Why Women of All Ages Should Check Their “2/16” Ratio
…and eat their broccoli, as well as cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale, arugula, radishes, and many, many others that can be found by “looking up” Cruciferous (also termed Brassica) vegetables online or in a dictionary or gardening book. Women of all ages should also make sure to include enough seaweed, kelp, fish from the ocean, and other iodine and iodide containing foods. Isn’t this old news? Nearly every woman who’s “into health” knows that these vegetables and foods from the sea are good for us. But does every woman know that it’s possible to eat too much of these vegetables? (More about this part later.)
What’s the “2/16” ratio? With apologies to all Green Medicine Newsletter readers who already know, it’s the ratio between “2-hydroxyestrone” and (an estrogen metabolite) associated with lower estrogen-related cancer risk, and “16a-hydroxyestrone”, an estrogen metabolite associated with higher estrogen-related cancer risk. While some have disputed this, the HPV virus doesn’t dispute it at all!
In addition to causing cervical cancer, the HPV virus causes polyp growth in the lungs and on the vocal cords (“respiratory polyposis”). Researchers have reported that respiratory polyp infections are more severe when the “2/16” ratio is low. Other researchers reported [1]1 that Indole-3-carbinol (“I3C”, a substance found in broccoli and other Cruciferous/Brassica vegetables which raises the “2/16” ratio) eliminated or significantly reduced recurrence of respiratory polyps in 63% of those experiencing this respiratory infection.
Green Medicine Newsletter for June 2018 described the research report of Maria Bell, M.D. and colleagues at the Louisiana State University Medical Centre. Dr. Bell reported a small clinical trial where 45% of women given “I3C”, were cured (yes that’s cured, with no surgery or other conventional therapy) of stage 2 and stage 3 (stage 4 is “metastatic” cervical cancer). They also measured the “2/16” ratio before and after the use of I3C, reporting that this ratio was significantly increased (which means it was “tilted away” from cancer) significantly by I3C. (For other details about Dr. Bell’s research report, see Green Medicine Newsletter, June 2018.)
Just two months ago (July 2018), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published in a research article [2] along with an editorial.[3] As can be seen in the citations, these articles were about human papilloma virus (HPV) screening as compared with Pap smears for cervical cancer detection. Research appears to be telling us that in the not-too-distant future, HPV testing may be replacing Pap smears. (For the very few who don’t know, cancer of the cervix is caused by the human papilloma virus, (HPV) which is why there’s increasing interest in HPV screening.)
Once again (sorry about that!) 2-hydroxyestrone (“2”) is the “favorable”, metabolite, and 16a-hydroxyestrone (“16a”) is the “unfavorable one”. There are two other closely related (to each other) natural substances that can also influence the “2/16” ratio: iodine and iodide. How do iodine and iodide influence the “2/16” ratio? By “persuading” 16a-hydroxyestrone to “morph” (more formally “metabolize”) into estriol! With less “16a” and the same amount of “2”, the ratio between the two “tilts” further away from cancer. A long series of research studies by Henry Lemon, M.D. going back to at least 1973[4] demonstrated that iodine inhibits breast cancer formation. Making more estriol from 16a-hydroxyestrone is only one way iodine inhibits breast cancer—more about the other way iodine does that in next month’s Green Medicine Newsletter.
Another point to this article is the “don’t eat too much of those cruciferous vegetables” mentioned at the end of the first paragraph of this article. A few women seen at Tahoma Clinic have been eating cruciferous vegetables so often—and often taking supplements containing I-3-C, chrysin, and di-indolylmethane (“DIM”)—that their “2/16” ratio has become too high! When the “2/16” ratio is too low, there’s more risk of cancer, but when it’s too high, there’s more risk of osteoporosis!
And that’s why women should definitely eat these vegetables (and possibly take the supplements mentioned, but not too much, and “too much” varies from woman to woman. Your physician skilled and knowledgeable in natural medicine can help you have your “2/16” ratio checked to make sure it’s optimal, or as close to optimal as possible; that way, a woman can know if her Brassica vegetable consumption (with or without supplements) is optimal for her to significantly lower her risk of cervical cancer. And don’t forget Dr. Bell’s findings that indole-3-carbinol itself can actually cure—yes, that’s cure—a significant percentage of stage 2 and stage 3 cervical cancer.
Having the “2/16” test done from time to time isn’t just for women using bio-identical hormone replacement! It’s for any woman of any age who wants to minimize as much as possible her risk of cervical cancer, but not raise her risk of osteoporosis while doing that.
Reprinted from Dr. Jonathan Wright’s Green Medicine Newsletter,
Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2018
To subscribe, visit www.GreenMedicineNewsletter.com
References:
[1] Auborn K, Abrahamson A et al. Estrogen metabolism and laryngeal papillomatosis: a pilot study on dietary prevention. Anti-cancer Res. 1998 Nov-Dec;18(6B):4569-73
[2] Ogilvie GS, van Nierkerk D. Effect of Screening with Primary Cervical HPV Testing vs Cytology Testing on High-Grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia at 48 Months. JAMA 2018 July 3, 320(1):43-52
[3] Massad LS. Replacing the Pap Test with Screening Based on Human Papillomavirus Assays. JAMA 2018 July 3, 320(1):35-37
[4] Lemon HM. Oestriol and prevention of breast cancer. Lancet 1973 March 10;1(7802):546-7
