesses of various types especially cancer. In men the reversed testosterone-to-estrogen ratio causes such problems as prostate disease, obesity, gynecomastia, etc.You can easily and inexpensively test your estradiol and estrone with saliva kits. Women should also test their estriol (the "forgotten" estrogen) since medical doctors are too uneducated to know about it. One reason rural Asian people and vegetarians enjoy better health generally is their lower levels of estradiol and estrone, and higher levels of estriol.

If your estrogen levels are too high what do you do? Diet and exercise are the answer. A lowfat high fiber diet based on whole grains and daily exercise is the real answer.You should never take dangerous estrogen blockers like Tamoxifen or Arimidex. Diet and lifestyle are always the real answer to your health problems. What supplements can you take? 200 mg of DIM (diindolylmethane) is the most important. This is the direct metabolite of I3C (indole-3-carbinol). DIM is a much better choice than I3C and is only half the price since you need twice as much I3C. We sell 60 X 200 mg of DIM for only $9.95 which is the cheapest price in the world. Life Extinction is too stupid to sell it as is Swanson's. Even Puritan's Pride wants $10 for 100 mg (not 200 mg) X 60 and you have to buy three bottles on their 3-for-1 sale to get that. This comes to $20 a bottle compared to our $9.95 and they are literally the biggest vitamin company in the world. You can buy BIO DIM for $80 a bottle since they want $20 for a mere 50 mg and you would have to take four capsules a day! Young Again Nutrients (who is not related to us and who we sued in federal court for using our name) sells DIM for $29.95 and brags, "We manufacture the DIM ourselves and pass the savings on to you". That's really nice of them to pass on all those savings.I3C is found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and Brussel's sprouts. Most of the published studies are, in fact, on I3C since it was discovered first and has been around longer. More and more you see studies on DIM. All the I3C studies apply equally to DIMsince it is the direct metabolite.

There are definitely clinical evidence to prove this. Doctors at NY Medical College said, "In fact I3C undergoes dimerization under acidic conditions to form DIM that is more bioreactive than I3C." Doctors at UC Berkeley gave a mere 108 mg (it should have been 200 mg) of DIM to postmenopausal women in a double blind study. Their estrogen metabolism was improved dramatically in only 30 days. At Wayne State University the researchers concluded, "The results from our lab, and from others, provide ample evidence for the benefit of I3C and DIM for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer." At Tecnion Institutein Israel two studies were done to show the effectiveness of DIM against breast and prostate cancer in animals. "The inhibitory action of DIM on tumor growth was demonstrated in vivo" The the Univerist of Leicester, "I3C and DIM are promising cancer chemopreventive agents." At Oregon State Universtiy, "I3C and DIM are naturlly occurring dietary components found in cruciferous vegetables. In the stomach I3C forms condensation products including DIM." At the Jewish Research Institute, "I3C and its dimer DIM, obtained from dietary consumtption of curuciefer vegetables have multiple biochemical activities. Both compounds have been effective clinically in treat precancersou lesions of the cervix and laryngeal palillomas."

Test your estrogen levels with a saliva kit and take DIM to keep them low. One to two grams of flax oil will work synergistically with this. Nothing substitutes for a good low fat,high fiber diet and lots of exercise though.
We cannot comment on Rogers works or prices.

Good Natural Supplements for Women
- Roger Mason

Women often ask me, "What supplements should I take?" This can be very perplexing since we get most all of our information on health from advertisers and from the mainstream media. Make no mistake- the media is 100% behind the doctors and pharmaceutical corporations and have little use for real natural healing methods. If you are over the age of forty you should consider taking about twenty supplements a day for good health no matter how healthy your diet is. That may sound like a lot but there are that many proven natural supplements now, that you should take advantage of all of them as much as possible.

First of all find a good vitamin and mineral supplement. A good choice is the generic brands of well advertised multivitamins like Centrum that are sold in the chain drug stores like "CentVite". Read the labels and compare them especially on the amount of minerals they contain. You should be getting chromium, selenium in here. You will not find vanadium and silica in them unfortunately but they can be purchased separately. Be sure you have vitamin K in the supplement as well as this is a much overlooked vitamin. Vitamin E 400 IU is a time proven supplement. Choose the "natural" type rather than the single synthetic d-alpha tocopherol. This is very important for our heart and circulatory system and heart disease is the number one killer of women by far.

Vitamin B-6 is specific for women but don't take the 50 mg tablets that are generally given in the short term clinical studies as this is a clear overdose. The RDA is only 2 mg so 10 mg tablets are more than enough. There have been a lot of studies on B-6 and female health.

Also with the B-6, folic acid is also woman specific. Take 800 mcg (that's micrograms) a day. Folic acid has a lot of science behind it and even the government promotes it now. N-acetyl cysteine or "NAC" 600 mg is a good supplement. We have an antioxidant called glutathione in our bodies but taking glutathione itself ironically does a rather poor job of raising our levels. NAC does a fine job of raising our glutathione levels. The other major antioxidant is superoxide dismutase or "SOD" but this is not absorbed when taken orally. Do not be taken in by oral SOD supplements but the face creams are wonderful- if they contain at least 25,000 PIU (units) of real SOD as stated on the label.

We worry about our brain function, memory, senility and Alzheimer's as we age. Taking 100 mg of phosphatidyl serine or "PS" is good protection here. This is an important chemical in our brain and the price on this has finally come down in the last three years. I've found this is a much better choice than gingko biloba since it is a natural part of our body chemistry. Along with this you can take acetyl-L-carnitine in 500 mg doses. The studies on PS and acetyl-L-carnitine are very impressive. If you are over 40 you can take 25 mg of the over the counter hormone pregnenolone. Our levels of pregnenolone fall after the age of 40 and this is the premier brain hormone.

Lecithin is a time proven supplement and is extracted from soybeans. A 1,200 mg softgel is a good choice.

For God's sake, do NOT take more than 250 mg of vitamin C if you feel you need a vitamin C supplement. The RDA is only 60 mg so 250 mg is over 400% of your needs. The theory that mega doses of vitamin C are good for you is a farce as this acidifies your normally alkaline blood and makes you sickly and lowers your immunity.

Beta carotene in 10,000 to 25,000 IU doses is a much better choice than vitamin A and has lots of science behind it. This is a good antioxidant like vitamin E.

You have probably never heard of beta sitosterol. You can find this on the internet but be sure to take at least 300 mg of the mixed sterols. This is good for lowering cholesterol naturally and helping to prevent cancer generally. It is also good for your husband's prostate gland. One major brand contains a useless 30 mg so be sure to get a brand with 300 or more mg and don't pay more than $20 for 60 capsules.

You have probably never heard of fructooligosaccharides or "FOS". This is also known as inulin and is an artichoke extract. This is an indigestible sugar that feeds the good bacteria in our intestines but not the bad bacteria. One or two 750 mg capsules a day is good for your intestinal health. While you're at it be sure to find a good brand of strong acidophilus with 1-3 billion units and keep it refrigerated. Here you may want to buy a name brand from your favorite health food store than keeps it in a refrigerator. The third thing you can do for you intestines is to take one gram of the amino acid L-glutamine. This amino acid has very beneficial effects on our intestines and, is given to patients after intestinal surgery to help them heal.

You should eat a low fat diet and that includes vegetable oils and olive oil. Omega-3 fatty acids are not commonly found in foods and the best source is flax oil. Take 1000 mg of flax oil a day instead of fish oil. This is very important for your heart and circulatory health and to keep your cholesterol down. If you're concerned about arthritis be sure to get all your minerals and trace minerals. You should take 500 to 1000 mg of glucosamine a day but do not bother with chondrotin. It doesn't matter how many millions of dollars of chondroitin are sold every year in the U.S. as the molecule will not pass thru the intestinal wall. The many "studies" you hear about are really paid ads in the medical journals. Yes, you can pay to have your so-called "study" published in many medical journals now, unfortunately.

Vitamin D is not in our food unless you are fond of fish livers. Taking 400 to 800 IU a day is a fine idea unless you are out in the sun a lot, in which case you don't need it. This is good protection against breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men- which are basically the same conditions with the same causes and cures.

Soy isoflavones 40 mg are a very important supplement. You are never going to eat enough soy foods in our culture to get enough genestein and diadzine. Please ignore the anti-soy hysteria you may read on the internet as it is not scientific in the least and is funded by the dairy farmers who are trying to get you to drink milk and eat dairy products instead of healthy soy foods. If you drink regular soy milk remember that a single cup contains 200 calories and it is best to use it in cooking and on cold cereal rather than to drink it as a beverage.

Magnesium is a good mineral to take even if you eat a lot of whole grains- the best of all sources. You only need 250 to 500 mg a day. You are better off not to drink dairy milk even the low fat and no fat brands or to eat dairy products as all these are full of indigestible, allergenic lactose or milk sugar. So where are you going to get your calcium? In the food you eat and in a calcium supplement if you want to take one. Take 500 to 1000 mg a day of any kind you like. Remember that calcium cannot be absorbed without adequate magnesium and boron to go with it. Also please realize that American and European women who drink the most milk and eat the most dairy products and have the highest calcium intake in the world also have the highest rates of arthritis and osteoporosis. High calcium intake does not equal bone and joint health. You have probably never heard of beta glucan even though it is the most potent immune enhancer known to science. It is an extract of oats or yeast and 200 mg is a good dose. The science on this is overwhelming and you can read my booklet, "What Is Beta Glucan?" to learn more. This can also be used topically if you can find a 1% beta glucan cream.
You know that cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are good for you. One reason is they contain indole-3-carbinol or "I3C". You can take 400 mg of I3C a day but this gets expensive. The direct metabolite of I3C in our bodies is something called di-indolyl methane or "DIM". Take 200 mg of DIM every day to lower your estrogen levels and improve your estrogen metabolism. Unopposed estrogen is the direct cause of such cancers as breast, ovarian and uterine. Western women are generally up to their ears in estrogen even after menopause as are Western men. You can read about the myth of estrogen benefits in my book, "No More Horse Estrogen!"

CoQl0 is a very powerful chemical in our body that falls as we age. The price has come down on this so you can take the 100 mg a day you need. The studies are stunning on this for immunity, cancer, heart health, brain metabolism and other conditions. If you are sick or old take 200 mg. This is just as powerful topically but it is almost impossible to find a cream with the 0.5% to 1.0% you need to be effective. CoQ10 is a must.

Vitamin B-12 is important but very poorly absorbed when taken orally. A nasal spray is considered a drug by the FDA and they will not approve it for over the counter sales. Take 1000 mcg in a sublingual tablet or try to find methyl cobalamin which is supposed to be effective orally in low doses.

Curcumin is an extract of tumeric and is a safe and powerful anti-inflammatory. This has anti-cancer properties as well. Do not take mere tumeric powder and make sure the label says "curcumin" or "curcumoids" in the amount of about 500 mg per capsule. Quercitin is a fine anti-oxidant and has been around for a long time without getting the recognition it should have. Find a 250 to 500 mg capsule and take this as it has very beneficial effects on women's health.
Green tea extract is good if you get a decaf brand. You will never drink enough green tea every day to make a difference.

Melatonin is a vital hormone to take and the more we find out about it the more powerful and effective we find it to be. Take 3 mg and take it only at night as we do not produce melatonin during the day. This is the major anti-aging hormone.

Do NOT take DHEA unless you test yourself for this with blood or saliva. You can now get accurate home saliva test kits you send in to a laboratory. These can easily be found on the internet for about $30 a hormone. Women can have too high or too low DHEA levels so you cannot take this until you test yourself and prove your level is low. You are looking for the youthful level you had at the age of 30. You must retest yourself after, say, three months if you take this to see if the amount is correct.

Natural progesterone cream is a good choice for any woman over forty. Again, please read my book, "No More Horse Estrogen!" to find out about this. Pre-menopausal women can use it from day 14 to 28 of their periods. Post-menopausal women can use it any three weeks of the month.

You should test your three basic estrogens by blood or saliva. This means estradiol (the strongest and most dangerous), estrone, and estriol (the weakest and most beneficial). It is doubtful you are low in estradiol or estrone unless you have had a hysterectomy. If you are low, take the NATURAL forms and not the toxic, unnatural horse urine extract. If you are low in estriol you will need to find a compounding pharmacist to make an intravaginal estriol cream for you as it is not sold in pharmacies.

The last hormone to discuss is testosterone. Yes, women have testosterone but it can be too high as well as too low. Test your level by blood or saliva as you will never have strong bones or a satisfying sex life if your level is too low.

Natural supplements and hormones like these are safe, proven, powerful and can literally change your life. But nothing works without good diet and eating the right foods. Nothing will make up for poor food choices. Good authors on diet include Susan Powter, Gary Null, Terry Shintani, Robert Pritikin and Dean Ornish. With wise food choices these supplements and hormones are most effective and life changing.

Home Hormone Testing
- Roger Mason

Our hormone levels are central to our health, how we feel, our immunity to disease, and how long we live. Have you noticed medical doctors almost never check any of your hormone levels, much less several of them? Do you know anyone who even knows just one of their hormone levels? Doctors, unfortunately, know almost nothing about how to test your hormones or ad-minister bioidentical ones if you are low. Yes, this includes endocrinologists. If you are too high only diet and lifestyle will lower them. Doctors charge extortionate prices for office visits and blood tests. You can saliva test most of them and get blood tests without doctors on the Internet. Saliva tests cost about $30 per hormone. You are looking for the youthful levels you had at about the age of 30. Let’s quickly review our basic hormones and see how to test them.

DHEA can be tested with a saliva kit. If you are low normal or worse simply take oral DHEA tablets. Men can take 25 mg and women about half that generally.

Testosterone can also be tested with a saliva kit. You only want your FREE level and not your bound or total. Women need to test their testosterone just as much as men do. If low normal or worse use a natural transdermal cream or gel which generally delivers about 20% into the blood. Men need about 3 mg (15 mg cream) and women about 150 mcg (about 750 mcg cream). NEVER USE ORAL OR INJECTIONS OR METHYL TESTOSTERONE. You can make your own transdermal DMSO solutions if you want as they are not FDA approved.

Even endocrinologists don’t test pregnenolone. People over 40 should take pregnenolone generally. Men can use 50 mg and women half that. Very few companies offer a pregnenolone saliva test and some are unreliable unfortunately.

People over 40 generally need melatonin. This can only be tested at 3:00 AM with a saliva kit. Very few companies offer a melatonin saliva kit and some are also unreliable unfortunately. Take melatonin only at night. Men can use 3 mg and women can use 3 mg five days a week.
Your free T3 and free T4 thyroid hormones cannot be tested with saliva currently. Please see the article Test Your Thyroid for $87 in our library and get this done without a doctor (you’ll also get your TSH with this.) Do not bother with your T3 uptake, and your TSH means nothing without the free T3 and free T4 values. Do not accept low normal values here. If low you can start with 12.5 mg of T3 (Cytomel) or 50 mcg of T4 (Synthroid). These are bioidentical to your own hormones and have no side effects when used properly. You can get them legally and inexpensively from Mexican Internet pharmacies.

You can test your AM cortisol with saliva. High cortisol indicates stress.

Men over 40 can use transdermal progesterone without testing as can post-menopausal women. Pre-menopausal women should test their progesterone according to their period with a saliva kit. Use a good brand of natural USP progesterone cream with 800 to 1000 mg per two ounce jar.

Insulin per se should not be tested, but rather a one hour/one draw glucose tolerance test or GTT. You drink a 75 g cup of glucose and have your blood sugar measured an hour later to see the response. You can also test your fasting blood sugar which should be 85 or less- not the usual figure of 100 or less.

Women should saliva test all three estrogens- estradiol, estrone and estriol. Doctors don’t even know what estriol is or care. If low use a natural transdermal cream or gel or get a compounding pharmacist to make sublingual drops of natural estrogens. Men over 50 can test their estradiol and estrone with saliva as this is a problem for aging males.

Growth hormone cannot be tested with saliva and you need a 4 blood draw test in 24 hours (every six hours) at a lab to get accurate results. It is better to go by RESULTS here after you take it. If you are over 50 you can probably benefit from 1 IU a day sublingually. You can buy Chinese Jintropin legally on the Internet for about $100 for 30 IU (a one month supply). NONE of the over-the-counter products have any value at all.

You will never enjoy full health unless all your basic hormones are at youthful levels. Remember that our hormones work harmoniously together in concert as a team, so balance as many as you can.

The Tests offered with Mason’s Menopause Pack are home blood tests
and pass the Mason’s inspection.

Ladies, Cure All Your Female Problems for Only $29.95
- Roger Mason

Ladies, how would you like to cure all your sexual, menstrual and menopausal problems for only $29.95 plus postage and handling? If you have a television you must have seen the ads for “Avlimil” over the past few months. Just go to www.avlimil.com for more information. In fact, they offer a “free” 30 day trial supply. “Regain Your Sensuality”. O.K., let’s get real…… if your sex life is dismal it is probably a direct expression of the quality of your marriage and relations with your husband. For women we all know sexual satisfaction is primarily an EMOTIONAL issue and you certainly aren’t going to help yourself with some TV ad selling you a wildly overpriced little Magic Pill. Do you know how many hundreds of thousands of women have already coughed up big bucks for this stuff? This ad is one of the most successful of the recent TV ads and has aired for months now on some of the biggest national and cable channels in the country.

“Free”, did you say? Well, you know, free as in almost free, but not really free. You have to send them $9.99 postage for something that costs them about one dollar to make and another dollar to package and mail. That sounds more like an 800% true markup to me rather than free. That’s right, you could make 30 capsules of this for about a dollar.

What is in Avlimil anyway? Each capsule contains 756 mg of ten different herbs or about 76 mg of each herb. Folks, that is not a biologically significant amount. Taking a mere 76 mg of any herb is going to be useless. Maybe if you took ten capsules a day you would be getting an effective amount of these Wonder Herbs. Which herbs are they? Let’s go over them one by one:

Sage- you know, like you find in your breakfast sausage. That’s right, sage is the green powder in the little can in your kitchen spice cabinet. The medicinal value of sage is about zero, but it sure is a fine culinary spice.

Red Raspberry Leaf- they call this the “Vine of Female Vitality”. Actually it is very weak and has little value in herbology.

Isoflavones- from kudzu root. They claim these are “weak estrogens”. Ladies, hormones are not found in plants but only in animals. American women are estrogen dominant anyway and the last thing they need generally is more estrogens.

Bayberry Fruit- they claim your vagina and uterus will be healthier if you take this.

Capsicum Pepper- that’s right- the red pepper in your kitchen spice cabinet right there next to the little can of sage. Another fine culinary spice.

Damiana Leaf- they say this is an aphrodisiac that enhances sexual function. Actually damiana has potential- if you take about 500 mg of it.

Ginger Root- that’s right ladies, the same can of powdered ginger in your kitchen spice cabinet right there next to the sage and red pepper. This is good for motion sickness if you take 1,000 to 2,000 mg of dry powdered root.

Valerian Root- they say this calms your nervous system and helps you sleep better. Valerian makes a very poor sedative or sleep aid and is toxic when taken for long periods of time or in large amounts.

Black Cohosh- they claim this contains estrogens, too. You are not going to find estrogen or any other hormones in plants; they are only found in animals.

The real question here is why are so many women so naïve and desperate that they will send in their hard earned money for something like this? If you want to improve your health and sex life, that takes a total change in your diet and lifestyle, not some overpriced Magic Pill advertised on TV. You have to make better food choices, take proven supplements, balance your natural hormones and get some exercise. Please read my book, No More Horse Estrogen! to learn exactly how to do this.

Soy Isoflavones are Very Beneficial
- Roger Mason

This column has previously explained how powerful and effective soy isoflavones are and you can look in the ARCHIVES to see these articles. There are websites devoted to claiming soy and soy products are "harmful". These websites are funded by the meat and dairy industries that are losing business as smart people eat less meat and less dairy all the time. They are propaganda posing as science, plain and simple. Unfortunately, they are very well written and very misleading to most people.

It is not realistic to try and eat more soy foods generally because our culture just doesn't work that way. Boiled soybeans just don't taste very good. Tofu is not a health food (see the ARCHIVES on this subject). Soymilk is great stuff, but should be used in moderation because of the calorie content (about 120 per cup). Soy yogurt is so full of sugar as to make it unhealthy as are frozen soy desserts. Most people have never heard of tempeh, seitan, natto, etc. and aren't interested in eating them. Soy sauce is merely a condiment.

The only realistic way to get the benefits of soy is to take isoflavone supplements in approximately 40 mg doses. These are flavones and NOT "phytoestrogens" no matter how many people call them that or how many medical journals refer to them that way. Hormones are only made in animals and not in any plants. Flavones are plant pigments. Human estrogen receptors are extremely selective and will not accept anything other than some analog of estrogen.