Gut Health and Estrogen Excess.
Estrogen
Estrogen is the primary female hormone (also present in men in lower amounts). It is produced in the ovaries, adipose tissue (Fat), and adrenal glands. Estrogen is built on cholesterol, similar to all hormones, something to keep in mind when looking at hormones.
Estrogen Metabolite Pathways
Estradiol and estrone both lead to the formation of estrogen metabolites.
*Put very simply, the Estrogen metabolites are:
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2-OH (“Healthy”)
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4-OH (“More carcinogenic”)
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16a-OH (“More carcinogenic”)
We test for this using the Dutch test at Success.
How estrogen is metabolized can be affected by the state of the liver. If the liver is overly burdened or full of toxins, it will push more estrogen metabolites down the 40H and 16 0H.
Next, we have estrogen elimination through the gut. Estrogen circulates through the liver and comes into the gut with healthy Microbiome estrogen are eliminated from the body by metabolic conversion. Metabolic conversion turns estrogen into an active metabolite that can be excreted in the urine to detoxify the body of estrogen.
With an imbalanced gut microbiome, estrogen recirculates in the body rather than excreting through urine and stools. Estrogen is then recirculated back into the bloodstream but is more toxic than when it entered the liver in the first place.
Beta-glucuronidase Recerculating “Bad” Estrogens
Beta-glucuronidase (We can see this in our gut test) is an enzyme produced by the estrobolome that transforms estrogen into its active form. Active estrogen (unbound) forms are estrogens that can enter the bloodstream and act on estrogen receptor sites. The brain, bones, and gut can use up unbound estrogen. Beta-glucuronidase is altered when the gut microbiome is out of whack, and it causes the body to produce too much Beta-glucuronidase. The more Beta-glucuronidase, the more estrogen is recirculated rather than excreted. The reabsorption of recirculated estrogens into the body leads to estrogen dominance, an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone. Either an imbalance or just having too much estrogen can cause estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance can cause breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer and contributes to endometriosis.
**Rebalancing**
We can rebalance the gut microbiome by finding the underlying root issues and then mitigating those issues with natural anti-inflammatory diet protocols, natural nutraceutical supplements, detox of the liver, and lowering the Xenoestrogen load on the body that comes from cosmetics, shampoos, and conditioners, and standard household products.