Estrogen Dominance - Ask A Nutritionist

Transcript:

Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's “Ask a Nutritionist” podcast brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I am Britni Vincent, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and we are thrilled at Nutritional Weight & Wellness to be celebrating 20 years on air, discussing the connection between what you eat, how you feel, while sharing practical, real life solutions to healthier living through balanced nutrition.

And we just want to thank you so much for your support and listenership over the years. Now let's get started on today's show. I will be answering a nutrition question that we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners. And the question today is, “Can estrogen dominance cause inflammation?”

What is estrogen dominance?

Well, the short answer is yes, estrogen dominance is an inflammatory state, but I want to dive deeper into this entire topic of estrogen dominance and first give some background information because I don't think everybody is familiar with what this term is. So estrogen dominance is too much estrogen in comparison to your progesterone.

And there are a couple different scenarios of how this can happen. First, you could have too much estrogen and the ratio compared to your progesterone is then imbalanced. And I think for most individuals this is probably the most common reason for estrogen dominance.

The second scenario could be you have low progesterone and therefore in comparison to your estrogen, you have estrogen dominance. And of course, you could have both of these scenarios. You may have too much estrogen and low progesterone, making estrogen dominance even more severe. And I do want to mention that in menstruating women, estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate throughout the month. And that's just a part of a healthy menstrual cycle.

Possible reasons for estrogen dominance

So estrogen dominance is very common. You know, I see it a lot. I have definitely experienced it personally. And here is how it can happen. The estrogen reasons are, you could be making too much estrogen in your body. And this could be due to, in part, genetics and or body fat. Fat cells actually produce estrogen.

A second reason: your body can't detoxify estrogen efficiently. Ideally your liver should be detoxifying excess estrogen and then through your digestive tract, you eliminate it. But if your liver doesn't efficiently detoxify, or your gut is unhealthy, specifically if you aren't having a daily bowel movement, then the estrogen builds up in your body.

And if you have dysbiosis, which is too much bad bacteria in your intestinal tract, that can also promote estrogen dominance. Because again, you're not detoxifying the estrogen that your liver has already packed up for removal.

Another estrogen reason for estrogen dominance is if you're exposed to xenoestrogens. And these are chemicals in our environment that mimic estrogen in your body. They are found everywhere from lotion, household cleaning supplies, plastics, our tap water, commercially raised animals, pesticides on food, and the list goes on and on and on. If you are taking birth control pills, then the majority of them do contain estrogen. So you're giving your body even more estrogen.

And of course, you know, the cause of estrogen dominance could be all of the above or a combination of some of them. It just does vary from person to person.

Here are some of the progesterone reasons for estrogen dominance. If you don't ovulate, that means you have low progesterone. Progesterone increases after ovulation, and if you don't ovulate, you're not going to get that increase in progesterone, and your progesterone levels will be low throughout your cycle if you're menstruating.

Chronic stress reduces progesterone. Birth control pills will prevent you from ovulating, therefore reducing your own body's production of progesterone. You may ovulate every month, but still have low progesterone. That is possible as well. So there are, as you can see, many different reasons why people develop estrogen dominance.

And I do want to touch on estrogen dominance during perimenopause and postmenopause. So it is true your estrogen, specifically your IL, starts to significantly reduce during perimenopause when you start to ovulate less frequently.

Estradiol is made in your ovaries. But you're still making estrone, another form of estrogen that's primarily produced in your fat cells, in your adrenal glands. So if you are somebody with poor gut health or you're just unable to detoxify efficiently, you could still end up with estrogen dominance because your body is still making some estrogen.

And progesterone production really comes to a halt when you enter postmenopause. So, even though your body is producing significantly less estrogen, you aren't producing progesterone. And, for various reasons, it's possible in some women to still be estrogen dominant during perimenopause and postmenopause.

Signs of estrogen dominance

I want to go over signs of estrogen dominance so you listeners can identify if this is maybe going on in your body. And I do want to note that some of these symptoms and signs can be caused by other things, not just estrogen dominance.

Here are some of them: irregular periods, long menstrual cycles. I would consider that 35 days or longer; heavy periods, painful periods, breast swelling and tenderness, headaches and migraines, especially around your period or ovulation, fibrocystic breasts, infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, weight gain, specifically in the hips and thighs, mood swings, hair loss, PMS, PMDD, acne, specifically on your chin or along your jawline, decreased sex drive, anxiety, depression, insomnia or difficulty sleeping, brain fog, fatigue, water retention.

Those could all be signs of estrogen dominance. So I would think about that and if you do resonate with one of those or some of those or many of them, then I would really consider taking some of these actionable steps that I'm going to be talking about in a little bit.

And I've had several women over the years who have such severe symptoms of estrogen dominance. And they tell me they just don't feel like themselves for part of their cycle every single month or their period is so uncomfortable that it's just hard to get through the day. But I am happy to say that by focusing on lifestyle changes and taking some targeted supplements, these clients have been able to completely get rid of these symptoms of estrogen dominance and feel like themselves again.

How does estrogen dominance increase inflammation?

As you can imagine, they are thrilled when they are able to feel better. At this time, I want to circle back to the original question, which is does estrogen dominance cause inflammation? And I did already say yes, but I want to talk a little bit more about how does estrogen dominance increase inflammation.

And it's a complex relationship between estrogen and inflammation, and there's a lot of factors at play here. And it can get pretty technical and “sciencey”. Here are just a few ways that estrogen dominance is connected to inflammation. Estrogen can regulate, the immune response by influencing the production and activity of our immune cells and these small proteins called cytokines. And cytokines can cause a lot of inflammation in our body.

And in the case of estrogen dominance, where estrogen levels are increased, this can actually result in an overactive immune response, leading to chronic inflammation in some people. Estrogen is also involved in the regulation of our adipose tissue, which is our body fat. And higher levels of estrogen can lead to increased body fat, especially in visceral adipose tissue or belly fat.

So this type of visceral fat is actually metabolically active and can produce pro inflammatory substances in our body and definitely contribute to systemic inflammation. The hormonal balance between estrogen and progesterone plays a role in this inflammation. Estrogen can have opposing effects on inflammation. So, estrogen can be both pro inflammatory and anti-inflammatory.

Progesterone tends to have more anti-inflammatory effects. So, if someone is estrogen dominant, the relative deficiency of progesterone can exacerbate some of those pro inflammatory effects of estrogen in the body, again, just contributing to overall inflammation.

We also metabolize estrogen in three different pathways, and some individuals have a tendency towards metabolizing estrogen in a way that promotes more estrogen dominance and inflammation. Research has found that estrogen dominance can be associated with autoimmune conditions, hormonally driven cancers, Hashimoto's, candida, which is partly why women who are on birth control pill are more likely to have vaginal yeast infections.

And all of these conditions are inflammatory conditions in themselves. It is time for me to take a quick break. When I get back, I'm going to talk about how to improve your estrogen dominance.

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How to improve estrogen dominance: food first

Welcome back. So far in today's “Ask a Nutritionist” episode, I have covered what estrogen dominance is, what may cause it, some signs and symptoms, and the relationship between estrogen dominance and inflammation. But now let's talk about how to improve it. Of course at Nutritional Weight & Wellness we are all about food first.

So, prioritizing food and eating a real food diet. What that means is getting enough protein in. If you're able to prioritize quality, this is really helpful. That would mean organic, grass fed, free range, pasture raised meats, dairy and eggs when it's available and when you're able to; purchasing organic vegetables, healthy fats. In addition to that, those proteins are really important. Fats are necessary to make hormones in our body.

If you're able to get some cruciferous vegetables every day, these help to naturally detoxify estrogen. Cruciferous vegetables would be like cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale are some of them. Focusing on fiber, which by increasing vegetables, you're going to get more fiber in there. But dietary fiber is consistently linked to just overall better health, including gut health. And as I mentioned earlier, gut health has a big impact on estrogen production and detoxification in our body. Ideally aim to get at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day.

Use nontoxic products

Another way to improve estrogen dominance: use nontoxic products. So ditch the plastics as much as possible. Choose glass storage products. Avoid anything that has fragrance listed in the ingredient list, unless it specifically states that the fragrance is from an essential oil. I always reference the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep database to look for nontoxic personal care products. And then the Environmental Working Group has a guide to healthy cleaning supplies as well that I would encourage you to check out.

Prioritize sleep

Prioritizing sleep can help to balance and reduce that estrogen dominance. So aiming for at least 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep. Now if you're not getting anywhere near that, maybe you just start with aiming to get 15 or 30 minutes more sleep. And then you can gradually increase from there. Sleep is critical for so many things, including hormone balance.

Reduce stress

You know, studies have shown lack of sleep can increase cortisol levels, which can promote the estrogen dominance. I did an “Ask a Nutritionist” episode about cortisol. If you're interested in learning more about that, that is from July 2023. Reducing stress for those same reasons of managing cortisol is important.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but practicing self care, which could mean eating real foods, prioritizing sleep, taking even if it's just five or ten minutes out of your day to do something for yourself. Those would all be ways that you could reduce stress. Just think of things that are within your control to help to reduce stress.

Improve gut health

Improving gut health is a really big one to help to improve estrogen dominance. If you are not having a daily bowel movement, that estrogen that was detoxed by your liver is just recirculating throughout your body. And also, the metabolites that are created by your liver while the detoxification process are taking place is happening, these metabolites are often more harmful than the original compound themselves.

And again, if you're not eliminating them, having a bowel movement, which is our last phase of detoxification, everything is just recirculating in that body. Increasing fiber, like I mentioned earlier, can really help with constipation, drinking adequate water, taking a high quality probiotic might be helpful for you.

You can check out Leah's, another dietitian at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, she did an “Ask a Nutritionist” about how to take probiotics from September 2023. And then a Mixed Magnesium supplement can be very helpful for constipation as well.

Support liver detoxification

Give your liver some love to help support this detoxification process to eliminate that excess estrogen. And that would mean, getting adequate high quality protein to make sure your liver is detoxifying. Most women need four to five ounces at a meal. Men need sometimes six to seven ounces at a meal. Getting some more snacks. Protein, the best sources are animal sources such as meat, fish, seafood, dairy, and eggs.

I mentioned earlier eating those cruciferous vegetables. Those really help to support overall detoxification, specifically the estrogen detoxification. Getting some sort of B vitamins in a B complex or a multivitamin can also be helpful. Look for ones that have methylfolate as a source of folate and methylcobalamin as a source of B12.

There are also supplements that can help to balance estrogen in the body. And it really does depend on the person what the best one is. I'm just going to briefly talk about a few of them. Estro I-3-C is one, and it contains Indole-3-Carbinol,  or I-3-C, which is a naturally occurring compound that comes from those cruciferous vegetables I've been mentioning.

But it's a lot more concentrated in supplement form, as you can imagine. This supplement also contains DIM, which is a compound that I-3-C creates in the body. And the combination of the two has been found to be really beneficial. I-3-C is very well researched, so is DIM, and has a lot of different benefits.

I'm just going to mention a couple of them. I-3-C and DIM helps to promote the gut and liver to metabolize estrogen down the healthier pathway. I-3-C also helps to remove estrogen from your cells and supports your liver to, to remove them from your body.

There's also another supplement called Estro Rebalance and this contains folate, a DIM complex, and a type of lignin, HMR lignin, which is similar to flaxseed. So these ingredients work synergistically to support balanced estrogen in the body. It helps to remove excess estrogen, supports the liver to detoxify. And the lignin ingredient can act like a phytoestrogen when that's what is needed from the body. And we found that this one works especially well for women in perimenopause and postmenopause who are experiencing some estrogen dominant symptoms.

The last supplement I'm going to mention is sulforaphane. Sulforaphane comes from a whole broccoli sprout because broccoli sprouts are especially high in naturally occurring levels of sulforaphane. And sulforaphane is a compound that is capable of activating the body's antioxidant response, enzymatic processes, and really supports healthy detoxification pathways. And so this product helps to support the detoxification of estrogen, but overall detoxification as well. And all of these supplements, again, specifically focus on reducing the excess estrogen.

If you have low progesterone, and that could be the cause of your estrogen dominance, there are other supplement options that can help to increase progesterone as well. So if you are feeling like you would want to try one of these, I would highly encourage you to consider making an appointment with one of the dietitians or nutritionists to determine what the best protocol for you is.

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These supplements are not necessarily meant for long term use, really depends on the person, but often three to six months is kind of a general length of use for these type of products. And Monica, another dietitian at Nutritional Weight & Wellness wrote a great article on estrogen dominance that you can also refer to. Find it on weightandwellness.com. And this is from April, 2023.

Recap

So to recap, estrogen dominance is too much estrogen in comparison to your progesterone. Some of the symptoms or signs could include PMS, PMDD, infertility, painful periods, uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, hormonal acne, hormonal migraines, and there's a lot more to that list that I did mention earlier.

We talked about the connection between estrogen dominance and inflammation. Overall, estrogen dominance can disrupt that delicate balance of hormones in our body. And that can lead to increased inflammation. We just talked about ways to reduce estrogen dominance; always focusing on food first; a diet full of real food, getting the protein in, lots of vegetables, increasing fiber, getting healthy fat, and then prioritizing quality of food when you're able to.

Focusing on sleep can be helpful. Focusing on gut health, making sure you're having a daily bowel movement is so important as that is the last phase of detoxification in the body. And then start to get rid of those toxic products in your home. And make some healthier swaps. And this will help to reduce the exposure of those hormonal disrupting chemicals. And hormones are so complex in our body. It can be really difficult to figure out what's best for you and what's going on in your own body.

So if you are feeling overwhelmed, I'd encourage you to make an individual appointment. Visit us at weightandwellness.com, or you can call 651-699-3438.

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And I hope that I've left you with more knowledge about estrogen dominance and some steps that you can take to improve your own hormone balance. I want to thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Dishing Up Nutrition's “Ask a Nutritionist”. If you found this episode particularly helpful, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast app, so we can help even more people discover the connection between what they eat and how they feel.

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