DIM (Diindolylmethane) and Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus or chasteberry) are two natural supplements used to improve hormonal balance in women by treating estrogen dominance by targeting different aspects of the endocrine system.
Both supplements are used to treat PMS and breast pain, one of them helps improve fertility, and each can also help alleviate several perimenopause symptoms.
What Is DIM?
DIM, or Diindolylmethane, is a metabolite of indole-3-carbinol. A metabolite is a substance or compound made when the body breaks down food, and indole-3-carbinol is made from cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, or kale once they are exposed to stomach acid. Indole-3-carbinol is then converted into DIM.
Most DIM supplements are synthetically produced in a lab (starting from I3C) or via bacterial fermentation of plant materials, and they are used to treat estrogen dominance and prevent testosterone from being converted into estrogen.
How Does DIM Help Hormone Balance?
DIM supplements are known to help improve estrogen metabolism to reduce estrogen dominance. Estrogen metabolism is a process through which estrogen is broken down by the liver to retain beneficial forms of estrogen in the body and excrete potentially harmful forms of the same hormone.
Even though estrogen is an essential hormone for sexual health and reproduction, it’s also important for the brain, heart, bones, muscles, and skin. In order for estrogen to benefit the body, however, it must be metabolized (broken down) by the liver.
This happens in two steps, known as Phase 1 & Phase 2.
In Phase 1, the liver breaks estrogen into three metabolites, the most beneficial being 2-hydroxy estrone (2OHE1). The remaining two are 4-hydroxy estrone (4OHE1) and 16-hydroxy estrone (16OHE1), which can increase the growth of harmful breast and uterine tissue, including cancer.
Phase 2 of estrogen metabolism involves the methylation of unfavorable estrogen metabolites for excretion via the bowels and kidneys.
Due to its help in metabolizing estrogen, some research shows that DIM can be useful in treating PMS, painful breasts (mastalgia), and certain symptoms of perimenopause.
DIM for Estrogen Dominance
Because DIM can help manage estrogen metabolism and ensure that problematic metabolites 4OHE1 and 16OHE1 are effectively excreted, DIM supplements can be useful in treating estrogen dominance.
DIM For PMS and Sore Breasts
When PMS is linked to estrogen dominance, which it often is, DIM supplements can help reduce heavy or painful menstruation, bloating, headaches, and cramps by improving estrogen metabolism.
Similarly, breast tenderness (mastalgia), which is also a result of estrogen dominance and linked to poor estrogen metabolism, may also be alleviated by DIM supplements. This is because increased levels of the estrogen metabolite 16OHE1 can increase the growth of harmful breast tissue and cause breast tenderness.
DIM For Perimenopause and Menopause
With the onset of perimenopause, estrogen levels begin to drop and typically fluctuate up and down for the following 7-12 years until menopause is reached. Progesterone production also alters during this time due to irregular menstruation and fewer ovulations. And testosterone is sometimes converted to estrogen.
These hormone fluctuations can cause erratic stages of estrogen dominance during perimenopause and result in symptoms like hot flashes, irritability, poor sleep, and low libido. However, because DIM helps retain beneficial estrogen metabolites while aiding in the excretion of the other two, this supplement can help balance hormones and reduce the above perimenopause symptoms.
Research also shows that DIM can effectively inhibit aromatase and DHT. Aromatase is an enzyme with a vital role in the conversion of testosterone to estrogen, and DHT is a more potent form of testosterone associated with facial hair growth, acne, and weight gain around the abdomen and hips during perimenopause.
What is Vitex?
Vitex agnus-castus (Vitex) is a phytoestrogen derived from the chasteberry tree and has been used as a women’s health supplement for centuries. Oral Vitex supplements, like our vitex berry supplement, are made by drying and grinding the berries from the tree into powder form, and it is also available as an oil or cream, but oral supplements are considered more potent.
Most commonly known for holistically treating symptoms associated with the female reproductive system, Vitex is commonly used to relieve premenstrual syndrome (PMS), irregular menstruation, breast pain, infertility, and perimenopause symptoms such as hot flashes, irritability, anxiety, and poor sleep.
How Does Vitex Balance Hormones?
Vitex can help balance hormones by reducing prolactin secretion and improving LH (luteinizing hormone) and progesterone production.
Primarily produced by the anterior pituitary gland in the brain, prolactin is a hormone with the main role of stimulating breast development and milk production (lactation) after childbirth. It also helps in regulating moods, mental health, the menstrual cycle, ovulation, autoimmunity, sleep, and relaxation.
Prolactin levels are only supposed to be elevated during pregnancy. And when they rise outside of pregnancy, the entire reproductive hormone axis can be disrupted, resulting in lower progesterone levels, irregular menstruation, breast tenderness, infertility, irritability, and low libido.
Agnuside and aucubin are two compounds present in Vitex that bind to dopamine D2 receptors in the pituitary gland and decrease prolactin secretion. When prolactin levels are normalized, progesterone production increases, and hormone balance, menstrual cycles, and ovulation are restored.
Vitex for PMS
Vitex can ease PMS symptoms such as breast tenderness, irritability, headaches, cravings, and cramps by reducing prolactin levels and improving the production of progesterone to balance estrogen levels.
In one study investigating the benefits of Vitex, 93% of women who took Vitex for three menstrual cycles reported a decrease in the above-mentioned PMS symptoms. Research also suggests that Vitex could be as effective as medication in reducing cyclic mastalgia (breast pain linked to PMS) without any of the side effects.
Vitex and Female Fertility
Ovulation, and therefore fertility, is often compromised in women experiencing irregular menstruation or a short luteal phase. The luteal phase, which lasts 12-14 days, occurs just after ovulation when the egg is released and the uterus is prepared for implantation with an increase in progesterone levels.
Short luteal phases and irregular periods are linked to high prolactin production and infertility. However, several studies have concluded that Vitex is as effective in lowering prolactin secretion as medication prescribed for the same purpose.
In one study, 93 women experiencing challenges getting pregnant for 6-36 months were given Vitex or a placebo. After three months, the women taking Vitex reported increased progesterone levels, better hormone balance, more regular cycles, and 26 fell pregnant compared to 10 women who took a placebo.
Vitex for Menopause Symptoms
Although Vitex does not increase estrogen production or supplement it like menopause hormone therapy (MHT), it helps to balance hormones during perimenopause by increasing declining progesterone production.
As with PMS, Vitex stimulates LH production, which supports the corpus luteum to produce progesterone. Although progesterone is no longer required at perimenopausal age to thicken the uterine lining for implantation during the menstrual cycle, adequate progesterone levels are needed for a stable hormone balance with estrogen and to reduce perimenopause symptoms.
For instance, progesterone’s impact on GABA receptors can have a calming influence on the brain and hypothalamus (the body’s temperature regulator), thereby relieving symptoms like anxiety, irritability, hot flashes, and night sweats while improving sleep or insomnia.
DIM and Vitex: Are They Used Together?
DIM and Vitex can be used together to restore hormone balance and reduce symptoms when estrogen levels are high and progesterone levels are low.
In these cases, DIM can help the body metabolize estrogen through the liver and excrete excess and harmful estrogen strains to treat estrogen dominance. Vitex, on the other hand, aids the body in producing more progesterone by increasing LH to support the corpus luteum.
Conclusion
DIM (Diindolylmethane) and Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus, chasteberry) are natural supplements often recommended as a holistic approach to balancing female hormones in place of hormone therapy. To understand which supplement is best for you, consult with a female health expert to determine if your symptoms are caused by low progesterone levels or estrogen dominance.
DIM helps metabolize estrogen and excrete potentially problematic estrogen strains to rebalance hormones, while Vitex reduces prolactin and improves LH and progesterone production. DIM and Vitex can be used separately or together, based on your symptoms and hormonal needs.
References
National Library of Medicine - Vitex agnus-castus extracts for female reproductive disorders: a systematic review of clinical trials - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23136064/
Science Direct - Dose-dependent efficacy of the Vitex agnus castus extract Ze 440 in patients suffering from premenstrual syndrome - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711312002802
National Library of Medicine - Can Vitex Agnus Castus be Used for the Treatment of Mastalgia? What is the Current Evidence? - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2529385/
National Library of Medicine - 3,3′-Diindolylmethane Modulates Estrogen Metabolism in Patients with Thyroid Proliferative Disease: A Pilot Study - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3048776/
National Library of Medicine - Vitex agnus castus essential oil and menopausal balance: a research update [Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery 8 (2003) 148-154] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12852933/
Thieme -Vitex agnus-castus Extracts for Female Reproductive Disorders: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials - https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0032-1327831
National Library of Medicine - Effects of "vitex agnus castus" extract and magnesium supplementation, alone and in combination, on osteogenic and angiogenic factors and fracture healing in women with long bone fracture - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24672557/
National Library of Medicine - Double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Fertilityblend: a nutritional supplement for improving fertility in women - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17211965/
National Library of Medicine - Vitex agnus castus effects on hyperprolactinaemia - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10702745/