The Big Difference Between Natural Progesterone and Synthetic Progesterone
Progesterone is known to be the oldest steroid hormone. In the evolutionary scale, it is about 500 million years old and a lot older than the any dinosaur known to walk this earth! In human females, progesterone is by-product of ovaries in the production of ovules. Its role in the reproductive system is to build up the needed tissue lining on the wall of the uterus in preparation for the arrival of the fertilized egg. One consequence of the progesterone’s functions in the reproductive cycle is that it acts a balancer of estrogen hormones to prevent estrogen dominance. Apparently, if the ovaries produce too little or too much progesterone as compared to the level of estrogen, the body reacts adversely causing discomfort and many functional disorders.
Natural progesterone is a botanical processed supplement made from a wild Mexican yam or soybeans. It is utilized for the supplementation of progesterone deficiencies in both men and women. Synthetic progesterone or progestin, on the other hand, is a form of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) made from pregnant mare's urine.
The natural progesterone therapy first theorized by Dr. John Lee, was found in about 5,000 plants, but was particularly abundant in the Mexican wild yam. The Mexican wild yam contains diosgenin, which is essentially a progesterone molecule with a smaller molecule addition. Diosgenin is chemically synthesized in order to mimic the real human progesterone. It is also contains dihydroepiandrosterone or DHA, an adrenal hormone which in the human body can decrease due to age and can cause conditions such as postmenopausal osteoporosis.
The most outstanding difference between natural progesterone and progestin is that progestin is a mere analog or a "look alike"of progesterone but is not truly a progesterone at all. Unlike natural progesterone, which has a complete molecular identity to the hormone produced by the body, progestinlowers a patient's blood level of the progesterone biologically manufactured by the body. As a result the patients who prescribe to it experience side effects such as headaches, mood swings and fluid retention.The alteration to progestins can account for side effects including breast cancer, facial hair growth, depression, cardiovascular disease, liver disorders and other problems associated with progestin use.
Women who take natural progesterone, on the other hand, often say their mood swings diminish. Women who suffer from migraines due to PMS also find that this situation may be corrected by natural progesterone. In its natural micronized form, progesterone acts as a diuretic, which means the women who take these supplements urinate more frequently. In effect, they are spared from the fluid retention and weight gain experienced by women on synthetic progestin.
Progestins were developed with the advent of the birth control pill. Birth control pills contain, in most cases, a synthetic progestin and a synthetic estrogen. However, due to findings that estrogen can cause many side effects to women, drug companies have little by little obliterated the use of estrogen in birth control pills. Today, there are available progestin-only birth control pills that do not have the synthetic estrogen. As a contraceptive, progestin does three things: first it stops the ovary from releasing the egg; second, it changes the character of the uterus, disenabling it from supporting the egg; and third, it thickens the mucus in the vagina passageway to prevent sperms from reaching the egg.
Among these three functions, 2 of which can be very harmful to the female body. First, progestin makes the body "think" that it is pregnant and stops your ovary from releasing an egg. In effect, it hinders the body from producing its own natural progesterone that it needs to properly function. Second, it causes changes in the uterus and makes the uterus less likely to let a pregnancy get started even if an egg is released. In effect, it acts as an abort-efficient agent that discards the egg whether fertilized or not. All these are recognized by the body patterns and can cause irreversible effects that are much more harmful to the body in the long run.
Conversely, natural progesterone has been used for many years in pregnancy. The progesterone levels of a pregnant woman are 30 to 50 times higher than normal, and fetuses are naturally exposed to more progesterone. Since natural progesterone is also used as a defense for postpartum depression, a nursing mother need not be concerned when taking natural progesterone for her condition because it has no real effect on the baby.After all, the baby has been exposed to tremendous levels of progesterone during its development.
There is a vast difference between synthetic and natural progesterone. Natural progesterone duplicates the body's progesterone exactly and can be more consistently utilized by body. Additionally, itcan only cause side effects when overused. As per progestin, it is a synthetic copycat of the original hormone and it’s prolonged use can be harmful.
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