Also, we now know that compounds such as genistein in soy and red clover occupy estrogen receptor sites, compounds in licorice can occupy receptors for cortisol, and dang gui appears to contain compounds that occupy progesterone receptors. Herbs are complex biological substances with incompletely understood mechanisms of action, sometimes producing paradoxical, normalizing effects. Perhaps Japanese women do not complain of hot flashes because their soy-based diet contains high levels of genistein, which buffers the loss of estrogen by binding to the same receptor sites on cells, easing the panic of the hypothalamus in response to declining estrogen. It is curious that Asian women have lower levels of estrogen and a lower incidence of estrogen-deficiency symptoms. According to Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., licorice not only mimics cortisol, but also acts as a modulator of estrogen activity, inhibiting or enhancing its effects.
Many herbs are adaptogenic, enhancing the body's self-regulatory capacities.
They can affect not only the quantity of hormones circulating in the blood, but also the body's ability to respond to those hormones. What is meant by a natural hormone is a substance that precisely matches in molecular configuration what the body itself produces. Natural has less to do with where it comes from, and everything to do with its biochemical structure. The naturally occurring plant sterol diosgenin from Mexican yams can be converted through a simple laboratory process called hydrolyzation into a steroid compound molecularly identical to human progesterone. Possible side effects of Provera include fluid retention, weight gain, depression, fatigue, nausea, acne, migraine, breast tenderness, and spotting between periods.