[goosebump]

Hi Abi Drew,

I quoted the spearmint part from Isabelle so I'm not really sure myself how it works :o
So would you say spearmint is not a good anti-androgen for NBE purpose? When you said they're different kinds of androgen blockers, are you saying they're targetting the androgen receptors at different parts of our body?

Ugh. You weren't reading what I was typing.

Saw palmetto does practically nothing to the receptors. It strictly blocks the action of the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme, partially preventing the reduction of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. This is the herb that's really not that useful to most NBE. Can be useful to some men and some very very few women.

Spearmint contains chemicals that are receptor blockers, which means they don't do squat to the hormone levels themselves, but prevent the hormones from binding to receptor sites and actually causing anything to happen. It favors body hair follicles, making it one of the most useful NBE anti-androgens.

Beta-sitosterol is a specific chemical, which is in PM, it's also in spearmint and in saw palmetto and in many things... It's a receptor blocker, but it's fairly weak and is fairly generalized in what receptors it'll bind to... It certainly helps, but it's hardly something to rely on.

Hey Abi Drew,

Thank you so much for elaborating and making it clearer! And I did read what you typed. I'm relatively new to NBE herbs, so it's still hard for me to make clear connections between different terms when I don't have prior knowledge of them. >.<

You mentioned that "Spearmint is a powerful receptor antagonist against primarily the androgen receptors at hair follicles". How does that relate to NBE exactly? I assume it's to prevent hair loss on the head, or is it meant to prevent facial and body hair growth?

I have always wondered why some women add anti-androgen, especially Saw Palmetto, into the regime if they mainly just take phytoestrogens, phytoprogestin, and prolactin for growth.