Is Ineffective Hormone Metabolism Causing Regain ?

Hormone metabolism, when working inefficiently can lead to regain. You see, hormones are chemical messengers produced by our glands.  They instruct our organs and systems in the body how to function. The main female hormones are estrogen and progesterone.  The main male hormones are known as androgens, which include the powerful hormone testosterone.  In addition, females have a small amount of testosterone and males have a small amount of estrogen.  This conversation will be focused on female hormone metabolism. 

When it comes to sex hormones, it’s all about balance.  As a matter of fact, hormone metabolism involves several different body systems.  And when any one of these systems aren’t functioning properly, hormone metabolism can be impaired leading to regain. Actually, estrogen is quite complex.  It plays a fundamental role in your reproductive & cardiovascular health, skeletal and central nervous systems.  More specifically, they’re involved in …

• Energy balance & expenditure
• Glucose metabolism
• Insulin sensitivity, as they regulate insulin secretion
• adipose tissue
• Liver 
• Immune cells
• Skeletal muscle
• Prevention of lipid accumulation & inflammation

Not to mention, estrogen deficiency promotes metabolic dysfunction predisposing to obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.  At no surprise, leading to regain. Additionally, at the core of every body system are your genetics.  You see, your genes even influence hormone metabolism.  And as we dig in you will see why regain can become an issue. So, let’s explore six contributors that can make hormone metabolism inefficient leading to regain. 

These include…

1. Detoxification
2. Methylation
3. Oxidative stress
4. Inflammation
5. Gut bacteria
6. Stress

Detoxification’s impact on hormone metabolism for regain.

Detoxification is the body’s way of getting rid of toxins that could otherwise build up and interfere with your health. The liver is the main site of whole-body detoxification, but every cell has its own toxin-eliminating processes to keep it clean, healthy and working well. I discuss how the liver detox’s in this podcast and video.  Helping you understand all 3 phases of detoxification.  But, a brief highlight is…

Phase 1- your body breaks down toxins that your body makes and the toxins you are exposed to.  In some cases this break down makes substances more toxic. 

Phase 2- your body takes the toxic compounds and breaks them down further neutralizing the toxins. 

Phase 3- your body eliminates the toxins from the body.  This occurs by bile taking the toxins out in your feces.  Your kidneys take them out in your urine.  And your skin takes it out through sweat. 

How does liver detoxification impact your sex hormones?

First off, your liver is responsible for regulating the balance of sex, thyroid and adrenal hormones. It removes any excess hormones from the body. Now, like all organs your liver health can be impacted by many factors.  These include…

• drinking too much alcohol
• infections
• medications
• fatty liver
• genetics

All can lead to your liver not functioning optimally. This may prevent your liver from properly removing estrogen at its normal rate.  This means estrogen metabolism may be inadequate and get reabsorbed in the body. This is what leads to hormone imbalances. 

Equally important, is your genetics play a role in estrogen metabolism as well.  You see there are several genetic SNPs that influence hormone metabolism.  In fact, these include…

• COMT
• CYP17A1
• GSTM1
• CYP1A1
• CYP1B1
• MNSOD
• SULT1A1
• SHBG
• CYP2C19
• NQO1
• MTHFR
• GSTT1
• GSTP1
• CYP3A4
• EPHX1
• CYP19A1

All play a role in hormone metabolism either through liver detoxification or another body system. 

Such as in this case, CYP1A1 enzyme metabolizes endogenous compounds, such as estrogen, estradiol, melatonin, and inflammatory mediators.  The “G” allele has a 6-12-fold higher enzymatic activity resulting in the increase of 17B-estradiol and estrone. Not to mention, COMT slows the process of turning hydroxy-estrogen into methoxy-estrogen.  This results in a buildup of more of these hydroxy-estrogens and estrogens in general.  When the levels get too high and the estrogens overflow and increase this tissue saturation with estrogens.  This leads to increased estrogen activity and the conditions of estrogen dominance.

So in a nut shell, whey your liver is overburdened or your genetics are impairing liver detoxification resulting in poor breakdown of hormones, it slows down your metabolism leading to regain. 

How Methylation influences hormone metabolism and regain

Methylation is the biochemical process of making sure every cell is functioning optimally.  Methylation is not just responsible for how we repair genetic material, but also how we make energy, respond to stress, handle inflammation, how well our cells detoxify and how our brain chemistry works. 

These include…

• Coenzyme Q10
• Glutathione
• Melatonin
• Epinephrine
• Norepinephrine
• Dopamine
• Serotonin
• Creatine
• Cysteine
• Taurine
• Phosphatidylcholine 

In one study, they observed moderate but significant negative associations between sex hormones(estrone, estradiol, androstenedione, testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin) and DNA among women with low serum folate and also among women who did not use multivitamins. Not to mention the impact of methylations role in turning genes on or off.  If your methylation is not functioning optimally, this could turn on disease states that could lead to regain. 

Oxidative Stress’s connection to hormone metabolism and regain

Oxidative stress is the human equivalent of rusting. The impact of all exposures over time results in damage to our cells. 

There are several genetic SNPs that cross pathways. Oxidative stress is one of them.  In fact, GSTM1, NQO1, GSTT1, MNSOD, GSTP1 SNPs are in the hormone metabolism, detoxification and oxidative stress pathways. 

So as you can see how they are all interwoven. As reported in one study, “Obesity is certainly associated with a series of endocrine and metabolism alterations, in particular the metabolism of sex hormones, insulin, insulin growth factor(Igf), adipokines(hormones produced by fat cells), as well as inflammation.  In fact, there is strong evidence linking obesity to cancer, through the alteration of the metabolism of sex hormones and chronic inflammation.”

However, there is clear evidence that weight loss is able to positively influence all these mechanisms.  So optimizing hormone metabolism, detoxification and oxidative stress pathways can help you lose regain. 

Inflammation

Inflammation is a normal automatic immune response to injury, irritation or infection. It’s protective by design, but can become destructive if left unchecked. Long-term, chronic inflammation can eventually lead to conditions like arthritis, eczema, IBS, auto immune conditions and several diseases, including obesity. But how does hormone metabolism influence regain?

Estrogens have anti-inflammatory AND pro-inflammatory roles depending on a few factors such as, intracellular metabolism of estrogens and concentration of estrogens to name a few. 

But, as estrogen lowers some may experience increased inflammation.  Which can occur during any stage of menopause. So as we discussed above, supporting estrogen metabolism, optimizing all aspects that influence its level can help reverse regain. 

Gut Bacteria

If you have a history of antibiotic use or constipation problems, estrogen can become deconjugated, reabsorbed and reactivated in the blood leading to estrogen dominance and wide swings in serotonin. Research shows that the microbiome modify systemic estrogen levels. In fact, the Cleveland Clinic recently identified differences in the microbiome of breast cancer patients, showing a profound difference in bacteria. Not to mention, the FUT2 gene influences bifidobacteria.  You see, bifidobacteria are gut bacteria responsible for the metabolism of glucosinolates to isothiocyanate, the anti-cancer compound found in cruciferous vegetables. 

Another consideration is beta-glucaronidase.  High levels of fecal beta-glucaronidase can indicate unfavorable metabolic changes in the colon. It may indicate dysbiosis and interference with phase 2 detoxification in the liver.  This typically indicates problems with detoxifying estrogen. 

Stress

At no surprise, hormone metabolism can be easily disrupted by the almighty stress.  In fact, in the estrogen pathway the genetic SNPs COMT, CYP1A1, CYP1A2 ,CYP3A4, CYP2C19, and CYP1B1 all govern the speed at which serotonin, estrogen, dopamine and epinephrine are increased and decreased. Stress slows this pathway down, leading to abnormal hormones. 

So ignoring your stress will not improve hormone metabolism or your issues with regain.  In fact, they will likely worsen if not addressed. This is why it’s so important to include how stress influences so many aspects of your health. 

Conclusion

So as you can see all of these systems cross paths influencing hormone metabolism contributing to regain.  Learning how to optimize methylation, detoxification, oxidative stress, inflammation, gut bacteria and stress will put the odds in your favor to lose regain and get your health back in order.