Your Poor Gut Health is Worsening
Do you suffer from gas & bloating? What about irregular bowel movements or constipation?
If so, your gut health is likely contributing to your hormonal imbalance. This may look like mood swings, hormonal acne, even menstrual cramps and breast tenderness!
If this is you, we need to chat about your hormonal-gut connection.
What is the Hormonal-Gut Connection?
This describes how gut health & hormonal health influence one another in the body1. In fact, new emerging research discusses how the microbiome in the gut plays an imperative role in estrogen metabolism and regulation.
Let me back it up a bit, you may be asking, what is the microbiome?
The microbiome is the collection of all of the bacteria in the digestive system, the good and the bad2. The microbiome has shown to play an important role in regulating the immune system, metabolism, nutrient production and even impacts mood, neurotransmitters and hormonal health2!
Unfortunately, what can sometimes happen is there becomes an imbalance of the wrong bacteria in the digestive system. We call this a dysbiosis2. A dysbiosis can cause havoc on the whole body, including hormones -- especially estrogen.
Within the microbiome, there is something called the Estrobolome.
What is the Estrobolome?
Estrogen + Microbiome = Estrobolome
This is a specific collection of bacteria in the gut that play an important role in estrogen metabolism. In fact, these specific bacteria have the ability to modulate how much estrogen is circulating in the body.
As you may know, estrogen is primarily produced in the ovaries. It plays an important role in female fertility, skin, cardiovascular, bone health and even brain function!
After being utilized by the body, estrogen eventually needs to be metabolized and removed from the system. A healthy well-balanced Estrobolome helps with this by preventing the reabsorption of conjugated estrogen into the bloodstream from the bowels, and therefore supporting its removal.
This process can be impaired by a dysbiosis, where excessive amounts of bacteria start producing something called the beta-glucuronidase enzyme (BGE)3. This enzyme binds to estrogen in the bowels, and recirculates it back into the bloodstream, in its active form. By preventing the removal of estrogen, we end up having a relative excess of estrogen circulating in the body.
Having this imbalance is highly associated with the following symptoms and conditions
You can now see how poor gut health is linked to estrogen-related diseases!
- PMS
- Breast Tenderness
- Painful Periods
- Acne
- Mood Swings
- Obesity
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Endometriosis
- PCOS
- & Estrogen related cancers, just to name a few!
What Are Symptoms Of A Dysbiosis?
These are the most common symptoms I see in practice that indicate something is off in your gut!
- Gas and bloating
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Reflux
- Food sensitivites
- Various skin conditions like eczema or acne
- Autoimmune conditions
- And not to mention hormonal imbalances!
Is There a Test To Assess My Microbiome?
Yes, there certainly is!
I personally use the GI-MAP in my practice*.
The GI-MAP is a functional stool analysis test. It is used to understand the good, the bad and the ugly of your gut health and microbiome 10. It can even quantify someone's beta-glucuronidase enzymes!
It is one of the most advanced and accurate stool tests to date that will give us the answers to your gut health concerns and provides a path to hormonal harmony.
You know me, it's better to test than guess!
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a paid ad, promotion or affiliation with GI-MAP and Diagnostic Solutions. This test is strictly used in my practice due to its accuracy, clinical utility and thus ability to provide successful treatment to patients.
Baker JM, Al-Nakkash L, Herbst-Kralovetz MM. Estrogen-gut microbiome axis: Physiological and clinical implications. Maturitas. 2017 Sep;103:45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.06.025. Epub 2017 Jun 23. PMID: 28778332.
De Pessemier B, Grine L, Debaere M, Maes A, Paetzold B, Callewaert C. Gut-Skin Axis: Current Knowledge of the Interrelationship between Microbial Dysbiosis and Skin Conditions. Microorganisms. 2021 Feb 11;9(2):353. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9020353. PMID: 33670115; PMCID: PMC7916842.
Ervin SM, Li H, Lim L, Roberts LR, Liang X, Mani S, Redinbo MR. Gut microbial β-glucuronidases reactivate estrogens as components of the estrobolome that reactivate estrogens. J Biol Chem. 2019 Dec 6;294(49):18586-18599. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA119.010950. Epub 2019 Oct 21. PMID: 31636122; PMCID: PMC6901331.
Salliss ME, Farland LV, Mahnert ND, Herbst-Kralovetz MM. The role of gut and genital microbiota and the estrobolome in endometriosis, infertility and chronic pelvic pain. Hum Reprod Update. 2021 Dec 21;28(1):92-131. doi: 10.1093/humupd/dmab035. PMID: 34718567.
Delgado BJ, Lopez-Ojeda W. Estrogen. [Updated 2022 Jun 28]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538260/
Chantalat E, Valera MC, Vaysse C, Noirrit E, Rusidze M, Weyl A, Vergriete K, Buscail E, Lluel P, Fontaine C, Arnal JF, Lenfant F. Estrogen Receptors and Endometriosis. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Apr 17;21(8):2815. doi: 10.3390/ijms21082815. PMID: 32316608; PMCID: PMC7215544.
Chen GG, Zeng Q, Tse GM. Estrogen and its receptors in cancer. Med Res Rev. 2008 Nov;28(6):954-74. doi: 10.1002/med.20131. PMID: 18642351.
Xu XL, Deng SL, Lian ZX, Yu K. Estrogen Receptors in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Cells. 2021 Feb 21;10(2):459. doi: 10.3390/cells10020459. PMID: 33669960; PMCID: PMC7924872.
Belizário JE, Faintuch J. Microbiome and Gut Dysbiosis. Exp Suppl. 2018;109:459-476. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-74932-7_13. PMID: 30535609.
Gi-map: GI Microbial Assay Plus. Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory. (2022, August 10). Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/tests/gi-map
If you are ready to dive deep into your gut health and clean up your hormones, apply to work with me!
Dr. Michelle Webb
Your Hormone & Gut Health Naturopathic Doctor
