Kate Huntress - Women’s Health Department Section Editor
The article “The Gut Microbiome and Female Health” discusses the important relationship between the gut microbiome and female health conditions, including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), cancer, menstruation, and menopause. The gut microbiome (a community of bacteria in our digestive tracts) plays a role in regulating hormone levels, maintaining immunity, and suppressing cancer progression. Microbes in the gut are essential to many processes related to female health, which is why maintaining a healthy population of bacteria is important. Research shows that certain female health conditions are associated with a dysregulated gut microbiota like in PCOS patients, who display a less diverse gut microbiome, which correlates with their symptoms. Fluctuations in estrogen levels throughout the menstrual cycle can affect the gut microbiome, which may be linked to digestive disturbances during menstruation. Menopause (a time around age 50 when women experience decreased hormone production) is associated with decreased diversity in the gut microbiota, which may contribute to weight gain and Alzheimer's disease in post-menopausal women.
You have most likely run across news outlets or social media influencers preaching the importance of “gut health,” but taking a dive into the specific effects that the gut has on female health is essential when considering how and why we should improve it. The massive effects that gut bacteria have on estrogen metabolism is conducive to many disease processes that we see in women. The good news is, there might be ways to boost the health of the gut microbiome in order to help combat these processes. For example, supplementation with probiotics and prebiotics has promising effects on the treatment of breast cancer and also mitigates postmenopausal symptoms like worsened cognitive function and mood. Despite plenty of white noise online surrounding trendy health fads, the healthy gut movement may be just the one to consider for yourself.
References
Siddiqui, R., Makhlouf, Z., Alharbi, A. M., Alfahemi, H., & Khan, N. A. (2022). The Gut Microbiome and Female Health. Biology, 11(11), 1683. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11111683
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