Prepare to have your health questions answered
here on Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with
Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center
in downtown Ventura. Now, here's Dr. Todd. Good
afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Bankley, board certified
doctor of non -force chiropractic and practitioner
of functional medicine today. I really am. Last
week I said I was going to do it. We ran out
of time today. We are going to talk about the
gut microbiome and the connection between the
gut microbiome and hormones. So did you know
that estrogen interacts with the gut microbiome?
One of the most significant interactions occurs
through estrogen metabolism. There are a group
of gut bacteria, among them E. coli, Enterobacteria
C, Bacterioidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria,
and Actino. bacteria. So you can be forgiven
if you've never heard of those before. They're
all included in a comprehensive stool test to
test the levels of various beneficial and pathogenic
bacteria in the gut. And these particular species
of bacteria modulate estrogen levels by producing
beta -glucuronidase, which is an enzyme that
influences estrogen reabsorption. So if you have
inadequate amounts of those particular subset
of gut bacteria, then that's going to interfere
with, may make it more difficult to maintain
normal estrogen levels. So an imbalance of these
microorganisms can lead to excessive or insufficient
circulation, too much or too little. And this
contributes to symptoms such as PMS, fibroids,
endometriosis, and menopausal symptoms. Improper
estrogen metabolism can also lead to an accumulation
of harmful estrogen metabolites. So this means,
you know, you produce estrogen and then your
body, once you're finished with it, it circulates
throughout your system for a certain period of
time and then is broken down into metabolites.
And increase or accumulation of excessive estrogen
metabolites increases the risk of estrogen dominant
conditions, including breast cancer and ovarian
cancer. So optimizing gut health is crucial for
maintaining. balanced estrogen levels. And it
also goes the other way. Estrogen influences
the composition of the gut microbiome diversity
and it significantly impacts the gastrointestinal
system. As a whole, fluctuations in estrogen
levels affect overall gut health, particularly
during menstruation and menopause. So too much
estrogen can reduce gut motility, the muscular
control moving the stomach through. It's like
a conveyor belt moving food through your stomach.
It can reduce that speed at which food travels
through your intestines, leading to constipation,
while low estrogen can cause increased motility
or diarrhea. Estrogen also supports the intestinal
lining by promoting mucus production and maintaining
tight junctions between epithelial cells. If
you've ever heard of leaky gut, leaky gut occurs
when these tight junctions in the cells of your
small intestine become no longer tight and foreign
bacteria, foreign protein fragments, other debris
and toxins can get from your intestines into
your bloodstream where they do not belong and
create inflammation. So if you're having issues
with digestion and you've tried a number of things
but never had your hormones checked, then you
may need to get your hormones checked, which
of course I'm happy to do for you. And as always,
I need to say, I've talked about this several
times before, for things like this, it usually
is better to get a saliva hormone test. not a
blood test. So blood tests are the gold standard
for most things in the body, but sometimes we
need to do a stool test. Sometimes for heavy
metals, I might do a hair test. There's lots
of different body fluids. There's some tests
that are best done on urine, etc. And for hormone
issues that don't involve pregnancy, so for menopause
and, you know, female hormones, it's better to
test saliva because normally the solution you're
going to... do if you're going to need if you
end up low in estrogen or progesterone you're
most likely going to do some kind of topical
bioidentical hormone replacement. Usually I find
that you can use much lower doses. People that
are only getting tested with blood tests from
standard endocrinologists are often getting way
over, or if they're being tested at all, this
is the other thing, I have women come in all
the time, they're taking standard medical hormone
replacement therapy, way too much of it, and
they're not even getting tested. They're just
saying, here, take this amount and see how you
feel. Well, that's crazy. You need to get it
dosed right. It needs to be very tightly controlled
and not, too much is never, better. And many,
many times I've seen women that were taking,
they're already on hormone replacement therapy
and they're not getting the results. And guess
what? The symptoms of too much estrogen are the
same, often the same as too little estrogen because
your body just becomes insensitive to it and
it leads to a point of diminishing returns. So
the equipment used for saliva testing is 10 times
more sensitive to identify the normal levels
of estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, testosterone,
et cetera. In the saliva, there's much less in
the saliva. There are lower concentrations, so
it requires very sensitive equipment to measure
that. But you're also getting an average of these
hormones throughout the day. So your blood levels
of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, these
things are going up and down every 10 minutes,
up and down, up and down like a roller coaster.
We saw it on a graph. It's just spiking up, spiking
down, spiking up, spiking down. And that is important
for some things. But for managing a chronic hormone
imbalance, a deficiency or an excess, it's better
to get an average throughout the day. So when
you do a saliva hormone test, you're spitting
in four tubes so we can measure your cortisol
levels at four different times throughout the
day. And then they make a fifth tube by combining.
a little bit from each of those four, and that
way you get that average of your levels throughout
the day. And you usually need, if any, if anything,
you usually need much lower levels of bioidentical
plant -based hormones. And if you're having symptoms
in your gut, constipation, diarrhea, nausea,
bloating, gas, and you've done everything else
you can think of to directly address those conditions
and you're not getting the results you want,
then it may be a hormonal issue. And we need
to check your hormones to figure out that last
piece of it. So, of course, everything affects
everything else. If you're having difficulty
with your hormones and you've been taking bioidentical
hormones and testing and getting some improvements,
but not the improvements you've hoped for, then
we may need to do a stool test to check the gut
microbiome. problems with the gut microbiome
and insufficient amounts of certain bacteria
that are essential for producing and metabolizing
and maintaining adequate, ideal, balanced estrogen
and progesterone. So you have to have that function
in the gut. You have to have those bacteria to
do their job. If they're not present, then that
shows up on a stool test. A stool test, sometimes
people go to a medical doctor and get a one -day
stool test, and that's fine for some things.
I usually do a three -day stool test to make
sure there's no bad bugs in there, which can
get missed if you only collect on... one day.
So send me your questions about that. If you
have any questions, I'll try and talk about a
patient that I've helped with some really amazing
things that I've found in doing a stool test
to identify bad bugs that you may have and not
be aware of. Usually you can get rid of them
with natural means. Sometimes you might have
to take a short course of antibiotics or antivirals,
but usually there are natural antimicrobial supplements
that can use to resolve these things. So there
are a number of interactions between estrogen
and gut bacteria. Also, progesterone. So progesterone
is a critical hormone for reproductive health.
Progestation, progesterone, its levels are influenced
by intestinal inflammation and microbiome diversity,
as with everything else in the gut. It's critically
important when we test this. This is always a
big part of the results of the test to promote
diversity and balance. You need lots of different
kinds of bugs and need to have them in a particular
range. So too much of the same bug is bad as
is too little. And chronic gut inflammation also
elevates something called lipopolysaccharides.
And these elevated levels of these lipopolysaccharides
can trigger immune responses that lower progesterone.
So this can contribute to irregular menstrual
cycles and implantation failure and infertility.
Progesterone also promotes the growth of bifidobacterium
species. This is a broad category of beneficial
bacteria. They're often bifidobacteria in good
probiotics, and there are a number of species
that you want to have in adequate amounts in
your gut. So progesterone promotes the growth
of some of these, an effect that is increasingly
noticeable during the later stages of pregnancy.
And gut bacteria also act to convert progesterone
to something called allopregnolone. Allopregnolone.
And this affects the brain and nervous system.
Low levels of allopregnolone can contribute to
postpartum depression and mood and psychiatric.
So that's why naturally your progesterone stimulates
the growth of these species that help prevent
that. But if you have inadequate amounts of it,
then you have an increased risk of those mood
disorders during pregnancy. So a well -balanced
gut microbiome supports optimal nutrient absorption,
reducing inflammation, inflammatory responses,
and promoting stability of your hormones. So
just like with estrogen, it goes both ways. If
you know somebody that's been having difficulty
getting pregnant and carrying a pregnancy two
term. or other pregnancy -related issues, postpartum
depression. If you've had that, somebody's had,
for example, has had a severe mood disorder after
a previous pregnancy and they're getting pregnant
again, it might be a good idea to test the gut
to make sure that they have the support they
need with these balanced bifidobacteria and other
species to help lower the risk of those mood
disorders that can. complicate pregnancy and
if you're having an inflammatory gut condition
that is not responding to other types of treatment
part of the problem may be progesterone levels
which we can test with a saliva hormone test
i'm dr todd binkley you're listening to safe
effective natural solutions to almost any health
challenge we're talking about the tremendous
and increasingly better understood interactions
between the gut microbiome and hormones so testosterone
It also interacts with the gut. Testosterone
is, of course, essential for muscle growth, metabolic
function, mood regulation, and libido in men
and women. And emerging research is suggesting
that the gut microbiota, the gut bacteria, significantly
impact testosterone levels through multiple mechanisms,
including the regulation of inflammation and
nutrient absorption. And dysbiosis, imbalance
between the good bacteria and bad bacteria, and
chronic gut inflammation that results from that
can lead to increased oxidative stress, which
negatively impacts testosterone synthesis. So
elevated levels of testosterone in males and
females are shown to correlate with a more diverse
micro... biota and quantity, higher quantities
of certain specific beneficial species, and some
bacterial strains such as Ackermansia municifila
have been shown associated with healthier testosterone
levels and metabolic function. Gut health also
affects insulin sensitivity, which plays a key
role in testosterone balance, particularly in
conditions such as PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome.
And that one species, Ackermansia municifilla,
say that three times fast, this is a species
of beneficial bacteria that's long been known
to reduce inflammation and promote healthier
balance between other species of good bacteria.
And so its function and its importance has long
been known, and more recently it is now available
as a supplement. You can get Ackermansia municifilla
as a supplement and include that as one of your
primary probiotics if necessary. So if you have
a chronic inflammatory gut condition, we may
need to test your testosterone levels. And if
you have low libido, difficulty building up and
maintaining muscle mass and regulating certain
moods, then it may be because of a problem in
your gut that's affecting, impairing testosterone
production. Cortisol, adrenal function, or more
specifically, the hypothalamic -pituitary -adrenal
axis, for those who want the full technical version.
Cortisol, adrenal dysfunction, if you hear people
talking about adrenal fatigue, cortisol is the
main hormone that we're testing. to assess the
function of this aspect of adrenals to deal with
stress, the stress response. But it's actually
governed by the hypothalamus and the pituitary
or the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Governing
stress response is closely linked to the gut
microbiome. So imbalances in the gut bacteria,
dysbiosis in the gut, heightens the production
of inflammatory cytokines. These are the things
that cause the cytokine storm at the end of COVID
when people are dying and the inflammation just...
overwhelmed their systems. Dysbiosis can enhance
this inflammatory cytokine, disrupting the HP
axis dysfunction and leading to dysregulated
cortisol levels and imbalance. And cortisol can
also contribute to fatigue, weight gain, depression
and anxiety. and metabolic dysfunction, difficulties
maintaining weight and increasing risk of diabetes.
Increases in cortisol levels affect the gut microbiome
by altering gut transit time again, increasing
intestinal permeability, so this is similar to
the effects of estrogen we talked about a little
while ago, and the availability of certain nutrients,
nutrients which are important to have balanced.
diversity of microbiome in your gut. So if you
have adrenal fatigue, if you have a lot of stress,
if you're wired and tired, if you suspect you
have adrenal dysfunction, part of the problem
may be in your gut. And if you're having a chronic
gut condition and you're not getting the results
you expect, part of that might be a problem of
too much cortisol or too little, and that can
be tested with a saliva hormone test. Well, here's
a patient of mine, an example of the interactions
between gut health and hormone levels. This is
a 71 -year -old female who came in complaining
of brain fog and tearfulness, fluid retention
and bloating, decreased mental sharpness, fatigue
in the morning and the afternoon, decreased stamina,
cold body temperature, incontinence, weight gain
in the hips and waist. decreased flexibility
and a burned out feeling, thin skin and bone
loss. So this is the things that she checked
on her form when she came in and we did the initial
hormone test. Several of these are obviously
hormone related. So we did her hormone test.
Her results showed that she had low cortisol
in the morning, low cortisol at noon and the
evening and at night it was fine. She also had
low DHEA, what is that? And that sounds like
DHA, not to be confused with the DHA, which is
fish oil. DHEA, dehydroepiandrosterone, is the
steroid that's produced primarily in the adrenal
glands, and it's a precursor for both testosterone
and estrogen. It declines naturally with age.
Low levels are linked to osteoporosis, adrenal
insufficiency, and even heart disease and depression.
And a lot of people have heard this and just
rush out. You can buy DHEA in stores anywhere.
And a lot of people think, oh, I feel these things,
so I'm going to take some DHEA. Don't do that.
Don't take DHEA unless you get tested. And your
tests show that DHEA is lowest. With hormones,
with so many things, but especially with hormones,
balance is critical. Too much is bad. Too little
is bad. And you have no idea if yours is too
low unless you get tested. And if you take it,
and sometimes the symptoms of too much and too
little are the same. But hers was low. and her
estrogen levels and all three of her estrogen
levels. When I do a test, I test all. Most people
have only heard of estradiol. That's the most
famous of the estrogens. But estrone is important
to test and especially estriol. So estriol E3
has similar functions and effects as estradiol,
but it is unlike estradiol. Estriol is cancer
protective. It actually reduces your risk of
breast and ovarian cancer. when I test them are
low in estriol. Well, this patient, 71 years
old, all three were fine. Her estrogen, all three
estrogens, estrone E1, estradiol E2, and estriol
were all within the normal range. But her testosterone
was off the charts low. The range in women, the
reference interval for a saliva test is 6 to
49. And the lower detectable limit is below 6.
So sure, hers was, you know. It was really low.
And DHEA, as we said, was also low. So guess
what's going to happen if we give her DHEA? Well,
it's going to improve her DHEA levels, and it's
also going to improve her testosterone levels.
Because if you take DHEA and your estrogen is
fine, then most of the time your body is going
to use it to make testosterone. Now, anytime
I do hormone testing on someone, I always tell
them it's going to be at least six months most
of the time before we're going to retest. Hormones
change slowly, especially as you get older. And,
you know, minimum of six months before we retest,
expect to see some of the changes we're looking
for, and oftentimes up to a year. And so it's
also important to, you know, follow up anytime
there's a change in symptoms to modify dosages.
So this woman's 71 years old. We retested a year
later. But before we did that, her estrogen levels
were fine, but she was having some other issues
with bone density. She has osteoporosis, and
she'd had another type of test that showed that
her response with other things she was taking
for osteoporosis was a little less than we would
like, and estrogen helps promote healthy bone
density. So we decided to add just, you know,
it's important to do the testing. But with hormones,
you don't ever just treat the numbers. You go
with the symptoms as well as the tests. You need
both. And so she had a condition that could very
likely be benefited by adding a little bit of
estrogen. So we did that. And then fast forward
a year later, her brain fog, tearfulness, fluid
retention and bloating, decreased mental sharpness,
and morning and afternoon fatigue are all significantly
better. She has more stamina. Her body, her cold
body temperature has improved. Incontinence is
not an issue anymore. She still has the, she
hasn't lost the weight that she wants to lose
yet. Still have some issues with that. And as
I mentioned, still has the issue with, thinning
skin has also improved somewhat. Not perfect,
but improved somewhat. And, but she still has
osteoporosis. That's to be expected because it's
really too early to see a change after a year.
It can take two years to see a difference on
the standard DEXA scan bone density test, for
example, to see a change significant enough on
whatever type of therapy. The medical therapies,
they're usually just trying to give you drugs
that don't, and show up two years later, hope
your test doesn't get any worse or only a little
bit worse, not even hoping for it to be improved
oftentimes. So because she was having that issue,
we did decide to add some estrogen before retesting.
And so she had all these symptom improvements.
That was exciting. But she's also coming back
now. And, of course, we gave her some DHEA. and
some adrenal support and her adrenal glands in
the morning. Her adrenal gland function is now
perfect, right? It's dead center in the optimal
range. Still a little bit of low cortisol at
noon, the middle of the day and in the evening
and her symptoms. Even though her symptoms, that's
an interesting thing too. So the symptoms don't
always correlate with the numbers. That's why
you have to use both. So we'll treat the numbers,
but also with the symptoms. And if they disagree,
we'll err on the side of... So her noon, her
midday cortisol was still low, but her energy
was dramatically improved at noon. So her DHEA,
we put her on some DHEA that's now back up into
the optimal range. And that, as expected, has
boosted her testosterone up to the high normal
reference range for women with the increase in
stamina that we expected to get. from that. But
we did give her a little low -dose estradiol
and estriol and progesterone to help with her
bone density. Well, as with everything related
to hormones, you have to keep testing. It's never
going to be a one and done type of situation.
You have to do a therapy test. Situations even
can change. And so when we retested her now,
even though it was a very low dose, her estradiol
was a little bit too high. And her progesterone
was really, really too high. So now we have to
reduce that back again. It was nothing dangerous,
but now we know that she needs to not take any
of that. And I had her do some other things to
better address the osteoporosis. We increased
her collagen dose, had her do a different type
of very light tapping, weight -bearing exercise
to stimulate bone growth. And we'll have to wait
a little while to retest that. But some of her
symptoms that were better, but not quite as good
as she'd like them to be, can be affected by
dysbiosis, by disruptions in the normal bacteria
and other beneficial species in the gut. Her
evening fatigue, the weight gain wasn't quite
where she wanted to be yet. The bone loss we
talked about. Still some thinning skin and muscle
size flexibility. So we did a stool test. Hormones
affect the gut. The gut affects hormone production.
Hormone conditions can be helped by addressing
gut issues. Gut issues can be affected by addressing
hormones. We get our stool test results back
and it showed a little bit of a yeast infection
that we needed to address and high beta -glucuronidase.
So if you're just tuning in, we spoke about beta
-glucuronidase earlier on this program and its
effect on estrogen. So it modulates, there are
several beneficial bacteria in the gut that modulate
estrogen levels by producing beta -glucuronidase.
And as with all of these things, too much is
bad and too little is bad. So her beta -glucuronidase
is high. And interestingly, beta -glucuronidase
can be high, is often caused by a high -fat,
high -protein, low -fiber diet. Well, that's
the Adkins diet. It's good to eat a high -protein
diet. healthy fats are good but you need fiber
too and certain amounts in specific types and
that's why we do the test to find out exactly
what you need so her hers was uh high beta glucuronidase
high and that causes that alters hormone levels
in ways that can cause fatigue and bloating two
symptoms that she's still having some issue with
well she is eating a high protein uh good fat
diet and but she was also getting pretty adequate
fiber there are some specific types of insoluble
fiber that feed the bacteria, prebiotics that
feed the beneficial bacteria in her gut that
she wasn't getting enough of. So we added that.
And the takeaway is basically that she was getting
good results from the hormone testing. We still
have a little bit of work to do, but we found
some things that were directly impacting her
hormone levels in the bacteria in her gut. And
so we're giving some things to support that,
some beneficial prebiotic fibers to support the
growth of the bacteria. A lot of people ask,
oh, I just need to take a different probiotic,
right? Well, probiotics are useful, but it's
often and almost always more important to feed
the beneficial bacteria with antioxidants, polyphenols.
phenols and specific types of fiber that various
beneficial bacteria need to grow and maintain
a healthy balance. Once again, we are out of
time. Where does the time go? Remember, the condition
of your body is always more important than any
disease you've been diagnosed with. Do something
this weekend to become a little bit healthier
than you were last weekend. Thank you for listening.
I look forward to speaking with you again next
Friday at 2 p .m. You've been listening to Safe,
Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd. For
safe, effective natural solutions. Here on 98
.3 FM, The Word.