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Phytoestrogens' (PM, Fenugreek etc) impact on Fertility

#1

I have been reading up on scientific and clinical studies done on phytoestrogens, rather than PM directly. Many articles based solely on PM are biased and lead to PM selling sites.

&& There is also limited information on its effects on premenopausal women(younger women 20 and above) so, wanted to share my research with you ladies!



http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2013/650984/#B15
[i][i]
On the other hand, consumption of isoflavones in women reproductive age has been linked to dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, and secondary infertility [16, 128]. A high intake of phytoestrogens resulted in dysmenorrhea and persistent sex arousal syndrome in one case-study reported by Amsterdam et al. [15]. In this study, like in the one reported by Chandrareddy et al. [16], withdrawal of soy intake from the diet resulted in the lessening or in the complete disappearance of the symptoms. Remarkably, in the studies of Chandrareddy et al. [16] one patient was able to conceive after isoflavone withdrawal from her diet. Keeping in mind that these adverse effects have been encountered only in a restricted number of cases, it still appears advisable to handle the phytoestrogens’ intake with care. In vitro studies strengthen the observation that isoflavones can directly modulate endometrial physiology [99, 129]. Interestingly, genistein was able to modulate the proliferation of Ishikawa cells, an epithelial cell line derived from adenocarcinoma, in a dose-dependent fashion, being the low doses an inhibitor factor for proliferation, that was instead promoted by high doses [99]. At similar doses, genistein promoted the proliferation of leiomyoma cells [129]. These findings raise concern for the beneficial effects of isoflavones. Surprisingly, genistein revealed to cure endometrial hyperplasia in a clinical trial [130].

Isoflavones can exert their effect not only on the uterus level. Other estrogen-sensitive organs such as ovaries can be affected by these natural estrogens. In order to guarantee a normal ovarian function, estrogen circulating levels must oscillate during the cycle. Low estrogen levels stimulate FSH release by the hypothalamus/pituitary, thus leading to follicle growth. The presence of isoflavones can nullify the required low levels of endogenous estrogen. This could lead to irregular cycle, and even to reproductive impairment [131]. Following soy intake, cases of altered steroid hormones levels and trends for increased cycle length have been reported [131–133]. Moreover, soy supplementation to women in reproductive age resulted in decreased LH and FSH levels during the periovulatory phase [133]. If such alterations can be sufficient to impair the ovarian cycle is still argument of debate. Moreover, there are conflicting results on the effects of isoflavones on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonads axis [132, 133]. Thus, it is not possible to evaluate if the effects exerted by isoflavones on human reproduction are due to a local or a systemic action. Interestingly, animal studies demonstrated that genistein is able to impair ovarian differentiation in mice [134, 135]. In this light, the results collected among women in reproductive age raise great concern for the effects of isoflavones’ exposure [16, 134]. Fortunately, the effects exerted by isoflavones in adult life appear reversible once dietary intake is ceased [131].
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This is the key article that has the most details on this so far. I read the citation articles as well; in short it says that phytoestrogens (from soy based diet) can cause secondary infertility, which is the infertility after a woman has already given birth to one child. It also said that during that one case, after the soy was removed from her diet, she was able to conceive.

There were other articles which talked about how animals (leopards, cattle) couldnt conceive or their babies had high mortality rate/abnormalities when fed with crops that have high phytoestrogen content but they did not mention if the situation got better after removing such foods from their diet.


From what I read so far, it SEEMS that it is alright to take phytoestrogens as long as you're not planning to get pregnant, and u can remove it from ur diet should u want to conceive, but keep in mind that that was only based on ONE woman and that the amount we take from PM is very much higher. Please note that the research was based on phytoestrogens in SOY, which is of a way lower content than what we take for PM. (I roughly calculated 10litres of soy milk to have the same content as 1000mg of PM per day)



Has anyone had a child after taking PM? Or viceversa- found difficulties in childbearing?
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#2

(10-03-2015, 11:01)yaoxi Wrote:  I have been reading up on scientific and clinical studies done on phytoestrogens, rather than PM directly. Many articles based solely on PM are biased and lead to PM selling sites.

That's not necessarily the case, using simple search term "Pueraria Mirifica" yielded over 1100 articles using Google scholar. Pub-Med is another tool, I've never seen one ad linked to study's, and I've seen or read dozens of PM related study's, not that I'm discounting the seriousness of the subject.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=pueraria+mirifica&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C36&as_sdtp=

Other phytoestrogens can cause side effects in addition to PM, fertility issues too. But beyond fertility there are other major health concerns that have surfaced from our members (side effects) using PM and other phyto's, using the search option tool will help you find those threads if your interested.



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#3

Hi Lotus, thanks for the reply!

I have been searching under Google directly - perhaps thats where I got all of the articles laden with Ads.

I just tried looking under Google Scholar but again, not much information on fertility issues on premenopausal women written about PM. Its mostly on rats/monkeys/menopausal women. That was the closest I could find.

I did read up on the threads about other side effects; but I find that those effects can be detected and remedied earlier. Fertility on the other hand would be the greatest cause of concern (at least for me.)

Have you seen any articles based on PM & fertility on women? Or do you know of anyone who had a child after taking/stopping PM?
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#4

(11-03-2015, 08:12)yaoxi Wrote:  Hi Lotus, thanks for the reply!

I have been searching under Google directly - perhaps thats where I got all of the articles laden with Ads.

I just tried looking under Google Scholar but again, not much information on fertility issues on premenopausal women written about PM. Its mostly on rats/monkeys/menopausal women. That was the closest I could find.

I did read up on the threads about other side effects; but I find that those effects can be detected and remedied earlier. Fertility on the other hand would be the greatest cause of concern (at least for me.)

Have you seen any articles based on PM & fertility on women? Or do you know of anyone who had a child after taking/stopping PM?

Quite honestly, I'm left with more question than answers when reviewing some studies, drives me nuts. They'll leave the caveat "more research is needed" lol, crazy right?. I haven't seen anything directly related to your question on PM, it might exist, who knows?.... especially with so many crossed referenced material on genistein and daidzein.

If fertility is a concern look into chaste-berry, but I think you're looking for info regarding post NBE fertility using PM, which I don't have........sorry. Blush
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#5

(11-03-2015, 22:27)Lotus Wrote:  
(11-03-2015, 08:12)yaoxi Wrote:  Hi Lotus, thanks for the reply!

I have been searching under Google directly - perhaps thats where I got all of the articles laden with Ads.

I just tried looking under Google Scholar but again, not much information on fertility issues on premenopausal women written about PM. Its mostly on rats/monkeys/menopausal women. That was the closest I could find.

I did read up on the threads about other side effects; but I find that those effects can be detected and remedied earlier. Fertility on the other hand would be the greatest cause of concern (at least for me.)

Have you seen any articles based on PM & fertility on women? Or do you know of anyone who had a child after taking/stopping PM?

Quite honestly, I'm left with more question than answers when reviewing some studies, drives me nuts. They'll leave the caveat "more research is needed" lol, crazy right?. I haven't seen anything directly related to your question on PM, it might exist, who knows?.... especially with so many crossed referenced material on genistein and daidzein.

If fertility is a concern look into chaste-berry, but I think you're looking for info regarding post NBE fertility using PM, which I don't have........sorry. Blush

Its okay!! Thanks though for your input Blush

Yes I get what you mean! It annoys me too Huh In the end after all the research everything is still up to our own discretion. Dodgy

I read in Google Scholar on some experiments on female rats; results were that 10mg/kg of PM did not affect fertility in rats whereas 100mg/kg did.

This other article said (http://www.researchgate.net/publication/..._male_rats) :

"The decrease of gonadotropin levels was recovered within 1 week in males and 2 weeks in females, respectively, during the post-treatment period. The increase of uterine weight and vaginal cornification were observed in female rats treated with P-100 and P-1,000"

They didn't say if the uterine weight and vaginal cornification were recovered too arghhhh Angry

But I think I'd take it as the effects are reversible after stopping PM and take 10mg/kg (about 500mg a day) for a start.

Lotus, have u seen anyone with permanent results in size after stopping PM then?Smile

Does PM prevent sagging too?

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