Part 2
In Part 1, you learned that progesterone and estrogen both decline in perimenopause, but a woman can still experience estrogen dominance in perimenopause. We don’t want estrogen dominance because it can lead to various cancers and other harmful conditions.
There are 3 main estrogens in a woman’s body:
Estriol is strongest during pregnancy
Estradiol is the main estrogen up until menopause.
Estrone is more dominant after menopause.
Estrogen metabolism
The liver needs to break down all these different forms of estrogens so that they can be excreted via urine and stool.
Estrogen metabolism occurs in the liver via the cytochrome P-450 enzymes. There are three main pathways for metabolism of estrogen leading to elimination:2-OH, 4-OH and 16-OH.
How you metabolise and eliminate estrogen depends on how efficient your CYP-450 enzymes are, the load of everything else your liver needs to metabolise, and on your gut estrobolome (a collection of bacteria involved in estrogen regulation, either allowing it to be excreted or to recirculated.)
The 2-OH metabolite causes the least DNA damage that leads to cancer and has a mild estrogenic effect. It’s deactivated by methylation and leaves the body through the stool.
The 4-OH estrone metabolite forms after liver enzymes process it. It’s detoxified by glutathione, an antioxidant. Research shows it increases cancer risk by damaging DNA, has a strong estrogenic effect, and tightly binds to estrogen receptors. It’s considered the harmful type of estrogen.
The 16-OH metabolite is considered the “bad” estrogen. High levels are associated with issues like heavy periods, breast tenderness, breast cancer, obesity,inflammation and thyroid problems. It damages DNA, binds strongly to estrogen receptors, and prevents cell death, allowing abnormal cells to grow.
We need to support estrogen metabolism and help it eliminate estrogens quickly and safely before they can be reabsorbed and recirculated whereby it can cause damage. We do this by supporting our liver and gut.
Support your liver health
In order to successfully metabolise estrogen and avoid estrogen dominance, you need to take care of your liver. This involves knowing what genetic alleles you carry that could be slowing down either phase 1 or phase 2 . It is also involves learning to recognize when your liver is struggling and it involves your diet, lifestyle and supplement use which can be further tweaked once you know if you have faulty genetic enzymatic activity.
I recommend the DNA Estrogen test and DNA Health (contact me for more info on this test) to see how your liver detoxification is functioning and how to support it further.
Support your Gut health
The Estrobolome is made up of a collection of bacteria in the gut which is capable of metabolising and modulating the body’s circulating estrogen.
These bacteria affect estrogen levels, which in turn can impact weight, libido and mood.
A healthy gut microbiome produces optimal levels of an enzyme called betaglucuronidase – too much and estrogen levels become imbalanced.
Looking after your gut health is crucial in helping your body metabolise estrogens
Takeaways:
- Genetic testing gives you a good foundation to start with
- Avoid xenoestrogens that cause extra estrogens to build up in the body and can cause damage
- Reduce or eliminate alcohol
- limit caffeine
- Eat a fiber rich diet
- support your liver
- support gut health
- get 7-9 hours of sleep
- exercise
- supplement use
- watch your diet
- lose excess weight that holds onto estrogens
Come back for part 3: all about liver detoxification>>