# Estrone

Category: Hormones

Also known as: E1

Estrone (E1) is a relatively weak endogenous estrogen that serves primarily as a precursor and long-term reservoir for the more potent estradiol, and its elevation with age is a key driver of estrogen-driven diseases. Ray Peat emphasized that estrone and estradiol are perfectly…

9 passages · 3 authors · 2012–2024 · Most-cited: [Georgi Dinkov](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/georgi-dinkov/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/estrone

## Synthesis

**Estrone (E1)** is a relatively weak endogenous estrogen that serves primarily as a precursor and long-term reservoir for the more potent estradiol, and its elevation with age is a key driver of estrogen-driven diseases. [Source 1, 5] Ray Peat emphasized that estrone and estradiol are *perfectly interchangeable* through enzymatic action, a fact that was obscured for decades by the dogmatic focus on genetic receptor theory. [Source 3] He noted that while estradiol is considered about ten times as potent as estrone, their effects depend on overall health and progesterone levels, and a larger dose of estrone will have exactly the same effect as estradiol. [Source 4] Georgi Dinkov has written that **estrone sulfate (E1S)** is the most reliable biomarker of total-body estrogenic reserves, serving as a long-lasting derivative that tissues can convert into active estradiol through the process of *intracrinology*. [Source 1, 5]

The clinical significance of estrone lies in its paradoxical behavior with aging. While estradiol levels plummet after menopause, leading to the mainstream diagnosis of estrogen "deficiency," estrone and estrone sulfate actually rise with age, correlating strongly with disease. [Source 1, 6] Dinkov has argued that estrone is produced mostly by fatty tissue via the **aromatase** enzyme, meaning that higher body fat and aging both increase estrone production, making it a much more relevant marker for breast and prostate cancer prognosis than estradiol. [Source 5, 6] Peat explained that the apparent disappearance of estrogen from blood tests in aging is an artifact of measurement; as progesterone declines, estrogen increasingly stays inside cells, intensifying its activity while remaining undetectable in serum. [Source 4] Administering progesterone can mobilize this tissue-bound estrogen back into the blood in a detoxified form, revealing the true estrogen load. [Source 4]

Estrone sulfate functions as the body's long-term estrogen reserve, with a half-life measured in weeks, allowing any tissue to draw upon it and convert it to active estradiol as needed. [Source 5] Dinkov has stated that high E1S is a reliable indicator of high estrogenic reserves and is typically elevated in overweight individuals, those with low testosterone or DHEA, or those with insulin resistance. [Source 7] He has recommended that E1S, prolactin, and CO2 are the three biomarkers that give the most information for the least amount of money regarding overall health. [Source 2] Peat's enzymological perspective showed that progesterone activates enzymes that inactivate estrogen, while turning off those that activate it, making the estrone-estradiol interchange a central point where thyroid, stress hormones, and nutrition intersect. [Source 3]

The medical establishment's near-exclusive focus on estradiol has been criticized as a major oversight. Dinkov has documented cases where doctors were unaware of estrone or refused to test it, despite E1S being the best-known prognostic biomarker for developing and dying from breast, colon, and prostate cancer. [Source 6] He has also noted that while a study found low androgens increased cardiovascular disease risk in women, low estrone did not show the same protective relationship; he suspects that if **estrone sulfate** had been measured instead, the relationship with cardiovascular disease would have been positive and contributing rather than inverse. [Source 8] Dinkov maintains that estradiol remains the actual declared tumor carcinogen by both the CDC and WHO, and that high estrone synthesis signals elevated aromatase activity, which is itself one of the best predictors of cancer death. [Source 9] Substances including vitamin E, aspirin, progesterone, and pregnenolone can lower E1S levels. [Source 7]

## People also ask

### How does estrone relate to estradiol in the body?

Peat argued that estrone and estradiol are perfectly interchangeable through enzymatic action, so a larger dose of estrone has the same effect as estradiol, despite estradiol being considered more potent.

### Why does estrone increase with age while estradiol appears to drop?

The corpus describes that as progesterone declines with age, estrogen increasingly stays inside cells and becomes undetectable in serum, while fatty tissue produces more estrone via aromatase, raising total estrogenic reserves.

### What makes estrone sulfate a better health marker than estradiol?

Dinkov argued that estrone sulfate is the most reliable biomarker of total-body estrogenic reserves because it serves as a long-lasting derivative that tissues convert into active estradiol, and it correlates strongly with cancer prognosis.

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## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — While estradiol falls, estrone rises with age and is much more relevant for estrogen-driven diseases

Georgi Dinkov · Article · Aug 22, 2019 · https://haidut.me/?p=480

> I posted a few studies in the past demonstrating that estrone (E1) and especially its long-lasting derivative estrone sulfate (E1S) are reliable biomarkers of both breast and prostate cancer progression/prognosis. However, for some reason the medical industry is obsessed with estradiol and since its levels plummet after menopause this has allowed doctors to declare menopause a life-stage characterized by estrogen “deficiency”. E1 and/or E1S are almost never measured and most endocrinologists do not consider those steroids relevant for health/disease. While the estrones are indeed weaker estrogens than estradiol, both of them easily convert into estradiol or estriol in tissues and exert tissue-specific effects – a process known as “intracrinology”. If E1 and E1S are measured, together with estriol and estradiol (and preferably prolactin as well), it becomes apparent that total estrogen reserves RISE with age instead of falling as the doctor claim. Thus, menopause and its associated diseases are driven by estrogen excess and not deficiency.
>
> Well, the study below may finally change this attitude. It found (unsurprisingly) that estrone is elevated in post-menopausal women and its levels correlated well with age – i.e. the older the woman the higher her estrone levels. It also makes the direct claim that unless estrone is also measured as part of a the hormone panels often done for women, using only estradiol as a diagnostic/treatment biomarker is next to meaningless.
>
> [references]

### Source 2 — IdeaLabs Forum Q&A — MelaNon

Georgi Dinkov · Forum Q&A · Nov 10, 2015

> **Forum User:** Haidut, just to clarify, would this be good for scar tissue? Also, in the description you say that the caffeine is combined with mixed tocopherols, but I don't see that in the ingredient list. Vitamin E I would guess would be good in this combination to lower estrogen even more. btw, in relation to the conversation you were just having, I believe much of the notorious "belly fat" is comprised of estrone (E1), which has been considered an estrodiol (E2) precursor.
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** (2015-11-18) It is possible that it would work for scars since there are some studies with caffeine effect on scar tissue. Apigenin also has some data for helping reduce collagen buildup as a result of healing a skin lesion. The product initially had some tocopherol but it was making it very sticky and could even clog the bottle. So, instead I went with the tried formula DMSO + ethanol, and now it is a pure liquid of orange-brownish color that absorbs into the skin almost immediately. No bottle clogging either. On the estrone - thanks for bringing this up. Estrone sulfate (E1S) is one of the best blood tests to get for determining estrogenic activity in the organism.. Just like DHEA-S is used to gauge DHEA and overall anabolic activity. I'd say E1S, prolactin, and CO2 are the 3 biomarkers that give the most information for the least amount of money in regards to overall health.

### Source 3 — Politics & Science: Progesterone Part 3

Ray Peat · Interview · Feb 7, 2012 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/politics-science-progesterone-part-3.mp4

> ## The Estrogen Receptor and Scientific Dogma
>
> **John Barkhausen:** One of the things you've written about Elwood Jensen, who is the supposed inventor of the concept of the hormone receptor. Is that right?
>
> **Ray Peat:** The idea of receptors in general was being discussed in various fields. But for estrogen, the enzymologists were progressing very quickly in understanding the effects of estrogen through the 1940s into the 1950s. One of the lines of very productive research was showing that enzymes can change estrogen back and forth between estrone and estradiol. Estrone is relatively inactive; estradiol is very active. That was classified as enzymology. Jensen's argument was that estrogen acts by activating a genetic program. He argued it's only a female-acting substance because females are genetically determined to be female. So what estrogen does is act on a receptor that activates the genetic program. If something is acted on by enzymes, men have enzymes that are going to do the same reactions. Enzymology tended to generalize the estrogen issue and make it a masculine problem as well as female. Jensen got the only support from the Atomic Energy Commission, which controlled the isotopes needed to do enzyme studies. He used an isotope-labeled form of estrogen and, in his experiments with uterus tissue, claimed to show that there was no oxidation or reduction of estrogen by the uterus. He said that's the end of the enzyme tradition; it's all receptor and genes now. That spread through the research world and by the mid-1960s was the dogma. But then the enzymologists started getting the same isotopes that he had had and showed that, in fact, the old 1940s research was exactly what's happening. Now everyone knows that estrogen, estradiol, and estrone are perfectly interchangeable. That's exactly where progesterone, thyroid, and stress hormones interact with estrogen. Progesterone turns off some of the enzymes that activate estrogen and activates enzymes that inactivate estrogen. The enzyme approach opens up the whole issue of environmental physiology—nutritional and metabolic effects on the estrogen system.

### Source 4 — #86 - The Estrogen Industry, the magic of progesterone and the importance of thyroid with Dr Ray Peat & Kate Deering

Ray Peat · Interview · Jan 31, 2022

> **Ray Peat:** Estradiol is considered about 10 times. as potent as Estrone, but really that depends on your general health and amount of progesterone. And it's about three or four times as active as Estriol. But they're all interchangeable. It just takes a bigger dose of either estrone or estriol to have exactly the same effect as estradiol.
>
> **Kate Deering:** So my understanding is that while in your youth, you have more estradiol. And then I was under the understanding as you go through menopause, it's estrone that is more potent in your system, or is that not correct?
>
> **Ray Peat:** It increases with aging, but the measurements have all been done in the blood, which... very little to do with the actual tissue exposure to the effect of estrogen. Because with aging, your progesterone goes down and the estrogen increasingly stays inside cells and intensifies its activity. when you seem to have a disappearance of estrogen and menopause, if you add progesterone, suddenly you can measure a normal amount of estrogen as it's leaving the inside of the cells being detoxified and carried to the kidneys for excretion. That shows the progesterone is able to mobilize it out of your cells in a detoxified form.

### Source 5 — Estrogen, Progesterone and Resveratrol with Georgi Dinkov

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Sep 16, 2021

> **Georgi Dinkov:** And even though estradiol is the main one, the one that most doctors are concerned about because it's the strongest quote-unquote estrogen, Estrone has been shown to, especially estrone sulfate, has been shown to serve as the long-term reserve of estrogen for both males and females. So if you measure estrone sulfate in, let's say, obese men or men with prostate cancer or obese women, even if they're after menopause, you will see that those levels are very, very high. So what happens is that through the principles of intracranology, which is a fairly recent admission by the endocrinology professionals, that basically steroids can interconvert into each other inside tissues as needed. So let's say if you have an excess of estrone sulfate, it's very hard for you to have tissue deficiency of estradiol because if any tissue really needed estradiol, it will simply suck some estrone sulfate out of the blood inside the cell. And through enzymes called sulfatase, basically they will break off that sulfate bond and then they'll convert the estrone sulfate back to estrone and then through one more step estrone becomes estradiol so it's really it's it's it's like the it's like the mother precursor of all estrogens it's estrone sulfate and it has a very long half-life measure in the weeks so so it's like so yeah so you can so basically the blood really serves as nothing more than a transport mechanism and then when you measure things in the blood if you go to let's say like a like a male doctor urologist And then when they see that you have low testosterone, then they're basically going to say, they're not going to say you're testosterone deficient. They'll say, oh, you may have hypogonadism, right? deficient. In other words, they're saying your gonads are not functioning well, and then they're going to focus on the gonads.

### Source 6 — #09: Estrogen, Fluoride, Pregnancy, Children, and Metabolism with Georgi Dinkov and Emma Sgourakis

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Aug 23, 2019 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t0SPCgbBtB77LJdFi2jbP

> **Georgi Dinkov:** which is, I think I posted with one of the latest ones, that it's estrone, which rises with age, even though estradiol after menopause is almost undetectable. And it's, for some reason, doctors are so gung-ho on measuring estradiol because, you know, this is indeed the most potent endogenous estrogen. And, you know, all doctors, unfortunately, think that that's the estrogen, the only estrogen that matters. And after the ovaries, quote, unquote, fail, right, both progesterone and estradiol in the blood, the levels become undetectable. And the doctors have used this to say, oh, you have an estrogen deficiency. But that study showed that estrone, which easily converts into estradiol or estriol. So estrone is kind of like the precursor estrogen of all the others. Estrone rises with age. And the older the woman, the higher the estrone levels are. So the women that I responded to when they tested either estrone or prolactin, either one or both, depending on what they tested, came back elevated. And one of them tried bromocryptine and got pregnant within a month. and the other one tried high-dose progesterone. And while she was on the high-dose progesterone, she didn't get pregnant, but it did lower her estrone levels. And as soon as she stopped the progesterone after using it for two months, she got pregnant too. And both women had been trying for years, for years. And when they went to the doctor and said, why don't you test my estrone, their doctor snapped at them and said, what the hell is that? Who are you to think you're going to teach me what is estrone? Surprisingly, the doctors themselves were shocked to find out that there is this thing called estrone, right? It's mostly produced by the fatty tissue, and maybe that's why they don't measure it. Unless you're overweight, no doctor will think of measuring your estrone. And even the ones that, if you're overweight, many, if not most doctors...

### Source 7 — IdeaLabs Forum Q&A — EstroBan

Georgi Dinkov · Forum Q&A · Jan 24, 2014

> **RMH:** (2016-09-30) I've been taking 4 drops of Estroban a day plus 2 drops of retinil and 2 drops of Kuinone to try and push some estrogen out of my fat/tissue stores. I finally convinced my doc to order estrogen sulfate and prolactin tests. My prolactin is near the bottom of the range but the E1S number came back high. Is this an indication that I'm successfully getting the estrogen out and it's spiking serum levels or is high E1S and indication of general estrogen overload? My previous estradiol numbers have always come back bottom of the range.
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** (2016-09-30) So, E1S is an indication of high estrogenic "reserves". The body converts E1S into estrone (E1) as needed and then converts estrone to estradiol as needed. So, I would take the E1S number as more reliable than prolactin since prolactin rises together with estradiol and yours was low as you said. Having high E1S is ceratinly not desirable. Typically E1S is high in overweight people or people with low T/DHEA, or people with insulin resistance. Vitamin E, aspirin, progesterone, and even pregnenolone can lower E1S as I posted before.

### Source 8 — Not a “male” hormone – testosterone (T) beneficial for female heart health

Georgi Dinkov · Article · Feb 8, 2022 · https://haidut.me/?p=1746

> It always feels good to read an article on a scientific discovery and have one of the authors put on his Peat-y hat and quote Peat directly. I am joking, of course, but the study below and the statements from its lead author do sound like Peat had a significant participation in the study write-up, as well as in the education of its authors. Namely, the study discusses the strong inverse correlation between androgens, such as T and DHEA, and cardiovacular disease risk, especially in post-menopause women. Just as importantly, the benefits of higher androgens were progressive and started manifesting themselves as low as the 25% percentile of the range for each steroid. And perhaps most surprisingly, the study found that while low androgens did result in much higher CVD risk in women, lower estrogens (estrone) did not. So much for the mainstream hypothesis of “the estrogen deficiency of menopause, causing chronic diseases”…Now, I may actually email the authors and suggest that in their next study they test not estrone (which doctors think is the predominant serum estrogen in menopausal women), but rather estrone sulfate (E1S), which has been shown to serve as the most reliable biomarker of total-body estrogenic reserves/load. I’d venture a guess that if E1S was measured instead, the relationship with CVD would have been positive (contributing) and not negative/inverse (protective).
>
> [references]

### Source 9 — BV #3: Georgi Dinkov Responds To Estrogen Criticism, Serotonin Confusion, & Low Thyroid On Carnivore

Danny Roddy · Interview · Oct 30, 2024 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_PRMOVc7ww

> **Georgi Dinkov:** So, you know, estradiol, if she's arguing that estradiol is somehow less dangerous than estrone, It's hard for me to accept that. Estradiol is the actual declared tumor carcinogen in both the CDC and the WHO. Estrone is a precursor. So if you have high amounts of estrone, basically, because that's usually what you synthesize. Estradiol is the final step because it's with the two hydroxyl groups. But if you're synthesizing estrogen, usually the pathway is through DHEA, then androstenedione, and then you synthesize from that estrone, and that gets finally reduced to estradiol. So basically, if you're synthesizing a lot of estrone, that's not a good sign. It means your aromatase activity is high. And even the aromatase activity and expression is actually one of the best predictors for any type of cancer death and actually survival in the ER room. One of the first studies that I posted on the forum, the RAPID forum back in 2014, was that the best predictor whether a critically ill person arriving in the ER will survive was their levels of estradiol at admission and they were negatively correlated with survival um now of course you can say you know this correlation doesn't equal causality but you know it's not just a study i'm saying that everywhere you look it does seem like estradiol is a stress hormone that rises you know during during times of stress and general lack of energy And it's very hard for me to accept that just because it's an agonist on both the beta and the alpha, somehow its agonism on beta negates the effects that it has on alpha. Most of the studies with cancer and promoting the cancer are done with estradiol. They're not done with strong. So if estradiol has all of these generating and promoting effects on cancer in all of these animal studies that we have, I would say estradiol is really, you know, it's not any less of a culprit than estrone. And it is a much more potent estrogen at the receptor level.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._