Can higher estrogen levels help women burn fat?

Science shows there’s good reason to believe so.

Higher estrogen is related to higher growth hormone levels [Ovesen 1998, Faria 1992].

Growth hormone, in turn, promotes your body to use fat for fuel [DiGirolamo 1986, Ho 2006].

Therefore we could say estrogen potentially indirectly helps fat loss.

Women can likely enhance their estrogen levels naturally by eating a higher fat diet. Increasing intake from 20% to 40% of intake tends to enhance base estrogen levels by 10-15%, which may give you that edge you need for maximal fat loss. See my previous post (5 posts back).

Last note: while higher estrogen levels seem great for body composition, it’s not necessarily conductive to good health, as higher estrogen levels make it slightly more likely women develop breast cancer [Russo 2006].

However, a family history awareness and regular check-ups help a lot here.