The Gut-Hormone Connection: How Your Microbiome Shapes Your Cycle & Beyond
Does Any of This Sound Familiar to You?
Your periods are irregular, painful, or come with intense PMS symptoms.
You struggle with hormonal acne, bloating, or mood swings.
You experience heavy periods, breast tenderness, or stubborn weight gain
You’ve been diagnosed with endometriosis and you also suffer with IBS or gut issues
If you’re approaching menopause, your symptoms feel more intense—hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, and sleep issues.
If any of these resonate with you, your gut may be the missing puzzle piece.
How Your Gut and Hormones Are Intricately Connected
Your gut is responsible for more than digestion—it also plays a crucial role in regulating your hormones. There is an intricate relationship between the bacteria in your gut (your microbiome), oestrogen metabolism, and oestrogen-dependent conditions such as PMS, endometriosis, infertility, and difficult menopause.
At the heart of this connection is the oestrobolome—a collection of gut bacteria that helps metabolise and regulate oestrogen. When your gut microbiome is in balance, the oestrobolome breaks down oestrogen properly, allowing your body to eliminate detoxified and excess oestrogen via your bowel. However, if your gut bacteria are imbalanced, oestrogen can be reabsorbed rather than excreted, which leads to oestrogen dominance—one of the most common drivers of PMS, irregular cycles, menopausal symptoms, and fertility challenges.
What is the Oestrobolome?
It’s a collection of gut bacteria, and their genes, that are able to metabolise oestrogens. The enzymes these bacteria produce can dictate how well oestrogen is detoxified and removed from our body. Let’s break this down…
Oestrogen can be produced by our ovaries, our adrenal glands, and our body fat tissue (especially around our tummies). We’re also exposed to chemicals that mimic oestrogen and can amplify the effect of oestrogen in our body (think plastics, pollution, cleaning chemicals, and cosmetics). Once oestrogen has been ‘used’ and had its effect in the body, it should be detoxified in the liver using bile, and sent to the gut for excretion via our poo.
This is where imbalances in our gut function and microbiome can have consequences on our hormones…
How an Unhappy Gut can Cause Hormonal Imbalances:
✅ Dysbiosis (Imbalanced Gut Bacteria): When your gut bacteria are out of balance, it can impact your oestrobolome’s ability to regulate oestrogen, leading to hormonal imbalances, PMS, and heavy periods.
✅ Leaky Gut (Increased Intestinal Permeability): When the gut lining is compromised, toxins and partially digested food particles enter the bloodstream, triggering inflammation and disrupting hormone production.
✅ Constipation & Poor Detoxification: Oestrogen is processed in the liver and excreted through the bowels. If you're constipated, detoxified oestrogen sits in your gut too long and gets reabsorbed into the bloodstream, increasing the risk of oestrogen dominance and worsening symptoms like breast tenderness, mood swings, acne, and heavy periods.
✅ Chronic Stress & The Gut-Brain Axis: The gut and brain communicate constantly. When you're stressed, your body prioritises cortisol production over reproductive hormones. This can disrupt ovulation and progesterone levels, leading to irregular cycles and fertility challenges.
Menopause & Gut Health: What You Need to Know
As oestrogen naturally declines in menopause, gut imbalances can worsen symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and weight gain. The oestrobolome plays a key role here—when gut bacteria are imbalanced, your body may struggle to break down oestrogen efficiently, leading to greater fluctuations and more severe menopausal symptoms.
Additionally, declining oestrogen can weaken the gut lining, making leaky gut, bloating, and digestive discomfort more common during menopause. A well-supported gut microbiome can ease this transition and help maintain hormonal balance naturally.
How to Support Your Gut for Better Hormone Balance
Rather than just managing symptoms, addressing gut health helps balance hormones at the root cause. My approach focuses on:
✔ Identifying Gut Imbalances: I’ll analyse functional testing to uncover dysbiosis, leaky gut, and sluggish detoxification affecting your hormones.
✔ Optimising Bowel Movements: Healthy daily bowel movements are key for getting rid of excess hormones. With my support, you’ll be aiming for at least one well-formed bowel movement per day if you’re not currently having them.
✔ Balancing Blood Sugar: I’ll craft a protocol to help you stabilise your blood sugar levels, supporting progesterone and reducing oestrogen dominance.
✔ Reducing Inflammation: We’ll establish a nutrient-dense diet rich in omega-3s, polyphenols, and antioxidants to reduce any low-grade inflammation.
Struggling with Constipation? Try These 3 Tips for Better Bowel Movements and Oestrogen Detoxification
Whilst these tips don’t address the root cause of your constipation, they can help to get things moving in the right direction.
1️⃣ Eat Kiwis Daily: Studies show that eating two kiwis per day can naturally support regular bowel movements.
2️⃣ Increase Ginger Intake: Fresh ginger stimulates digestion and helps move waste through the intestines.
3️⃣ Get Regular Movement: Gentle exercise like walking and stretching supports peristalsis (the wave-like movement of your intestines) to keep things moving - especially after a meal.
Depending on your specific gut symptoms, increasing certain fibres, and putting an emphasis on hydration is also really important. Remember that hydration isn’t just about drinking lots of water!
Don’t Wait Until Symptoms Get Worse—Take Action Now
Ignoring gut and hormone imbalances can lead to worsening PMS, painful and heavy cycles, stubborn weight gain, more severe menopausal symptoms. Or as I see most commonly in my clinic, issues trying to conceive
The longer imbalances persist, the harder they are to correct. If you’ve been struggling with fertility, bloating, fatigue, skin issues, or unpredictable cycles, now is the time to address the root cause.
👉 Book a free intro call today so we can put a bespoke gut and hormone transformation plan in place for you
