28 Jul Six Ways to Naturally Lower Your Estrogen Levels

As men age, their testosterone levels naturally begin to decrease (this often starts around age 30), but their estrogen levels tend to stay the same. This hormone imbalance opens the door for chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and more, so let’s talk about six steps you can take to lower those estrogen levels.

1. Lose the belly fat.

It’s a vicious cycle—abdominal fat in men will transform testosterone to estrogen (a process known as aromatase), and high levels of estrogen can increase your belly fat. It’s absolutely essential for men to get their body fat levels under 15% and keep them there. How can you lower your body fat levels? Get enough sleep and exercise, stay hydrated, and eat your DIM veggies.

2. Eat lots of diindolymethane (DIM) vegetables.

These vegetables, also called cruciferous vegetables, include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. The DIM within these vegetables promotes the metabolism of stored hormones, and estrogen is one of those hormones.

3. Avoid eating or drinking out of plastic.

Recent research has shown that a lot of plastic containers, even those claiming to be BPA-free, are seeping estrogen-like chemicals. Some of these products would only leach these chemicals after being exposed to certain conditions, like high temperatures from the dishwasher, microwave, or the sun.

Back in 2012, researchers found that exposure to these chemicals can cause things like infertility, cancer, asthma, and ADHD. What’s more, they also found that sometimes these conditions were then passed down to offspring. Remember to NEVER microwave your food in plastic, and be cautious about putting your plastic water bottles through the dishwasher.

4. Eat organic meat.

Livestock that is used for food is often treated with estrogens to increase weight, both via fat and water retention. One study found that treated cattle were 10–30% larger than their non-treated counterparts. The FDA supposedly doesn’t allow added hormones in poultry or pork, but read the label and eat only grass-fed beef when you can.

5. Avoid drinking beer.

Estrogen is metabolized in the liver. Any alcohol can affect liver function, potentially increasing your estrogen levels. However, if you’re going to drink alcohol, avoid beer because it is highly estrogenic. Why is that? Hops, an impressive preservative and flavoring agent that people have used in beer for centuries, is also one of the most powerful plant-based estrogens (or phytoestrogens) that we know of.

If you’re a heavy beer drinker, the hops in your beer is turned into estrogen by your body, and your liver often can’t keep up with all of the excess estrogen. As a result, you might start exhibiting more feminine characteristics, like loss of body hair and breast enlargement. If you’re trying to avoid hops but don’t want to give up on beer, try a Gruit beer instead. It’s hard to find and there aren’t a lot of places that carry them, but they use an herbal mixture for flavoring instead of hops.

6. Avoid prescription drugs that increase estrogen levels or decrease testosterone levels.

Talk to your doctor or do your research online. Here are some common ones:

• H2 blockers (e.g., Tagamet, Zantac)
• Benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Valium)
• Select heart medications (e.g., Lanoxin, Norvasc)
• Select antibiotics (e.g., ketoconazole, metronidazole)