Progesterone and Breast Cancer Prevention

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the incidence has increased 52 percent between 1950 and 1990. Breast cancer incidence has now risen to become the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women with 175,000 cases annually, accounting for over 40,000 deaths yearly.

What has caused this dramatic rise in the rate of breast cancer among women? Many doctors maintain that unopposed estrogen is responsible for at least 30 to 35 percent of breast cancers. Other doctors put the incidence even higher.

Estrogen levels in America today are higher than in other countries. Estrogen is secreted in substantial amounts not only by the ovaries but also by the adrenal glands in the form of androstenedione. Doctors prescribe estrogen for many different conditions at many difference stages and ages in a woman's life-for menstrual problems; PMS, birth control, infertility, and menopausal symptoms.

A large number of chemicals we encounter in our daily lives; pesticides, solvents, detergents and plastics, contain estrogen. We live in an estrogen-saturated environment, which is a source of additional unwanted and unneeded estrogen. Through and from these products estrogenic substances enter our living cells, building up over time.

Johns Hopkins Medical school followed two study groups of women for 20 years. The results of the study were published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1981. Women in the low progesterone group were compared to women with normal progesterone levels. In women with low progesterone the occurrence of breast cancer was 5.4 times greater than in women with normal progesterone levels. Stated another way, the incidence of breast cancer in the low progesterone group was over 80 percent greater than in the normal progesterone group.

Breast duct cell hyperplasia-increased rate of cell growth in breast duct cells is recognized as a major risk factor for breast cancer. In a 1995 study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, researchers performed a double-blind randomized study examining the use of topical natural progesterone cream and a topical estrogen to determine breast duct cell growth. Women using progesterone cream had dramatically reduced cell multiplication rates. Women using estrogen had significantly higher cell multiplication rates.

We live in a society saturated with estrogen. Combined with the natural fall in progesterone levels that all women experience, the result is all women are in danger of estrogen excess. It is not mere coincidence that breast cancer occurs in women with high estrogen levels and low progesterone levels.

The scientific facts are indisputable. Breast cancer is caused to a great extend by excessive, unopposed levels of estrogen. Progesterone has been shown to step cells from multiplying and when progesterone cream is applied to breast cysts, they usually disappear within three to four months.

It is very clear indeed that progesterone cream is protective against breast cancer. Natural progesterone cream can be applied or massaged directly into the skin anywhere where it's thin or soft, the neck inner arms, back of the elbows, flat of the stomach, back of the knees, and directly onto the breasts. Progesterone cream permeates the skin and gets into the blood stream.