07-04-2013, 03:00
(This post was last modified: 07-04-2013, 03:03 by mochaccino.)
I've heard conflicting information about the action of diosgenin in the body. The wikipedia entry for diosgenin says "the unmodified steroid has estrogenic activity". It can be used to synthesize progesterone in a lab, but apparently it's already estrogenic without any modifications. I could be wrong, but I think any plant chemical that has estrogenic properties is considered a phytoestrogen. If I'm wrong, please explain why. I've been confused about this before because I've seen some plant substances listed as having estrogenic properties and not seen them listed anywhere as phytoestrogens. It could just be that their estrogenic properties hadn't been sufficiently confirmed. I don't really know.
I know that Diosgenin has been tested for it's ability to increase endogenous progesterone, and if I remember correctly, it didn't seem to have any effect. I don't remember if pure diosgenin was ever used in these studies or if they all used herbal extracts.
If it really shut down all or most of the feedback loops of the endocrine system, that seems like it would be a HUGE, drug-like effect, with major consequences. Is that incorrect? Maybe it shuts down one particular feedback loop or widens it somehow. I don't know what's plausible. I'm confused about the basic mechanism of FG, beyond weak estrogenic activity. I've yet to hear a well detailed plausible mechanism for it's other supposed actions, but that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. There are many theories but they're not supported by much direct evidence. Of course that can't be helped when there's not much research into it's effects on certain hormones.
To be clear, I do think that there is probably something special about FG, but I'm not really sure what that "special" something is. Some people have a put a lot of thought into this, and I'd like to hear their theories.
About trigonelline, so far this is all I've found regarding it's estrogenic properties: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/10/1833.long
I know that Diosgenin has been tested for it's ability to increase endogenous progesterone, and if I remember correctly, it didn't seem to have any effect. I don't remember if pure diosgenin was ever used in these studies or if they all used herbal extracts.
If it really shut down all or most of the feedback loops of the endocrine system, that seems like it would be a HUGE, drug-like effect, with major consequences. Is that incorrect? Maybe it shuts down one particular feedback loop or widens it somehow. I don't know what's plausible. I'm confused about the basic mechanism of FG, beyond weak estrogenic activity. I've yet to hear a well detailed plausible mechanism for it's other supposed actions, but that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. There are many theories but they're not supported by much direct evidence. Of course that can't be helped when there's not much research into it's effects on certain hormones.
To be clear, I do think that there is probably something special about FG, but I'm not really sure what that "special" something is. Some people have a put a lot of thought into this, and I'd like to hear their theories.
About trigonelline, so far this is all I've found regarding it's estrogenic properties: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/10/1833.long