Following her workshop at the Wellbeing Conference 2005, Nutritionist, Belinda Rennie presents a series on Healthy Hormone Balance for Women. Take the Hormone Balance test.

It is every woman's right to know how she can balance her hormones naturally through diet, yoga, exercise, lifestyle changes, herbs and homeopathy. It may save your life! I work with homeopaths, yoga teachers and other complimentary therapists to help women in their 30's and 40's make changes enabling them to live full and productive lives into and beyond the menopause.

Hormone balance is complex, like and orchestra where every instrument plays a part and the outcome is harmonious. Understanding how food can balance the production, metabolism and excretion (removal from the body) of primarily estrogen and progesterone can help you deal with problems like PMS, endometriosis, symptoms of menopause and reduce your risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and breast cancer.

How do you know if you have a hormone imbalance? Symptoms are a good indicator in conjunction with blood or saliva testing ( www.salivatest.com ). Saliva testing is useful and non-invasive and gives you an indication of the amount of hormones freely available to act on the cells of your body. Dr John Lee, a pioneer in the use of natural alternatives for hormone imbalance devised The Hormone Balance Test. Try it out.

Tick each symptom that applies to you in each group. Where you have ticked 2 or more items in any group, you probably have the hormone imbalance represented by that group and you should seek advice from your health professional.

Group 1: Progesterone deficiency:

•  PMS

•  Early miscarriage

•  Unexplained weight gain

•  Anxiety

•  Insomnia

•  Painful/lumpy breasts

•  Cyclical headaches

•  Infertility

Total items ticked =

Group 2: Estrogen deficiency

•  Vaginal dryness

•  Painful intercourse

•  Bladder infections

•  Hot flashes

•  Night sweats

•  Memory problems

•  Lack of concentration

•  Lethargic depression

•  Bone loss

•  Headaches

•  Heart palpitations

Total items ticked =

Group 3: Estrogen excess

• Puffiness and bloating
• Rapid weight gain
• Mood swings
• Anxious depression
• Insomnia
• Red flush on face
• Cervical dysplasia (abnormal pap smear)
• Breast tenderness
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Heavy bleeding
• Migraine headaches
• Foggy thinking
• Gall bladder problems
• Fibroids
• Endometriosis

Total items ticked =

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Estrogen dominance

A combination of the symptoms for PROGESTERONE DEFICIENCY and OESTROGEN EXCESS (Add up items ticked in these two groups)

Total items ticked =

Symptoms of hormone imbalance can become apparent when there is an absolute deficiency of a hormone such as in the case of progesterone deficiency (Group 1). This might arise due to lack of progesterone production when there is no ovulation caused by a number of factors – stress, stopping the Pill, high prolactin levels, inadequate levels of other hormones regulating ovulation (LH and FSH) or abnormally low cholesterol levels.

Too little oestrogen (Group 2) can occur during menopause, excessive dieting and exercise and with eating disorders causing body fat percentage to drop below 15% .

On the other hand, hormone levels can be too high in relation to other hormones. With excess oestrogen (Group 3), breast and endometrial cells are exposed to the growth promoting effects of estrogen without the counterbalancing effect of progesterone. This is called oestrogen dominance and is thought to be the major cause of many hormone problems including PMS, fibroids, endometriosis, perimenopausal symptoms and increases the risk of breast cancer.

Why are women living in a pool of excess oestrogens? Our evolving Western lifestyle is partly to blame:

1. More periods over a lifetime – periods start in girls at a younger age, cycles are shorter than women from Eastern cultures and fewer pregnancies mean women are exposed to more oestrogen over their lifetime.
2. Environmental oestrogens – chemicals from polluted air, water and food (pesticides, plastics, petrochemicals) enter the body and can mimic the role of oestrogens by locking onto cell receptor sites.
3. Poor removal of oestrogen – reduced ability of the body to detoxify and remove oestrogens via the liver and bowel, instead oestrogens reenter the circulation.
4. High fat, sugar, low fibre diets, overweight and lack of exercise – encourage higher levels of circulating oestrogens.
5. Stress – triggers the release of cortisol and adrenaline and cortisol inhibits the production of progesterone by the ovaries and the relative excess of oestrogen.
6. HRT – synthetic hormones can create a situation of excess unopposed oestrogen.

You can do a lot to modify these factors by eating organic food where possible and through dietary and lifestyle approaches, the topic of next months issue.

For an excellent reference see “What your doctor may not tell you about Breast Cancer – How hormone balance can save your life” by Dr John lee and Dr David Zava, available through Magrudy's Bookshops in the UAE or Amazon.com.

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