Nutrition: Why is Gut Health Important for Healthy Hormone Function? By Carissa Mason (JCN Clinic)

Thank you Carissa from The JCN clinic in Brisbane for writing this gem!

Why is Gut Health Important for Healthy Hormone Function?

Like so many systems in our body – our hormones rely on a healthy gut to function optimally. So it goes without saying that if our gut health is effected in any way, shape or form – that our hormone production and function is also going to be effected.

So what are Hormones and what do they do?

To start with, I think it’s best that we actually all have an understanding of these little guys so we can appreciate how crucial their role is in our bodies.

Hormones are the chemical messengers that are created in our endocrine glands and tell our body what to do. They control very simple things like ‘hunger’ and ‘satiety’ all the way through to very complex areas like fertility, energy, motivation, mood and emotional wellbeing.

For example:

• Oestrogen and progesterone are two hormones in women that are involved in puberty, regulation of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy
• Cortisol is our ‘stress’ hormone and adapts how we respond to stressors in our daily lives
• Melatonin is our ‘sleep’ hormone and is derived from serotonin – our ‘feel good’ chemical messenger
• Testosterone is another sex hormone and controls hair growth, muscle mass, bone mineral density and sex drive.
• Thyroid Hormones manage your metabolic rate and appetite control

Your body makes some hormones from fats and others from amino acids (the building blocks of proteins).  Enzymes are equally as important as hormones as they control the speed and frequency at which our chemical messengers (hormones) function. Enzymes are uniquely made to specifically catalyse different chemical reactions in the body. Like hormones, enzymes are made from amino acids but in addition to that, depending on the type of enzyme they also require different vitamins and minerals, thus you can start to understand how diet begins to play a role.

How can our gut function impact the health of our hormones?

As you are probably beginning to realise, the health of our gut can really impact the health of our hormones. The main role of our gut is to break down our food and deliver the required nutrients to the various areas in our body.  If the gut is damaged, it doesn’t matter how many supplements you take or how good your food is, nutrient absorption and supply is inevitably affected thus impacting our other body systems in a negative way.

Lets have a look at things that damage and inflame our gastro intestinal tract (GIT) lining:

• Stress. This is huge and cannot be underestimated. Stress comes in many forms, both external stressors (work, life, finances) and internal stressors (inflammation and disease)
• Food intolerances and allergies. If something is not meant to be in our bodies – an inflammatory response is how it is dealt with. Identifying what foods are not right for you as an individual is paramount for optimal digestive health and is testing service we offer at the JCN Clinic.
• Antibiotics and other medications: these can wreak havoc on our GI lining and liver and quite often are responsible for a host of post-prescriptive problems. Antibiotics in particular can really disturb the balance of good microbes in our gut and set us up for a host of GI issues.
• Intestinal parasites, yeasts and pathogenic bacteria. These guys are not to be taken lightly – prolonged infection of either parasites and/or bacteria and yeasts will impact our health in various ways. This can be localised symptoms like of IBS or more systemic problems like inflammatory conditions (joints, muscles, liver, skin issues, insulin resistance and diabetes); Nervous system and Endocrine disruptions (mood disorders; thyroid function, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances, restless leg syndrome) & Autoimmune disease. Comprehensive Stool testing is another option available at the clinic evaluates the microbial balance of our gut and helps us pin point the exact problem.

At the end of the day the body sees ‘stress’ as stress, no matter its form. It’s that simple. Any or all of these can place a stress on the digestive system and the body and inflammation occurs. This will in turn affect the breakdown and absorption of nutrients.

To deal with stress the body increases the release of cortisol (our stress hormone). Increased production of cortisol over a prolonged period of time places more stress and demand on our organs and endocrine glands which results in an over or under production of other hormones – thus entire functioning systems are now effected.

A good example of this is progesterone deficiency. Progesterone is made from pregnenalone. Increased cortisol production can directly affect progesterone by utilising (stealing) pregnenalone for its own production, resulting in a progesterone deficiency. What do we know about progesterone? Healthy levels are necessary for proper functioning of the menstrual cycle, implantation of a fertilised egg into the uterine lining and to keep it there to carry a baby to full term. So you can understand based on that how necessary it can be to identify and manage any type of stress in the body when it comes to pre-conception and conception care.

So what can be done?

Eating a healthy, balanced wholefood diet that is nutritionally diverse can sometimes be enough. However, if you’ve noticed that perhaps something is a little amiss, perhaps it is. GIT disturbances and other symptoms such as bloating, gas, loose bowels or constipation and fatigue are usually sign that something is not right in your gut.  Seeking professional help to identify what your ‘stressors’ are and if you have any nutritional deficits is the best way to start. From here steps can be taken to ensure that things begin to come back into balance. The better your gut health is, the better you digest and absorb your nutrients and the better everything else begins to function!

If you have any queries or concerns please feel free to contact me at the JCN Clinic and I’ll be able to point you in the right direction as far as treatment options go.

Carissa Mason (BHSc. Nutrition)

JCN Clinic | Brisbane | www.jessicacox.com.au |