Ever since I wrote my article on male menopause, I’ve been getting questions about estrogen blockers for men. And my answer to all those questions thus far has been mostly “good question, but it’s a long answer.” Well, today you get that answer, in complete detail.
In this article, we will cover:
- What estrogen blockers are
- Why estrogen blockers are used
- Medications vs. natural estrogen blockers (including estrogen blocker foods)
- Do estrogen blockers work?
But before we jump in, we should address the very basics of improving testosterone, like:
- Improving poor sleep.
- Do some strength training to improve lean body mass (and along with that, bone mineral density and healthy estrogen levels for men).
- Improve your stress management skills.
- Decrease/eliminate alcohol.
The very bare basics, which aren’t glorious or sexy will often have as much as, or more of an effect than testosterone treatment or estrogen blockers.
With that out of the way, let’s get to it. Here is an example of the effects estrogen could have:
Man taking estrogen before and after – Original source: here.
What Estrogen Blockers Are
When we refer to estrogen blockers (which we’ll refer to interchangeably as “estrogen antagonists”), we’re talking about a wide array of different things. As group, they are self-explanatory. Substances, supplements, or foods that lower estrogen (estrogen is typically a female hormone, although men have it as well). This is usually done in one of 2 ways:
- Decreasing the body’s natural production of estrogen
- Decreasing the amount of testosterone that is converted into estrogen (yes, testosterone is converted into estrogen).
Which begs the question “why would someone want to lower their estrogen levels?”
Read on.
Why Estrogen Blockers Are Used
So there are really 3 major uses for estrogen blockers:
- To reduce cancer risk in people who have, or have had cancer (typically postmenopausal women)
- Estrogen antagonists for men are used to decrease fat and/or gain muscle mass
- To control either PMS or menopause symptoms.
The first one is not something that I deal with, so I’ll leave it to more qualified people to talk about the use of estrogen antagonists and cancer.
The second one (decrease fat tissue, and increase muscle) is something that I definitely deal with, so that’s where we’ll spend the majority of our time today. And that’s what often why estrogen antagonists for men are used in bodybuilding (with too much testosterone comes excess estrogen, since estrogen is made from testosterone).
Some men, going through andropause (male menopause), and younger notice that they start to accumulate fat in typically female areas: the chest area. They start to grow breasts (that’s called “gynecomastia” or “gyno” for short). They don’t like growing breasts. It might make them look like this:
Original source: here.
And in those cases, estrogen blockers for men may be justified. However, other men believe that they have too little testosterone. They reason that because they have low testosterone, they must have high estrogen. And although it’s a possibility, it’s not the only possibility. There are others. As I mention in great detail, in my article on how to naturally increase your testosterone, there are at least 6 reasons for low testosterone. High estrogen is just one of those 6 reasons. Hence the value of thorough and proper testing: to understand your cause(s) of low testosterone. After all, if you have low testosterone, but your estrogen levels are normal (not high), and you take estrogen antagonists, they won’t fix your low testosterone.
Estrogen Blocker Medications vs. Supplements
The pharmaceuticals that lower estrogen would be things like Arimidex, Tamoxifen, raloxifene, and others.
Original source: here.
On the supplement side of things, the most common estrogen blocker supplements are DIM (diindolylmethane), CDG (calcium-d-glucarate), zinc, grapeseed extract, resveratrol, chrysin, and others. We’ll talk about whether they work or not in the next section.
Estrogen Blocker Foods
If an estrogen blocker is found in a supplement, it can usually also be found in food.
Some estrogen blocker foods would be those in what’s called the “brassica family.” These would be foods like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and cabbage.
Additionally, the most common food sources of zinc are oysters and pumpkin seeds.
But since we’re talking about foods that block estrogen, we should also discuss in general what foods to avoid. After all, what is the point of consuming estrogen blocker foods, while eating other foods that promote estrogen? So what would those be?
Probably the single worst food for estrogen for men is beer. All alcohol is bad as far as estrogen is concerned, but beer is the worst because of where it comes from: hops. And hops increase estrogen.
Additionally, a high carbohydrate diet in general stimulates an enzyme called “aromatase”, which converts testosterone to estrogen. So if gyno/gynecomastia/man boobs is a problem for you, a lower carbohydrate diet may be more appropriate.
Do Estrogen Blockers Work?
With the prescription estrogen blockers, yes, there is no question that they work. However, because again, these are not the estrogen blockers that I deal with (I’m not a doctor or a pharmacist), I’ll leave those alone for the doctors and pharmacists to talk about. And of course, in bodybuilding, they’ll turn to pharmaceuticals for “off label uses”, so I’ll leave the estrogen blockers in bodybuilding to them.
As a group, on the natural side of things, scientifically speaking, it’s still a big “I don’t know.” There isn’t sufficient research to say that they work. That’s not to say that there’s research saying the opposite, either (that they don’t work). It’s just that not a lot of research is done on whether they work in humans.
However, there is some research to say that they do work in cells in petri dishes. For example, DIM selectively activates only certain types of estrogen receptors, according to one study. Does that necessarily mean we can say “DIM is an estrogen blocker in humans?” We can extrapolate it to mean that, but without conclusive research, the only proper answer we can give is “we don’t know.”
Another example would be CDG (calcium-d-glucarate). Different hormones go through different “detoxification pathways.” Estrogen goes through a pathway called “glucoronidation.” So in theory, if we improve how well this pathway works, we should be able to decrease the amount of estrogen in the male body. And in fact, one study done in rats showed that ridiculously high doses do indeed do that. How ridiculously high? If you’re an average, 70 kg person (154 pounds), you would need to take 70 grams per day. But even if that dose was realistic, this study showed that it worked in rats. Rats aren’t humans. So we can’t make the conclusion that “CDG lowers estrogen in humans.” But at the same time, we also can’t make the conclusion that “CDG does not lower estrogen in humans.” The best conclusion we can make right now is “we don’t know.”
Let’s look at another one: zinc. One study showed that zinc can have a vital role in aromatase inhibition (aromatase is the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen) in zinc-deficient rats. Zinc appears to be very beneficial when a person is deficient in it. But when a person has sufficient levels of zinc, more isn’t necessarily better.
And the research is equally weak on other estrogen-blocking supplements.
What about food? The research on estrogen-blocking foods is also very weak. We know that the brassica family (again, that’s broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and others) contain DIM. That part, there’s no debate about. But then, for the most part, people extrapolate, saying “these vegetable contain DIM, and DIM blocks estrogen, so therefore broccoli lowers estrogen.” Fairly logical, until we understand that we’re really not sure whether DIM lowers estrogen in humans, and at what doses.
That’s the scientific side of things. Right now, none of the natural estrogen blockers are well-studied. But on the empirical side of things, bodybuilders, personal trainers, and just the average health-conscious folks have tried these compounds and foods, and some say it works. Personally, I’ve recommended most of these estrogen blockers for men to some clients before, and sure enough, did notice a small difference in the absence of any other changes to exercise and nutrition. Because as you know from my article on the importance of measurements, we measure our clients every 2 weeks.
In a risk:reward ratio, it’s worth the experiment. What’s the risk in eating broccoli or cabbage? None (well, maybe just gas). Just that it won’t lower your estrogen. What’s the reward? Even if it won’t lower your estrogen, it’ll give you a lot of other benefits.
The risk: reward ratio with estrogen blocker supplements is also not bad. The risk is it won’t work. For the supplements, the side effects are experienced by only a small percentage of the people who take them (and even then, the most common side effects are headaches and gas, which go away with discontinuation), across a very wide range of dosages (in other words, if you “overdose”, not much really happens). The reward is it may lower your estrogen levels. But again, that brings us to the question “do your estrogen levels need lowering?”
Before you go messing around with an important hormone like testosterone, or estrogen, it makes good sense to run blood tests on your current hormone levels, to check your hormonal balance, and make sure that your changes are actually working.
Best Estrogen Blocker for Gyno
Now, if you’re reading up to now, and you’re thinking “Igor, I just want to get rid of my man boobs.” What should I take? From that perspective, there is no best estrogen blocker for gyo, and the only sure thing for it is surgery. The next most sure thing is these pharmaceuticals mentioned earlier: Arimidex, tamoxifen, and raloxifene. But even with the pharmaceuticals is it a complete elimination of gyno. Most studies usually show a reduction, as opposed to complete elimination (which would be seen with surgery).
The least sure thing, because no research exists on it is the estrogen-blocking foods and supplements I mentioned earlier in this article.
If this is all confusing to you, and you just want to be leaner, and more toned, and you just want someone else to handle the complicated science for you, and give you what to eat, how to exercise, and which supplements to take on a silver platter, we can help with that. Fill out this questionnaire to see if you qualify to work with us.
