Our gut microbiome infuencing estrogen level in our bodies.
Would that be possible that gut health can influence our hormones? In my last post I mentioned how the gut health can impact our skin but gut influence many more aspects of our health, including hormones.
It comes out that some bacterias in our gut can create an enzyme called beta - glucoronidase. High level of this enzyme can alter estrogen into active form and increase the level of circulating estrogen in our body. Instead of being excreted it becomes available again increasing the circulating amount of estrogen to too high level. The species connected with higher level of beta-glucoronidase in the gut are
Escherichia coli, Bacteroides species, and Clostridium.
Another interesting point is that candida yeast overgrowth which is also very common (especially if we were on antibiotic therapies in the past) can produce so byproducts which mimic our hormones disrupting the hormone balance even further.
The special group of microbes present in the gut connected with estrogen regulation is called estrobolome. It impacts the metabolism of the various forms of estrogens and the balance of circulating and excreted hormone levels.
It is worth looking a bit deeper into our gut health. Disrupted gut microbiome has been connected with many different hormone - dependent conditions:
Endometriosis - where not only gut but vaginal microbiome can also play a role in the disease development
PCOS - some studies suggest impaired microbiome can promote increase of androgen production
Emerging research also links dysbiosis of the estrobolome to various forms of cancer., especially of estrogen - sensitive tissues such as breasts, endometrium, cervix, and ovaries.
There is great functional medicine testing which can look very deeply into the profile of your gut microbes. Additionally the test can show the level of beta- glucoronidase enzyme as well other inflammatory markers. This is an amazing tool helping to understand gut - health connection.
If you are interested in running such a test I am happy to guide you, I also participated a training especially for this testing so can give you very detailed interpretation and support.
If you would like to explore more what is the nutritional therapy you can read more in the following link
Comments