Menopause

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How could good gut health improve your menopause symptoms?

In recent years, scientists have discovered how gut health and unlocking the power of your gut microbiome could hold the key to everything from tackling obesity to supporting immune, heart, and brain health.

The latest research indicates that looking after gut health could alleviate many common menopausal symptoms.

women-consultation

What is your gut microbiome?

Microbes are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microscopic living things that live on your skin or inside your intestines. The latter makes up our gut microbiome, and there are more than 1,000 species of bacteria inside us, each playing a different role in your body.

Although some of them can cause disease, most of them are hugely beneficial for our health and wellbeing.

Although we have evolved to live with microbes over millions of years, the gut microbiome is a relatively recent concept, discovered less than 15 years ago thanks to genetic sequencing.
Greater microbiome diversity, in terms of many different species of bacteria, is equated to a healthier gut and overall health and well-being. Variation is highest during childhood and gradually decreases with age, along with other factors such as hormonal shifts.

Hormonal fluctuations and the gut microbiome

Oestrogen and testosterone have been shown to directly disrupt the gut microbiome and can contribute to many of the symptoms we associate with menopause.

One study in the journal Menopause focused on menopausal weight gain and the microbiome. In the study, the researchers linked the microbiome’s role in oestrogen metabolism. They suggested that the menopause’s disruption of the gut microbiome could increase fat gain, lower metabolism, and increase insulin resistance.

In November 2022, the scientists behind Zoe, the metabolic health programme, published one of the most extensive studies to date to investigate gut bacteria during menopause. They found that postmenopausal women had increased levels of bacteria associated with inflammation and obesity.

Please see here for the full study information.

Steps to support good gut health

Our gut responds to what we eat and our environment or emotions. There’s no one thing you can do to improve your gut health, but just small, simple lifestyle changes.

  • Increase your fibre intake
  • Eat probiotic and fermented foods
  • Reducing the amount of processed, sugary, and high fat foods
  • Make sure protein is included in every meal
  • Eat good fats – the best diet to adopt is the Mediterranean diet which focuses on unsaturated fats such as olive oil and nuts rather than saturated and trans fats.
  • Move your body every day
  • Manage stress levels
  • Better sleep hygiene

Lifestyle changes to manage menopausal symptoms

“The approach should always be treating the person holistically as opposed to a specific symptom. If someone is suffering from perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms, then HRT is only one element of how we treat.

 “Often women are in stressful jobs while also looking after their family which produces high cortisol levels. Their sleep is often of poor quality which exacerbates their symptoms, all these factors need to be addressed. By exercising and optimising nutrition, the health benefits are far-reaching.”