I3C®

Unhealthy cell growth in the breasts is one of the most frequent forms of abnormal cell growth in women in Western industrialized countries. In Germany alone, 46,000 new cases are registered each year. It is estimated that one in 10 women will be affected at some point in her life. Although medicine has made great progress in the past ten years and the rate of early detection and healing is very high thanks to medical imaging, regular gynecologic examinations and new operation techniques, unhealthy cell growth in the breasts is still a huge challenge for physicians and a great psychological and physical burden for the women it affects.

Metabolites of estrogen metabolism play a role in the development of unhealthy cell growth in the breasts. Clusters of unhealthy cells can be “estrogen-dependent,” with estrogen and progesterone receptors found within their tissue. These types of unhealthy cells react to therapy with antiestrogens, the best-known of which is tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is a synthetic, anti-steroidal antiestrogen that inhibits estrogen receptors in clusters of unhealthy cells, thereby discouraging their growth.

In 1997 it was proven that I3C^® (indole-3–carbinol) discourages unhealthy cell growth by positively influencing estrogen metabolism and, like tamoxifen, interrupting the cell cycle. Even before that, indole-3-carbinol served as an important antioxidant in orthomolecular medicine.

Indole-3-carbinol was initially recognized as early as 1960 for its effect on unhealthy cell growth caused by chemical poisons (dioxin). It supports healthy estrogen metabolism via the very receptor that makes it possible for dioxin to enter the cell. This receptor can only be activated by certain poisons and, among other substances, indole-3-carbinol. The difference is that dioxin, after having attached itself to this receptor, initiates unhealthy cell growth while indole-3-carbinol discourages it.