How your gut microbiome impacts 5 important hormones!

Did you know your gut regulates your hormones and influences your mood, energy, and overall health?

Your gut communicates with the brain and endocrine system through a network called the gut-brain axis, involving nerves, immune signals, and chemical messengers. Gut microbes produce and modulate various hormones such as serotonin, ghrelin, and cortisol.

When your gut microbiome is balanced, these hormones function optimally and support a stable mood, healthy appetite, and regulated metabolism. Any disruptions can lead to hormonal imbalances, which contribute to issues like inflammation, weight fluctuations, and mood disorders.

Although the gut is involved in regulating an array of hormones that influence various aspects of your health, here are five key examples that are particularly significant. These hormones affect mood regulation, hunger signals, energy levels, and other important processes that keep your body functioning optimally!

1. Ghrelin

Ghrelin stimulates appetite and signals to your brain when it’s time to eat. This hormone is primarily produced in the stomach, and its levels rise before meals – prompting feelings of hunger, and then decrease after eating.¹

Your gut microbiome influences ghrelin production and sensitivity. An imbalance in gut bacteria can disrupt normal ghrelin signals, leading to increased appetite and potential overeating. Inflammation or stress in the gut can also alter ghrelin levels, impacting hunger signals and energy balance.²

2. Cortisol

Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone, and your gut can have a big influence on it. A healthy gut microbiome helps to modulate inflammation and support the balance of neurotransmitters that communicate with your brain, which in turn affects cortisol production.³

An imbalanced gut can lead to increased inflammation and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This results in elevated or irregular cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol can impair gut barrier function, leading to further strain on gut health and stress hormone imbalance.⁴

3. Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter essential for mood, motivation, and reward processing. Around 50% of the body’s dopamine is produced in the gut, with certain gut bacteria releasing the chemical, contributing to its overall levels in your body.⁵

These bacteria can influence dopamine production by interacting with the gut lining and signal pathways, via the gut-brain axis.⁶ When your microbiome is balanced, it supports healthy dopamine levels, promoting feelings of pleasure, motivation, and emotional stability. Disruptions in gut health will impair dopamine synthesis, contributing to mood disorders such as depression or anxiety.

4. Oestrogen

Your gut influences oestrogen levels through the estrobolome. This is the collection of gut bacteria that metabolises and regulates oestrogen. These bacteria produce enzymes, such as beta-glucuronidase, that help break down oestrogen so it can be reabsorbed or eliminated from the body.⁷

A healthy gut microbiome effectively recycles oestrogen, maintaining optimal hormone levels. But dysbiosis or an imbalance in gut bacteria disrupts this process, leading to either excess oestrogen or insufficient levels. This imbalance contributes to hormonal imbalances, menstrual irregularities, or other health issues.⁸

5. Testosterone

Similarly to oestrogen, your gut plays a big role in influencing testosterone levels, a hormone that is important for muscle mass, energy, libido, and overall vitality. Your gut microbiome helps regulate inflammation and supports the production and metabolism of this hormone.⁹

Certain gut bacteria are also involved in metabolising precursors to testosterone and regulating hormone signals. An imbalanced gut can lead to increased inflammation and impaired nutrient absorption, which negatively impacts hormone synthesis. Poor gut health can also elevate cortisol levels, suppressing testosterone production.¹⁰

Keeping your hormones happy

As you can see, the health and diversity of your gut impacts the production, regulation, and balance of important hormones. When your microbiome is healthy and diverse, it helps in the production and synthesis of these hormones.

An imbalanced microbiome can lead to hormonal disruptions, contributing to issues such as inflammation, mood swings, weight gain, and metabolic disorders.

You can boost and maintain a healthy and diverse microbiome through a varied and balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress management. It’s also important to limit alcohol, highly processed foods, and unnecessary antibiotics!

If you want a powerful and natural way to boost your gut health, check out our Gut Health Protocol! This includes our award-winning kefir, Complete Prebiotic and Pure Fish Collagen, and is designed specifically to improve the condition of your gut microbiome.

Want to know more about the gut-hormone connection? Check out Gut health and hormones: how the microbiome shapes women’s wellbeing

Any questions? Contact one of our Nutritional Therapists via live chat, weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm.