Wild Yam Cream is Not the Same as Natural Progesterone

August 3, 2011

Many health food stores carry wild yam creams that contain the plant hormone diosgenin. While diosgenin can be converted into human-identical progesterone in a laboratory, it cannot be converted into progesterone or any other hormone in a woman’s body. Wild yam creams will not yield the benefits of a bioidentical progesterone product that contains the human-identical form of this hormone.
 
Transdermal skin creams containing genuine USP progesterone are available without a prescription, but their strengths are low and their qualities vary widely. Some contain mineral oil, which prevents the progesterone from being readily absorbed through the skin. Others are improperly stabilized, meaning that exposure to oxygen over time will degrade the potency of the product. Still others contain insufficient dosages of progesterone to achieve any real benefits. This is why it is best to be evaluated and treated by a physician trained in the use of bioidentical hormones so that an optimal dose of progesterone can be prescribed.
 
The type of progesterone that I recommend and use in my practice is oral micronized slow-release progesterone in capsule form. Oral progesterone that has not been micronized is poorly absorbed by the body—only about 10 percent ends up in circulation as progesterone—and therefore extremely high doses must be taken in order to get a therapeutic dose to the cells. It is also excreted from the body very rapidly, so there is a surge in progesterone levels, followed by a dramatic drop.
 
These problems do not occur with oral micronized slow-release progesterone. Micronized comes from a Greek word, micron, which is a measure of length equal to one-millionth of a meter. Micronized progesterone contains extremely tiny particles, 80–90 percent of which are absorbed by the body, so that lower doses may be used. And because the hormone is released slowly, it is absorbed through the lymphatic system and the tiny capillaries of the small intestines, which allows for a steady delivery of progesterone to the cells.
  

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