DIM and EstroBlock™

We often have clients coming to us who have done their fair share of self-prescribing and diagnosing. Clients who self-prescribe may be taking a handful of supplements that are herbs for their acne. The current supplements they are using, may or may not be helping them get clear. Nowadays, you can find blogs and opinions on the Internet to support any form of thinking. I am sure you could find someone that says that the sky is green, and the grass is blue! Now, this is an exaggeration, but the point is there is a lot of false information on the internet that is third-party propaganda. We all have to be careful about what we believe from a web page and look into the sources of the information.

Acne is a mystery to most people, even doctors. There are many opposing acne-clearing articles, blogs and sites. People that have no understanding of acne are recommending things like coconut oil for moisturizer and herbal supplements such as DIM to “fix” the hormones, thereby, clearing the acne.

EstroBlock™ is a commonly found ’natural’ product found on the Internet for hormonal acne. As the name says, the product contains DIM, a plant nutrient that blocks the formation of estrogen and ultimately lowering estrogen levels. Understanding hormones from the above information, when estrogen is blocked or kept low, then testosterone will increase. And when testosterone increases, acne forms. Therefore, EstroBlock™ and DIM not only don’t work; they can make acne worse.

You can purchase DIM from your local health foods store and it is often under the trademarked name EstroBlock™. 

Let’s take a more in-depth look into how these products work. Two of the active ingredients in EstroBlock™ are Diindolylmethane (DIM) and Indole-3-Cardinal (IC3). Both DIM and IC3 are aromatase inhibitors, which means they block the enzyme aromatase which turns a portion of your androgen hormones into estrogens. The result of taking this product is higher levels of androgens (testosterone) and lower levels of estrogens.

DIM shows up in a lot of women's products.

Acne is caused, in most cases, by elevated androgens. Very rarely do we see estrogen dominance as the trigger for acne. In the rare case that a client may have estrogen dominance, then DIM would be the proper recommendation for her. However, in most cases, DIM will make acne worse.