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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Natural Remedies / 10 Steps to Banish Gynecomastia without Drugs or Surgery

10 Steps to Banish Gynecomastia without Drugs or Surgery

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Male Hormonal Imbalance
  • Steroids in Conventional Meat and Dairy
  • Conventional Treatments
  • 10 Steps to Banish Man Boobs

Ten dietary and lifestyle interventions to resolve gynecomastia or swelling of male breast tissue without resorting to pharmaceutical drugs or surgery.

young man with gynecomastia at the beach

Gynecomastia, known colloquially as “man boobs”, is a benign enlargement and swelling of breast tissue in males.

It is thought to be caused by an imbalance of the hormones estrogen and testosterone. One or both breasts may be affected.

According to some estimates, about half of adolescent boys experience at least some breast development during puberty.

Living in Florida where swimming and beach activities are popular year-round, however, I can tell you it surely seems more prevalent than this.

Cases of man boobs are on the rise around the globe no doubt paralleling the rise in obesity rates.

Glasgow, Scotland, which boasts the second-highest obesity rate of all countries studied by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, has seen an 80 percent rise in man boobs reduction surgery in recent years. (1)

While most cases of man boobs are related to problems with excess weight, it seems that even thin and normal-weight boys and men are increasingly experiencing issues with breast enlargement.

Go to any water park this summer and look around. Clearly, this health issue is at epidemic levels. Moreoever, it isn’t just the boys and men struggling with their weight that are affected.

Something environmental is at play here as I don’t ever remember seeing even one case when I was growing up in Florida…certainly never on a thin otherwise normal-weight individual.

Male Hormonal Imbalance

Could all the soy that is in the majority of processed foods today which has added plant estrogens (isoflavones) to the male diet at a rate never seen before in history be a factor?

Not even in Asia was soy ever consumed in the large amounts experienced by those eating a modern diet. Traditional Asian societies primarily consumed soy in small, condimental amounts after careful and long periods of fermentation.

Perhaps the increasing popularity of soy infant formula starting a few decades ago is partly to blame which exposes a male infant to disruptive levels of estrogen at a very vulnerable time for the developing hormonal system.

An estimated 25% of North American babies today receive soy baby formula made from processed soybeans, mostly GMO.

An infant exclusively receiving soy formula consumes the estrogenic equivalent of at least 5 birth control pills every single day! (2)

Beware of soy milk too.

A single glass a day for a few months can lead to hormone disruption according to Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story. (3)

Don’t ever let your children touch the stuff, and if you enjoy a soy milk latte regularly, switch to coconut milk!

Steroids in Conventional Meat and Dairy

What about all the steroids, hormones, and antibiotic-laced feed used in the conventional dairy and meat industry?

Consumption of foods from factory-farmed animals containing pharmaceutical residues could be another contributing factor to the estrogen/testosterone imbalance at the root of gynecomastia. (4, 5)

There is no doubt that there are multiple environmental reasons for the large and very worrisome increases in gynecomastia across the board.  

For the person who suffers from it, however, the reason for the condition is not nearly as important as resolving it…and quickly!

Conventional Treatments

Conventional medicine maintains that many cases of gynecomastia clear up on their own within about two years.

After that, surgery is the conventional treatment route. This is very expensive and usually not covered by insurance as it is considered cosmetic.

Even if the conventional claim of spontaneous resolution was true (anecdotally I would dispute this from the stories I hear), two years is a very long time at a very vulnerable stage in an adolescent’s emotional development.

Avoiding social situations that require a bathing suit for that period of time seems unrealistic. This is particularly true in a warm weather climate.

Rather than wait and see for two long years only to resort later to surgery or (worse) drugs designed for breast cancer like tamoxifen and raloxifene does not seem like a good plan that is either healthy in the long term or reasonable in cost for most families.

10 Steps to Banish Man Boobs

According to certified staff at Biodynamic Wellness, gynecomastia responds extremely well to nutritional support and dietary change.

When a patient presents with a case of gynecomastia, the following dietary and lifestyle interventions are implemented as quickly as possible.

  1. Immediately stop consumption of any and all sources of soy in order to remove plant estrogens from the diet. Because soy protein or soybean oil are present in the vast majority of processed foods, this means freshly prepared, whole foods at home must become the rule rather than the exception. This includes eggs and meat that are soy-fed and animals given antibiotics. Many times, this change alone will resolve the problem.
  2. Add iodine supplementation. Suggested brands are Iodoral or Nascent Iodine.
  3. Add Symplex M from Standard Process.
  4. Begin using castor oil packs over the liver and/or coffee enemas. These two therapies assist the liver in processing all that excess estrogen causing the hormonal imbalance relative to testosterone.
  5. Increase dietary animal fats to at least one tablespoon per meal.
  6. Use bone broth or meat stocks made at home for optimal potency to provide the necessary amino acids to the liver for optimal detoxification.
  7. Eliminate all grains for 30-60 days. After that time incorporate properly prepared, soaked grains only.
  8. Emphasis on a Nourishing Traditions diet. (6)
  9. Use only whole Vitamin C (not synthetic forms of ascorbic acid) to help metabolize and eliminate excess estrogen.
  10. Some people are poor methylators. Proper methylation in liver detoxification is critical for eliminating excess estrogen. These individuals may benefit from methylated B vitamins with the addition of trimethylglycine (TMG). Fortunately, this last step is often not necessary. Avoid synthetic folic acid found in multivitamins and fortified foods.

After putting these lifestyle and dietary interventions in place, many boys and men suffering from gynecomastia will see dramatic improvement and even a complete resolution of the condition over time.

References

(1) Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

(2) Soy Infant Formula. Birth Control Pills for Babies

(3) The Whole Soy Story

(4) Precocious Puberty

(5) Stop Giving Antibiotics to Animals

(6) Nourishing Traditions

More Information

The Shrinking Effect of Pseudo Estrogens on Reproductive Organs
Antibiotic Exposure and Early Puberty in Boys

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Category: Natural Remedies
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (101)

  1. R Piccola

    Apr 17, 2024 at 4:27 am

    Article 1. “Prepubertal Gynecomastia Linked to Lavender and Tea Tree Oils”
    Authors: Derek V. Henley, Ph.D., Natasha Lipson, M.D., Kenneth S. Korach, Ph.D., and Clifford A. Bloch, M.D.Author Info & Affiliations
    Published February 1, 2007
    N Engl J Med 2007;356:479-485
    DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa064725
    VOL. 356 NO. 5 . https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725 // Article 2. “ Chemicals in lavender and tea tree oil appear to be hormone disruptors”
    Chicago, IL March 19, 2018 https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2018/chemicals-in-lavender-and-tea-tree-oil-appear-to-be-hormone-disruptors

    Reply
  2. Samia

    Apr 17, 2024 at 1:59 am

    I would not be too quick to blame breasts in males so much on soy products, though it would seem that that could certainly be one cause.

    The book, Let’s Get Well, by Adelle Davis, published in 1965 and based on this consulting nutritionists’s experiences in the 1950s and early 1960s, mentioned young males developing breasts. There was very little soy consumption in the US back then. Part of her information is as follows: “Vitamin A – generally 100,000 units daily – has been used successfully in treating swollen breasts…” She has quite a bit more to say about her clients who experienced this health issue. Basically, she says that any highly deficient diet may produce this problem. She also mentions females with excess male hormone.

    Go to Pages 208 & 209 if you have this book. After all is said and done, this is an issue of liver damage, according to Adelle Davis. There may be other ways, in my opinion, to deal with liver damage. Maybe it doesn’t have to be all about Vitamin A.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Apr 17, 2024 at 10:06 am

      Thank you for sharing this info from Adele Davis! Certainly there are other causes of male swelling of the breasts, which has been around far longer than soy in the modern diet. However, soy is a primary reason for the explosion of the condition from rare to common in recent years.

  3. sbekezelo

    Jul 1, 2019 at 7:07 am

    i had gynecomastia since i was 13 and it has’nt dissapear and i am ashamed to take off my clothes when swimming or infront of my friend cause they laugh at me alot

    what can i do to end them???

    Reply
  4. Oluwagbemiga Stephen

    Jun 28, 2019 at 10:51 am

    Please man, what exactly did you use to cure. It’s up to seven years now that I have been with gyneacomastia, please suggest a solution for me. Please………

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Jun 28, 2019 at 11:41 am

      If you’ve tried the holistic remedies in this article, perhaps you should consider a surgical approach … important to discuss options with your physician.

  5. Ansh

    Jun 14, 2019 at 10:02 am

    I ahve gynecostia one right side for 18 yrs, feel shame when Open, pls suggest me something

    Reply
  6. gift

    Jun 14, 2019 at 6:28 am

    pushups are beneficial

    Reply
  7. ravieluri

    Jun 4, 2019 at 10:35 pm

    can u tell me which workout u have done even i had gyno

    Reply
  8. James Nelson

    May 17, 2019 at 6:08 am

    I’ve had gynecomastia since puberty and never went away. I found out how to work out correctly to reduce the appearance (chest sculpting) and now you can barely tell if I have gynecomastia. Thanks for writing this article Sarah, and would love to connect, I write about gynecomastia on my blog and how to reduce it naturally.

    Reply
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