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HORMONES -
HISTORY OF SEX HORMONES

Extraction and Manufacture


Hormones are the chemical messengers in the body that control many functions but especially those concerned with sexual development, reproduction and growth. Cholesterol, the building block of all hormones in the body, was first isolated in the 1700’s. The first major research was by German scientists who were investigating the substance in the urine of pregnant women which induced ‘heat’ in mice and rats. This research led to the isolation and identification of the specific female hormone that they named estrone.


Further research soon extracted the male hormone testosterone from animal sources but the process was very complex. The race was on to synthesize hormones in the laboratory. Soon DHEA - a precursor to testosterone - was synthesized: first from cholesterol but then from a plant sterol found in many different oils such as soy.


In the late 1920’s, the University of Chicago Professor of Physiologic Chemistry, Fred C. Koch led a team that extracted a reasonably pure form of the male hormone from extracts of bull testes. Testosterone was soon recognized as a sex hormone that had muscle building properties and ever since body builders, weight lifters and athletes have used anabolic steroids to gain strength, weight and muscle mass. The side effects: cancer, leukemia, kidney disease, sterility and violent mood swings, make this a dangerous practice and the uncontrolled use of these substances has been made illegal.


Wild Mexican Yam as a Source of Natural and Synthetic Progesterone


In 1936, Japanese researchers realized that diosgenin extracted from the yam was remarkably similar to some of the adrenal hormones and to the precursor molecule, cholesterol. The key breakthrough came in 1943 when Professor Russell Marker of the University of Pennsylvania traveled to Mexico. He knew that certain plant substances were used by "medicine men" throughout Central and South America and China and that certain yams were being used for birth control and to treat female problems, so he theorized that there were some hormonal properties in a specific local species of wild yam.


The Mexican Barbasco Yam has vine-like leaves and black ‘potato’ tubers which grow underground. They were grown wild in mountainous regions. Marker learned how the locals prepared and used the yams and the turning point came when he presented a bag of a powdered white substance to one of the leading pharmaceutical companies and claimed it contained progesterone which he had extracted from the Barbasco yam. He valued that initial sample at just $800.


At that time, progesterone and estrogen were derived only through expensive chemical extraction methods from animal urine at a cost of approximately $3,000 a kilo. Marker’s product was tested and found to be pure progesterone. Following Marker’s discovery, yams created a booming steroid industry in Mexico. By 1951 Fortune Magazine claimed that the steroid industry had created "the biggest technological boom ever heard south of the border".


Over the next 20 to 30 years, the value of the Barbasco Yam increased dramatically and the steroid hormone business exploded as the yams provided an easier, much less expensive way to manufacture hormones for birth control and hormone therapies for menopausal women and those who have undergone hysterectomies.


Progesterone derived from the wild Mexican yam was never patented and, like diosgenin itself, is freely available. Without the protection of patents that safeguard the profit potential of synthesized hormones developed from plant sources, the pharmaceutical industry has never had much interest in the basic natural building blocks. Quite the opposite, they regard ‘natural’ products as a threat and there is a concerted effort to block their availability to the general public.


Synthetic or natural progesterone?


Although many physicians believe that there is no significant difference between synthetic and natural progesterone, others disagree. Synthetic drugs are often designed to mimic a naturally occurring chemical or hormone in order to achieve a specific effect. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are able to perform all of the functions of the natural hormone. For example, progesterone is an important precursor in the biosynthesis of adrenal corticosteroids (hormones that protect against stress) and of all sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen). Synthetic progestins are incapable of acting as these building blocks.


New York City obstetrician Dr. Neils Lauerson, MD, author of PMS: Premenstrual Syndrome and You, says that some synthetic progestins can have a masculinizing effect on a woman while others cause fluid retention. Natural progesterone from wild yam does not cause masculinization and is known to reduce sodium and fluid retention.


John Lee, MD, of Sebastopol, California, has carried out extensive research with natural progesterone. He says that the reason synthetic progesterone causes side effects is because "it is not progesterone. Pharmaceutical companies alter the molecular structure so it (synthetic progesterone) no longer fits into the biochemical machinery of the body".


The progesterone taken from the wild yam, on the other hand, is identical to what the body produces, Lee explains. And the body easily converts it into the identical hormone molecules it needs. The effects of natural and synthetic hormones differ greatly. Synthetic progestins can inhibit ovulation and suppress the body’s production of its own natural progesterone.


Progestins are used in oral contraceptives and are commonly prescribed to menopausal women. Women with a hormonal imbalance may be prescribed synthetic progestins which may aggravate the symptoms rather than eliminate them and many women become irritable, ill-tempered and emotionally unstable.


In spite of the known side effects and risks, doctors today also prescribe synthetic progesterone for women with menstrual problems, osteoporosis and menopausal symptoms. Many women claim to feel much better by substituting natural progesterone for synthetic progesterone. Natural progesterone also alleviates many of the symptoms of PMS.


The issue of natural versus synthetic hormones is also important to women taking estrogen. A study in Sweden showed an increase in breast cancer among women using high doses of the synthetic estrogen, ethinyl estradiol - a substance used in lower doses in oral contraceptives in the U.S. By contrast, the doses of natural estrogen used post-menopausally are 10 to 20 times lower than the synthetic estrogen in the pill.


It is a matter of debate as to why physicians will put adolescent girls on birth control pills with high levels of synthetic estrogens, but are reluctant to give women with pre-menopausal symptoms the low doses of natural estrogens they need.