There is a new study out showing that there's a very powerful antioxidant that is available called pycnogenol. Many of you have heard about this by now. It is an extract that comes from French Maritime pine trees, specifically pine bark extracts. Again, this comes out of France. New study that was published in the International Journal of Women's Health showed that a three month trial, researchers gave a 100 milligrams of pycnogenol or a placebo to a group of 24 women who reported monthly menstrual pain.

Now, women taking the pycnogenol experienced significantly less pain and 27% of them in this group that received the pycnogenol were completely pain free by the end of the study. A couple of important points about this study. Number one, I want to point out, it was a three month study. This goes hand in hand with a recommendation I have said for many years here on Good News Naturally. Anytime that you're going to try something for your health, let's say it is something you may be taking to help with cholesterol balance or, in this case, this is an antioxidant called pycnogenol, to be helping with menstrual cramps and PMS issues, give it ample time to work. In this case, they did three months.

Anything that you are going to apply to help with hormone balancing, give it ample time to work, and it's the same thing, same thought process needs to be applied to things you may be taking for joint health, for brain health, for heart health. Maybe your blood pressure is sneaking up on you and you have settled in on some things that you want to take and some things you're going to do for blood pressure. Make sure you give these things ample time to work. Three months is a good window of time to do that. I can tell you also that in many studies we see, that that's a good indication that there's benefit at three months, but the longer you do it, there's actually even greater benefit down the road, especially when we talk about joint health, specifically.

The longer you're on these types of supplements, the better they will show to work. In this case, we have a situation where a lot of women suffer with these menstrual cramps and other hormone issues throughout their lifetime. A lot of women end up with a lot of highs and lows throughout their years of having to deal with these cycles in and out, in and out, in and out, month in month out. This pycnogenol, this antioxidant, does represent a way to be helpful with these menstrual cramps. I want to remind you that I've also reported previously that pycnogenol has been studied in menopausal symptoms. Not only do we see it working in PMS, in menstrual cramp issues, but we also find the studies indicate that it does help with hot flashes and night sweats in menopausal women. That was a previous study with pycnogenol.

What else can be done? Here's the thing that you want to really understand about this whole hormone balancing thing. That's this. Environmentally, all of us are being bombarded by a lot of what they call xenoestrogens or environmental estrogen compounds that are affecting our endocrine system. They come from plastics. They can come from health and beauty care items, the various shampoos, soaps, conditioners, body lotions, makeup, things like that all have these common environmental ingredients in there that can disrupt your endocrine system leading you down a pathway throughout your lifetime of having what's known as estrogen dominance.

When you have estrogen dominance, you typically have more problems with things like PMS, you have greater difficulties with perimenopause, and you definitely have greater problems with menopause years. Some of the other side effects or things that can happen to women, and this is just a quick snapshot of some of the things of estrogen dominance: fibroids, endometriosis, irregular bleeding, fibrocystic breast tissue, lack of libido, skin issues, and it goes on and on and on.

There are some great balancing herbs out there that you can use. One of the formulas I've recommended for many years is called Femtrol, F as in Frank, E-M-T-R-O-L. Two key ingredients here are vitex and dong quai. These two herbs have got a phenomenal history of benefit in helping women balance hormones. This can be taken from the time a young lady starts menses all the way through into perimenopause years. It takes that timeline into consideration. I also recommend something called EstroSense. This EstroSene formula is very good for balancing and detoxifying excess estrogen that can build up in a woman's body over the years.

Lastly, I'm going to warn you ladies and tell you once again, do not allow yourself to be constipated for more than a couple of days. That is your body's way of getting rid of this excess estrogen. If you're constipated regularly, you are adding to the problem of this estrogen dominance because that excess estrogen will get recycled and recycled and recycled causing more and more problems. A lot of experts believe this is a lot of where the belly fat comes from too is this excess estrogen. If you need help with the constipation side of this, cleansing, fibers, probiotics, getting plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet. You go, girl. That's right. We want to make sure you're going every day because that's your body's way of taking out the trash and making sure things are excreted out of your body properly. Addition to that, just briefly, multivitamin and some extra B complex vitamins are very helpful in hormone situations.