Hormones and Antiaging Medicine: Female Hormones and Antiaging

Estrogen is a general term for substances with female hormone activity, with 17β-estradiol (E2) being the representative estrogen. Since the discovery of E2 in 1923, other natural estrogens such as estrone and estriol have been identified. Estetrol is a natural estrogen produced only in the fetal liver [1], and there are four types of natural estrogens. The main estrogen-producing organs in women are the ovarian granulosa cells, but estrogen is also produced in the adrenal cortex and in men’s testes. While men’s estrogen secretion does not change significantly throughout life, women’s estrogen secretion peaks during puberty and significantly decreases after menopause due to the depletion of primordial follicles, falling below the level of men’s secretion (Fig. 52.1) [2]. Women experience an increase in the frequency of degenerative diseases during the same period as this decrease in estrogen, suggesting that changes in estrogen secretion significantly affect aging. Specific diseases include auditory abnormalities, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, muscle atrophy, neuropsychiatric disorders, visual degeneration, osteoporosis, age-related skin changes, and urinary tract disorders, which appear after menopause. Some of these diseases improve with estrogen administration, suggesting that estrogen can be considered an antiaging substance.