#1 Why Is Gut Health Important for Hormone balance?
Is your gut health affecting your hormone balance?
It is estimated that the gut populates 300 – 500 species of bacteria and nearly two million genes – this is known as the microbiome. It is a wonderfully diverse ecosystem, living and working together, right there in your gut and is crucial to your physiology and metabolism.
What does the microbiome do?
It plays a very important role in keeping you healthy by;
• Helping the absorption of vitamins and minerals
• Producing energy
• Balancing the immune system
• Defending against harmful pathogens
• Supporting a healthy digestion
What causes an imbalance?
The type of foods that you eat can affect your microbiome and cause an imbalance. A processed diet that is high in sugar and low in nutrients, excessive alcohol consumption, stress, your age, genetics and environmental pollutants such as chemicals on unwashed fruits, can all play a part. Not only that, long-term use of antibiotics has shown to impact the microbiome.
Research has shown that with the right diet, the gut microbiome can change within two to four days!
What might an imbalance look like?
How can gut health effect hormone health?
Oestrogen is primarily made by the ovaries. After circulating your body, it travels to the liver to be inactivated and then sent to the intestines, so that it can leave your body, via the stool.
If your gut is populated by unfriendly bacteria it can make an enzyme which reactivates oestrogen in your gut. The reactivated oestrogen then re-enters your body causing an excess.
This excess is known as Oestrogen Dominance and can contribute to many oestrogen related health issues.
Signs of oestrogen dominance
• Endometriosis
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
• Obesity
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Mood disturbance
• Oestrogen related cancers - breast, prostate
• Mood disturbances
• Breast tenderness
• Insomnia
• Reduced sex drive
Perhaps you have been diagnosed with a health issue related to oestrogen dominance and are suffering with gut issues alongside it?
You may have been diagnosed with IBS and given a course of antibiotics?
You may not realise that your gut health is having an impact on your hormonal imbalance?
It's time to regain your health.
How can a Nutritional Therapist help?
A Nutritional Therapist will focus on addressing the diet by identifying insufficiencies, food insensitivities and intolerances.
They will use a range of tools to identify potential nutritional imbalances to see how they may relate to your health condition.
Functional testing maybe appropriate to dig deeper into your health by using tests such as a Comprehensive Stool Analysis Test or a Complete Hormone Test (Dutch).
My Approach
• I will provide you with a detailed intake form to gain a picture of your current and historic health status
• I will carry out a thorough consultation to fill in any gaps about your health history, medical history, work and lifestyle balance, sleep habits, family history
• I will analyse your 7-day food diary
• I will suggest functional testing, if appropriate
• I will create a unique naturopathic plan that is tailored to support your individual needs
• I will suggest supplementation to support you further, if required