How do you choose a progesterone cream?

VITAMIN E BASED CREAM

The very best way to enhance absorption is to include as much Vitamin E as can be tolerated. This is because Vitamin E dissolves progesterone and thus increase absorption. Almost nothing else holds progesterone like Vitamin E. Emerita and is an example of a cream that have plenty of Vitamin E. Progest E shines with its suspension in Vitamin E for an oral (rubbed on gums) application.  It is important to watch out for synthetic versions.

SOY BASED

Soy is more of a problem if the cream contains Vitamin E which is usually derived from soybean or oil.  Although it could be a minimal amount of soy, sunflower oil derived Vitamin E can be less worrisome if soy is a concern.

MICRONIZED PROGESTERONE

Micronized means the progesterone is ground to an ultra-fine powder which allows better absorption through the skin. Most American made progesterone is ground to the highest quality. Watch out for progesterone bought from China.  Overseas progesterone is not ground as fine and will not absorb as well as American made progesterone.  Natural progesterone products that are less expensive could possibly indicate that they are procuring their natural progesterone from outside of the USA.

FRAGRANCES

Progesterone creams more often than not contain some kind of fragrance. Beware of chemicals that can be irritating to the skin.

AMOUNT & CONCENTRATION OF PROGESTERONE

Finding out how much progesterone is in a cream can sometimes be the hardest thing to find out.

When it comes to progesterone concentration, most creams are below 2% progesterone or 25 mg of progesterone per quarter tsp. If a cream does not say it’s percentage progesterone, you can usually assume that it is around 2%. Unfortunately, the concentration of progesterone is not uniform, so you may need to do some investigating.

Higher concentrations of progesterone cause greater skin absorption. Only a few creams go above this 2% progesterone concentration.