Throughout the years estrogen, testosterone and thyroid have been shown to be beneficial in reducing cardiovascular disease.

Have you ever noticed how women of child-bearing years tend to have very few cardiovascular disease problems, like heart attacks?

And when menopause hits, the vascular diseases start and the heart attack rate accelerates?

It is all due to hormones. 

Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone protect men and women. When menopause starts, all the organs are involved. The brain, heart, liver, kidneys, bladder, intestines, joints, muscles, bones, skin, hair and lungs, etc. all deteriorate. Calcium is pulled out of the bones and then it is deposited in the arteries and other soft tissues of the body.

The faster it comes out, the faster you degenerate and start having strokes, heart attacks, arthritis, cancers and other degenerative diseases. The processes occur in men as well as women. In men, they occur about ten years later in life.

Have you ever noticed how some people your age seem not to age as much as you do?

Well, it is not just in the genes; it is in the hormones. Those people who have higher levels of hormones throughout their life have less degenerative problems.

Cholesterol and Hormones

There is some debate over which hormone is the "Mother hormone." I think cholesterol is the mother of most hormones. As one can see, all the sex hormones are made from the cholesterol molecule. Now if one decreases or stops the production of cholesterol, the whole body is affected.

Let us start at the brain. Most of the brain and nerve function in the brain is dependent on cholesterol and other sex hormones. So, when the levels drop memory is affected and senility or Alzheimer's develops sometimes 10-20 years prematurely. The heart muscle becomes weak and one is more prone to heart disease. Estrogen and testosterone are protective to the heart. Progesterone helps the body counter some of the cancerous effects of estrogen and slows down bone loss (osteoporosis) due to hormone loss. All the muscles and organs suffer when cholesterol drops.

Recent studies have shown that when cholesterol drops too much below 200mg, more strokes occur.

Now, consider this, There seems to be some overwhelming obsession to lower cholesterol artificially. The new drugs interfere with liver metabolism. That is why you have to have liver and kidney test frequently. Many people develop muscle and joint problems and have to stop the medicine. There is interference with vitamin absorption in the liver, so one might not be able to breakdown homocystine.

Homocysteine is a breakdown product of cysteine and the vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid are needed to break it down. The vitamins are absorbed in the liver, but the drugs compromise the liver and you may not get these vitamins in the quantity you need so the homocysteine builds up. The build up of homocysteine may cause more plaque to form than would cholesterol.

Another hormone that decreases as one ages is growth hormone. As the growth hormone decreases, one loses lean muscle mass or tissue and develops more fat tissue. Lean muscle tissue tends to "burn up" sugar and cholesterol. So, when the growth hormone drops you will have a greater tendency to develop hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and cholesterol related problems. Some of the effects of decreased growth hormone can now be countered with the use of a growth hormone stimulator/modulator called insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This compound stimulates the system to produces more growth hormone. You can, then, increase lean muscle tissue and lessen the effects high blood sugar, cholesterol and bone loss on the body.

But, you really have to be aware of the side effects of the drugs your taking, they can be extremely dangerous to the system and the problems may not show up for years. For example, the brain and the heart generally require a certain blood flow every minute to maintain normal tissue health, this is whether resting or active. Now, as your pressure goes up over the years, without looking for the cause or because the patient and doctor are lazy, you get a pill to lower the pressure.

The cause is not sought, so your pressure goes up more and you get another pill. But, all the while the brain and other organs are compromised because they are not getting the blood flow they need and they slowly deteriorate. But, even though you may feel lousy, weak, fatigued, asleep at 4:OOpm, your doctor is happy because the numbers look. To add insult to injury, you do not realize that the heart is one muscle that needs exercise to be healthy and build new blood vessels. But, your heart can not get the exercise it needs because it is sedated and weakened from the drugs it is getting. And, over a period of years the heart will get weaker, build up more plaque and you will have a by-pass, angioplasty, Stent or some other procedure and more drugs.