Natural progesterone is perhaps one of the most overlooked and under-valued support systems available as a strategy for cultivating and restoring wellness. Its use is based on and derived from a model given to us by the indigenous cultures of Central and South America as well as the Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific. There is an important message that these people from so long ago have to share with us today. It is the message of maintaining one’s hormonal balance (as well as supporting one’s overall health) with the use of plant-based (phyto) nutrients. Over centuries of such use, these cultures found that the Mexican wild yam plant, or one of its close relatives, provided nourishment that balanced their systems gently and safely, without producing toxic side effects. They had no scientific terms for these substances. Nor did they have any understanding of the many and varied biochemical functions these phytonutrients provided them or any knowledge of the manner in which these affected their body’s physiology. Yet they enjoyed and experienced a level of health and wellness that the modern world could, would and should investigate and embrace.

The key component to the many benefits they experienced comes from the root, or tuber, of the wild yam plant. This tuber is filled with steroidal molecules (sapogenins) that act in a manner similar to our own hormones. The active sapogenin in the Mexican wild yam is a molecule labeled "diosgenin". Many today continue with this same approach even though extracts based on wild yam alone are not as bioactive or potent as they might be; at least not with most currently utilized herbal extraction processes.

Unknown to most people it was as far back as the late 1930’s that a biochemist and research pioneer, Dr. Russell Marker, made a remarkable discovery. He found a way, not only to extract diosgenin from the steroid-rich, fatty tuber of the Mexican wild yam, but he developed a three step process that allowed for the conversion of the diosgenin molecule contained in this tuber to one with a structure that was bioidentical to the progesterone produced in the ovaries, testes and the adrenal glands. The genius of his discovery was that these three processes involve biochemical reactions that occur in the human body on a daily basis, (such as adding a double bond) and therefore, they are not foreign, artificial or disruptive to our system. We just lack the enzymes and other substrates necessary to conduct the transformation of diosgenin contained in the wild yam into bioidentical progesterone. So, at this point, Dr. Marker had not yet created a synthetic molecule but he had formulated an extraction process that produced one whose biological strength came from the fact that it was able to help balance the ratio of estrogen to progesterone via such a conversion.

Unfortunately, once extracted, he did not work to develop a means by which this converted diosgenin could be safely and inexpensively delivered to people worldwide as a fundamental phytonutrient support system. Soon after, in the laboratories of pharmaceutical science, a synthetic version of these plant-based phytohormones took form and shape. And, in the additional steps required to make a synthetic substance out of the natural, the modern steroid industry was born. It became one that would soon include major medicines from HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to BCP’s (birth control pills) to the anti-inflammatory drug, hydrocortisone and all of its derivatives.

With this addition of synthetic, chemical molecules to the bioidentical and plant-based “progesterone”, the pharmaceutical industry created the “macro” approach to hormonal treatment. The subsequent industrial giant that took shape has consistently sought to convince us that “hormones” are so foreign to our nature that they can only be “safely” delivered via a “prescription” from our doctor. Of course, this ignores the many dangers, risks and side effects from the majority of the current “prescriptive” drugs, including death from cancer, heart attack and stroke as demonstrated by the 2002 recall of one of these HRT drugs – PremPro (the combination form of synthetic estrogen with synthetic progesterone). Or perhaps, simply reconsider the new, but long overdue, awareness concerning the risks of taking Vioxx or Prozac. Or better yet, osteonecrosis of the jawbone due to the use of Fosamax (Boniva, Actonel, etc.) for the treatment of osteoporosis.

The risks of all of these “prescribed” medications have been detailed in the medical and pharmaceutical literature for years. Risks that were simply downplayed by those in the business of developing, manufacturing or prescribing these multibillion dollar drug delivery systems. You only have to find a current copy of the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference, which I have more aptly described as The Catalog of Probable Drug Risks) to be overwhelmed by the degree of ‘Russian roulette' the mainstream medical establishment has been playing with our health for so many years. This is not new information and should not be presented as such a surprise by the media and the medical/pharmaceutical establishment alike.

Fortunately we do have other choices for restoring, maintaining and supporting our intrinsic state of health and well-being. The wisdom of these aforementioned tribal peoples can become the cornerstone of our new paradigm for creating and restoring health. By learning from their cultural and functional approach, we can promote wellness on a molecular and cellular level – the level at which the daily, delicate balance between sickness and health is staged. This is a bio-active approach and is one that:

• acknowledges progesterone’s fundamental role as a precursor, or building-block to the many pathways involved in our body’s ongoing biochemical processes;

• utilizes the extracted, and now more bioactive and bioidentical progesterone (often referred to as USP progesterone or natural progesterone);

• incorporates this more potent version of the indigenous wild yam plant and prepares it in a safe, herbal formulation.

Of interest here is the fact that progesterone is not a feminizing hormone. Rather, it is a precursor (or building block) to many of the steroidal hormones, including both testosterone and estrogen. Because progesterone is not an end-stage hormone, it is easily converted into these other molecules on a supply and demand basis. In men, progesterone is produced in the testes and adrenal glands and is released into the bloodstream on a daily basis (approximately 8-10 mgs per day). As such, it is good for men to understand that they need not fear using it to promote hormone balance in their system as well.