Estrogen Decline During the Perimenopause Affects the Skin
Women are very good at masking the symptoms of menstrual issues and perimenopause symptoms to crack on with the job in hand. Thankfully with the increase in openness about such issues we don’t have to hide away and can seek help and understanding; this increased awareness is also means that more research is being conducted to help alleviate the myriad of menopausal symptoms and also to look beyond a blanket of Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT) being the only solution that will alleviate all symptoms.
One of the biggest factors to the symptoms associated with the menopause is that estrogen levels decrease. Estrogen is a key hormone in the reproductive system so as we depart our reproductive years the levels begin to fluctuate and settle at low levels for our post-menopausal years, and as we are living longer, we spend more of our years in the post-menopausal state, yet we still want to retain our youthful looks during the perimenopausal years. But how can we do this when the hormone, estrogen that is linked to the production of proteins to keep our skin looking youthful declines rapidly during the perimenopause?
Changing Estrogen Levels
The influence of estrogen on several body systems has been well-documented and one of the reasons why HRT exists to alleviate many of these hormonal changes. We shall leave that area for those specialist as we are focussing upon the effect of perimenopause and the menopause on the skin which is an area that is increasingly being studied.
It was discovered in the 1990’s that estrogen receptors are present in skin cells and late research showed that estrogen levels influence the appearance and function of skin. Estrogen has been shown to help in the prevention of skin aging in several ways, the presence of estrogen
- Increases the presence of collagen
- Maintains skin thickness
- Increases skin elasticity
- Locks in moisture by increasing hyaluronic acid in the skin
- Maintains skin barrier function (its integrity/how it is held together and helps heal wounds) [1] [2].
During reproductive years, the major estrogen produced by the ovaries is 17β-estradiol, which peaks during our late 20's along with the production of skin collagen and elastin which also reach their maximum levels. Oh, how I crave those youthful looking years again, but can now only see them in photos and how blissfully unaware I was that my skin would age dramatically after having children, well okay due to the natural aging process.
As estrogen levels begin to decline, around 30–35 years of age, the skin begins to thin and pesky wrinkles appear due to the loss of collagen and elastin fibres in the dermal layer. We are reaching for those anti-aging serums and creams. We recommend REMY's Antiaging Serum and Food Supplement for this stage of life.
After around 35 years of age, 17β-estradiol levels continue to decline and in our late 30’s we begin to enter the perimenopausal years and the joys of erratic swings in ovarian estrogen production and all the wonderful symptoms that brings. If we look at this on a graph there are more erratic highs and lows and over a longer period of time than during our puberty years, yet we are supposed to be able to manage these changes in hormones gracefully and without fuss.
Lifetime Estrogen Levels: Estrogen levels change throughout our life stages; we notice the changes first during puberty then they level off during what is considered our fertile years then they fluctuate erratically during the perimenopause to finally settle at lower levels for our post-menopausal years.
It is no wonder that due to this strong relationship that rhe signs of aging are more prevalent as we enter the perimenopausal years. Although estrogen receptors are present through the entirety of our skin it is the exposed areas that show the most signs of aging as other external factors such as sun exposure, sugar intake, smoking and pollution play a role in how cells grow, proliferate, and look on the outside.
Although skin cells can produce estrogen themselves, it is not as effective as estrogen produced in the ovaries and so the onset of aging skin truly begins. We may begin to change our skincare routines to counteract the appearance of wrinkles, and some seek cosmetic or medical treatments to maintain a youthful look. A main goal to achieve healthy and youthful looking skin should be to retain estrogen’s positive benefits while aging and especially during the perimenopausal years and beyond where estrogen-deficient skin contributes to the dramatic decline in skin health and vitality. We recommend REMY’s Menopausal Assistance serum and food supplement to help provide the body with the key nutrients to help the skin during this stage of life.
Retaining Estrogens Positive Benefits - Soy Based Foods
There is much published research relating the effects of the decline of estrogen and the effects on the skin, many of these studies have been conducted in Asian countries which established that there is a strong correlation to the ingestion of soy-based foods and the reduction of the signs of skin aging plus the easing of perimenopausal symptoms.
This is because soy-based foods such as tofu and soy beans contain isoflavones that are unique phytoestrogens (phyto meaning plant) that are structurally similar to estrogen and so when digested they may bind to particular estrogen receptors, with these receptors occupied or “filled” the cells where the receptors are continue signalling as if estrogen was there and continue to synthesise collagen and elastin and thereby increase their presence in the skin leading to the appearance of fewer wrinkles and the onset of sagging skin by providing greater support to the skins structure [3].
Some studies have examined that when estrogen declines there are inevitably fewer interactions with estrogen receptors on a type of skin cell called fibroblasts. Fibroblasts when activated by receptor binding are responsible stimulating collagen and elastin production, and stimulating the development of glycosaminoglycans, which improve hydration. But if not, receptor binding occurs due to a decrease in estrogen then these components are not stimulated to be produced and also decline – hence the relationship between estrogen decline and the visible signs of aging and the clinical signs of dryness and wrinkling.
Now be under no illusion that using a phytoestrogen from a food source to essentially replace a hormone produced predominantly by the ovaries is not going to be as effective as the real thing, but studies have shown that soy-based foods can have an impact and ease perimenopausal symptoms and help reduce the signs of aging skin.
My diet is not rich in soy-based foods, I’m not a great fan of tofu or edamame beans, I did add a few edamame beans to a stew once but the rest of my family turned their noses up at them and I’m not into cooking multiple meals so that has become a no go. I do like soy sauce – although this is not a rich source of phytoestrogens plus but I don’t use it every day, so to counteract my lack of soy-based food I formulated a food supplement to help during my perimenopausal years.
REMY’s Rebalance My Skin offers menopausal assistance by supplying a range of micronutrients that the body may lack during the phase of hormonal fluctuations and that is needed to help retain a youthful skin presence. To help retain estrogen positive benefits to the skin REMY’s menopausal assistance contains the phytoestrogen genistein.
By supplementing with genistein which is a plant-based estrogen that binds to estrogen receptors present in the skin it may improve changes to the skin associated with lowered estrogen levels such as increasing collagen content, increasing dermal thickness and elasticity and lead the way to healthy, more youthful looking skin.
Genistein – A Wonderful Perimenopausal Nutrient
Genistein is a naturally occurring compound abundantly found in the soybean plant, fava beans, and other lentils, in the case of REMY’s Rebalance My Skin: Menopausal Assistance, our food supplement contains genistein that is extracted from soybeans, and acts to rebalance the effects of lowered estrogenic production during the menopause.
The reason genistein is considered so much as a perimenopausal nutrient is because it has a chemical structure similar estradiol and is a well-known phytoestrogen; a plant-based compound that mimics estrogen in the body. As estrogen receptors are present in skin cells the decline of estrogen throughout perimenopause has a profound effect upon the skin, in particular its collagen content, dermal thickness and elasticity. By supplementing with genistein, it allows a greater presence of this phytoestrogen that binds to estrogen receptors and may improve changes to the skin associated with lowered estrogen levels such as the destruction of elastin, collagen, and hyaluronic acid.
The wonderful thing about isoflavones is that they are also beneficial for skin in other ways too such as being potent antioxidants and great at scavenging free radicals; what do we mean by this?
If you look at the structure of genistein, it has 3 ring structure. These rings are called phenolic rings. At each corner there are carbon atoms and a balance of hydrogen atoms to make the structure stable. Atoms, in particular Hydrogen do not sit still, they like to move around and as they do so they share electrons in order to keep the structure stable. Because they like to share electrons, as they move around the body they share electrons with other atoms or molecules that they encounter.
Elements and molecules like to exist in a stable state and to do this they need a full set of electrons in their outer shell (aka valency shell). This is how the periodic table is created, the columns/vertical rows show the elements that are in the same group (vertical row) and these have the same number of valence electrons whereas elements in the same period (horizontal column) have the same number of occupied electron shells/how many shells it has.
Elements combine to make molecules so in the case of genistein it has 15 carbons, 10 hydrogens and 5 oxygens which is often written as C15 H10 O5. Chemists like to give molecules lots of names, so not only is it called genistein from the plant it was first isolated from the brooming plant Dyer's Genista tinctoria.
Genistein also has the name 4',5,7- trihydroxyisoflavone because the hydroxy (OH) groups are at positions 4’, 5 and 7 in its ring structure as circled in the diagram showing the chemical structure of genistein.
Comparing genistein to estradiol, they are considered to be similar in structure and functionality because they both have hydroxy groups on the 7 and 4’ positions and so bind to estrogen receptors in a similar way [5].
The genistein molecule is in a specific formation to create the most stable molecule it can, with ring structures being very stable, they are also great at moving electrons around the ring structure in what is termed resonance stabilized. As electrons move around genistein they can move up to the hydroxyl group on the 4’ position allowing them to donate a hydrogen atom to free radicals, this stabilises the free radical and prevents and destructive behaviour. This is called radical scavenging and how genistein and other phenolic molecules act as antioxidants.
We aim to provide well researched blogs alongside our scientifically backed products so we include a bibliography to support our work.
Bibliography
[1] M. H. Shah MG, “ Estrogen and skin. An overview.,” Am J Clin Dermatol, 2001.
[2] A. DF., “Postmenopausal skin and estrogen,” Gynecol Endocrinol., 2012.
[3] M.-B. Y. B. M. Calleja-Agius J, “ Skin ageing.,” Menopause Int. , 2007.
[4] T. M. J. T. F. e. a. Tuli H. S., “Molecular mechanisms of action of genistein in cancer: recent advances.,” Frontiers in Pharmacology., 2019.
[5] M. D. S. V. M. M. A. A. Mukund V, “Genistein: Its role in metabolic diseases and cancer.,” Crit Rev Oncol Hematol., 2017.
