At menopause, when the ovary fails to produce the cyclic progesterone, all of these processes of estrogen inactivation fail. In the absence of progesterone, cortisol becomes more active, increasing aromatase activity, which now becomes chronic and progressive.

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When mitochondria are damaged, active cells produce increased amounts of lactic acid, even in the presence of adequate oxygen. Otto Warburg identified this kind of metabolism, aerobic glycolysis, as an essential feature of cancer, and showed that it could be produced by stress..

Riboflavin, vitamin B2, is an essential component of the mitochondrial respiratory enzymes, and it is very easily destroyed by light (blue light and especially ultraviolet). When it is excited by high energy light, it can spread the damage to other components of the mitochondria

Vitamin K is also extremely light sensitive, and it interacts closely with coenzyme Q in regulating mitochondrial metabolism.

Niacinamide, one of the B vitamins, provides energy to this mitochondrial system. Under stress and strong excitation, cells waste niacinamide-NADH, but niacinamide itself has a sedative antiexcitatory effect, and some of its actions resemble a hormone.

Vitamin E, coenzyme Q, and the polyunsaturated fatty acids are also light sensitive, and they are more susceptible to free radical damage when vitamin K is deficient.

Estrogen tends to interfere with the formation of niacin from tryptophan. Tryptophan, rather than forming the sedative niacin (pyridine carboxylic acid), can be directed toward formation of the excitatory quinolinic acid (pyridine dicarboxylic acid) by polyunsaturated fatty

The polyunsaturated fatty acids, besides their interactions with estrogen and tryptophan metabolism, promote excitation and decrease energy production in several other ways.

In a study in which drinking hot water or coffee was compared with drinking room-temperature coffee or caffeine, it was found that the hot liquids caused flushing, but cool coffee and caffeine didn't.

Caffeine increases cells' energy efficiency, and by opposing the effects of adenosine (secreted by cells that are stressed and energy-depleted), it can inhibit vasodilation, angioneogenesis (Merighi, et al., 2007; Ryzhov, et al., 2007), and fibrosis (Chan, et al., 2006).

One nearly ubiquitous source of inappropriate excitation and energy depletion is the endotoxin, bacterial lipopolysaccharides absorbed from the intestine (Wang and White, 1999).

Cancer's respiratory defect that Warburg identified, fermentation with lactic acid production even in the presence of adequate oxygen, was the result of some kind of injury to the mitochondria.

Warburg observed that tumors generally were anoxic, and that cancers typically appeared in the midst of tissue that was atrophying, and suggested that the cancer cells' survival was favored by their ability to live without oxygen.

The relatively high incidence of rosacea among women (some studies indicate that it may be 3 times as common in women as in men) isn't likely to be the result of greater sun exposure, so it's reasonable to look for hormonal causes.

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In old age, it's well recognized that men's estrogen level rises. But the estrogen industry has convinced women that their estrogen declines as they get older.

Other studies show that serum and tissue estrogen concentrations are not concordant, and that some tissues may contain several times as much estrogen as the serum (Jefcoate, et al., 2001). Local irritation increases tissue estrogen content.

The antiestrogens, especially progesterone, begin declining in the 30s, so that the rising estrogen has more effect on the tissues during those years. These are the years in which the incidence of rosacea rises suddenly.

Estrogen's most immediate effect on cells is to alter their oxidative metabolism. It promotes the formation of lactic acid. In the long run, it increases the nutritional requirements for the B vitamins, as well as for other vitamins.