I had never heard of DIM until about a year and a half ago when I was lead to it by a very personal and agonizing journey with a loved one. The fact I had never heard a whisper about this powerful supplement until then was surprising.  I had always prided myself on being a constant student of all subjects that lead to a better understanding of natural, holistic health and supplementation. 

Tip: Keeping DIM supplements in the fridge may help preserve their efficacy. This tip is known for a component of DIM, which is broccoli sprouts, some recommend these be frozen in order to boost effectiveness. So I keep my DIM supplement in the refrigerator after learning this tip.

What does “DIM” stand for?

DIM is a shortened name for a compound called Diindolylmethane. It is essentially the concentrated essence of the same nutrient found in cruciferous vegetables. Your body actually converts the nutrient combination found in cruciferous vegetables into DIM. Veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts the give off a sulfurous smell when cooked, contain this convertible nutrient but not in the large concentration you get in a DIM supplement.

This by no means is a replacement for vegetables in your diet, it just gives you “more” of the good stuff that you get form consuming them, in a concentrated format. The primary use of a DIM supplement is to help women naturally flush excessive estrogen from their body.

Helps Flush Excessive Estrogens

Estrogen, when in the proper balance and ration to other hormones, is not a bad thing. However, a lot of women are estrogen dominant. Excess estrogens can lead to a variety of problems including hormonally based female cancers like breast cancer, weight gain and, hair loss (Related: Silica for long, strong hair), decreased sex drive, bloating and more severe PMS symptoms, and other “fun” things like that.

DIM can help address all of these issues, which tend to be exacerbated by the aging process (Related: Anti Aging Benefits of Drinking Alkaline Water) by helping your body to properly metabolize estrogen. It essentially helps your body to suppress the “bad” estrogens, while promoting the “good” productive estrogens. It allows your body to have more of the good female hormones circulating that are not destructive but rather work more in harmony with the body.

Studies have also shown that it helps inhibit the aromatase enzyme, which converts testosterone into estrogen. This may be a reason that some men choose to take it too, especially men over the age of 50 who have dropped in testosterone production. Most importantly, it helps the unpleasant symptoms that come from unhealthy estrogen dominance.

The DIM journey

As I stated earlier, a very personal journey with my mother introduced the women in my family to DIM. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and decided she’d like to go see a functional medicine doctor. She wanted to learn what lifestyle, supplementation and other natural things she could do to help fight her cancer. He outlined several pieces of advice and one of them he really underlined was to take a good DIM supplement daily. (Related: Anti-Cancer Benefits of Garlic)

He also strongly suggested all women take whole, freshly ground flax seed every day, and recommended a high daily dose of Vitamin D among a few other nutritional suggestions. As I said, this was the first I had heard of DIM. Since my mom was the second female on her side of the family with breast cancer, we took his advice and bought her DIM.

Potential Side Effects of DIM

My sister and I ended up also taking a DIM supplement regularly since breast cancer clearly runs in the female side of our family. I will admit that at first, I didn’t notice anything really. I didn’t even have any of the side effects that lots of people report. Some people report a sort of “detox” period where they experience headaches and nausea when first taking a DIM supplement. 

I didn’t have any such side effects. I was also still on the birth control pill when I starting taking DIM so I believe the difference would not have been noticeable because I was also putting hormones back into my body and probably undoing some of balancing DIM was trying to do. What I started to notice was that I was losing weight.

An Unexpected and Welcome Side Effect - Weight Control

Now granted, I wasn’t eating much. As I said, this was a really agonizing period and my mom was rapidly deteriorating from the cancer. But I noticed that I could cheat here and there and not put the weight right back on like I normally would. I also noticed that I just wasn’t as hungry and couldn’t eat as much. Yes, I’m sure part of this was grief.

However, the fact that I continued to notice these weight maintenance benefits long past my mothers eventual passing told me that DIM was at least making it way easier for me to keep excess weight off. It was also much easier for me to add muscle. I attribute this to the reduction in excess estrogens, since estrogen promotes fat storage and reduces muscle tone.

This was the biggest benefit I noticed from DIM. It significantly contributed to my ability to control my weight. My weight has fluctuated greatly once I hit the age of forty, and I always found it difficult to manage food portions, appetite and binge eating. With DIM, it has really helped me to eat more controlled portions, control my sugar cravings, and generally to just maintain a more healthy weight and maintain good muscle tone.

When you consider the myriad of health benefits healthy weight maintenance and fat reduction have on your health, I’d say this benefit is significant. DIM supplements range greatly in price. I would find one that combines bioperene (black pepper) into the formula for better absorption. Calcium D Glucarate is also recommended to help enhance the effect of DIM. As far as DIM dosage, the most common recommendation is 200-300 mg daily.