In our functional medicine Toronto practice, we frequently address symptoms linked to menopause, such as hot flashes, weight gain, and brain fog. This “change of life” can also alter your digestive health – but don’t worry, our functional medicine practitioners may be able to help you out! In this post, the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre (TFMC) sheds light on how menopause can affect your microbiome. 

Recap: What is Menopause? 

Menopause happens naturally with aging. It’s when the female body stops having periods, ceasing the body’s reproductive functions. Estrogen and progesterone levels and the functioning of ovaries decline, which lead to various physical and mental health changes.

The transition towards menopause is called perimenopause, and may last up to a decade or more before the body officially enters menopause. Some of the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause include (but are not limited to): 

• • Night sweats and hot flashes
  • Irregular periods
  • Sleep issues
  • Mental health declines (i.e. anxiety, depression, mood swings) 
  • Vaginal dryness

Menopause can also cause changes to weight, cardiovascular health, oxidative stress levels, metabolism, and cognition. And when sex hormones decline from this life stage, the gut microbiome may be affected, too.  

The Link Between Menopause and Gut Health

Studies have implied that perimenopause and menopause can disrupt microbiota by reducing bacterial diversity. This is troubling because dysbiosis occurs when the gut lacks a diverse range of beneficial bacteria. Ideally, the microbiome must thrive off bacterial diversity to help prevent gastrointestinal issues and support metabolism, brain health and immune function. 

Additionally, “Gut permeability increases during the menopause transition and may be associated with greater inflammation …,” confirms a JCI Insight article. Sex hormones influence the gut’s composition and functioning. When female sex hormones decline, intestinal permeability increases, which weakens the intestinal gut barrier. Rather than prevent harmful microorganisms from entering the bloodstream, the gut barrier ends up allowing unwanted substances to circulate through the body, triggering inflammation. 

It should be noted, though, that the relationship between the gut and female sex hormones goes both ways. A healthy, diverse gut helps support a hormone balance, and ideal amounts of estrogen and progesterone help foster a healthy gut. So, when female sex hormones decline, the estrobolome slowly reduces its functioning, triggering low diversity. What is the estrobolome? It’s a group of gut bacteria that metabolizes and helps control estrogen, and when the body lacks estrogen and progesterone, the estrobolome becomes imbalanced. This can heighten your risks for forming other chronic conditions, such as osteoporosis and heart disease.  

Overall, supporting your gut health during perimenopause and menopause can help prevent or manage any digestive issues, such as constipation, acid reflux, or bloating. 

Examples of Integrative and Functional Medicine Strategies

If you’re struggling with gut and hormone challenges, have you considered having a personalized treatment designed just for you? This is offered through the functional medicine model, which is a healthcare paradigm that our clinic adheres to. Aging is unique to each individual due to genetic profiles, lifestyle factors, and such, and when therapies are tailored for your biology, it may result in health improvements. 

For targeting menopausal symptoms and gut health, we may recommend these functional medicine strategies: 

• • Functional medicine testing: Lab tests based on the functional medicine model scrutinize biomarkers to understand how your body is functioning. These tests can quantify adrenal and sex hormones, as well as which microbes are present or missing in your gut. The details from these labs are used for tailoring your treatment plan. 

• • Eat prebiotic- and probiotic-rich foods: Foods rich in prebiotics (i.e. almonds, legumes, asparagus) can provide the ‘good’ bacteria with ‘food’; meanwhile, eating probiotic foods (i.e. yogurt, kombucha, miso) can boost your microbiome’s amount of beneficial bacteria. 
  • Supplementation: Depending on your lab results, we may recommend key nutrients to support both menopause and your digestion. For example, additional amino acids may be taken orally; in one study, it was shown that leucine, glutamine and arginine combined with various vitamins helped reduce menopausal symptoms and improve skin health. Glutamine can also be used for helping to repair the gut lining.  

Truly, digestive issues can take a toll during the aging process. So, let’s chat now to tackle your hormonal and digestive needs.  

Suggested reading: Tabebuia impetiginosa: An Amazon Rainforest Tree – A Profile of Herbal Remedies in Functional Medicine Toronto

Why Choose Our Functional Medicine Clinic

A personalized medicine approach for perimenopause and menopause can potentially improve sleep and mood; treatment plans can also be designed to manage hormone imbalances and chronic pain. Our clinicians take ample time to understand your biology, genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors; we then use these details to adapt functional medicine therapies for your unique needs. We offer the following to our TFMC patients: 

• • Several integrative medicine options: We encourage patients various treatment modalities to support symptom relief outside a clinical setting. We can integrate Western medicine with naturopathic medicine, psychotherapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other additional holistic treatments, including hormone optimization programs and herbal medicine.

• • Functional lab tests: Our lab services may be applied to scrutinize your gut health, hormonal imbalances, environmental exposures (i.e. heavy metals), and metabolic reactions. Some of our lab tests cannot be accessed by conventional medicine clinics, and are only prescribed by a functional medicine practitioner. 

• • An in-house IV Lounge: Our Toronto IV Lounge is available for patients with intravenous therapy prescriptions. IV drip treatments are designed for adjunctive purposes only; when IV drips are combined with formal health interventions and a healthy lifestyle, they may contribute to optimal wellness.  

Our clinic has been accessed by patients since 2012, which is when we opened Toronto’s first IV Lounge! Our wellness team includes a naturopathic doctor, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and more – reach out to personalize your clinical experience. 

Confront your current health issues with a tailored approach to healthcare. Don’t delay – take your first step by requesting a consult with the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre. 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. You should always consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on this website. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of information you have read from the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre website or other affiliate media. 

 

References

Becker, Sarah L. BA1; Manson, JoAnn E. MD, DrPH, NCMP2. Menopause, the gut microbiome, and weight gain: correlation or causation?. Menopause 28(3):p 327-331, March 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001702

“Menopause” from the World Health Organization, posted October 16, 2024, viewed on November 4, 2024. 

Peters BA, Santoro N, Kaplan RC, Qi Q. Spotlight on the Gut Microbiome in Menopause: Current Insights. Int J Womens Health. 2022 Aug 10;14:1059-1072. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S340491. PMID: 35983178; PMCID: PMC9379122.

Peters BA, Lin J, Qi Q, Usyk M, Isasi CR, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Derby CA, Santoro N, Perreira KM, Daviglus ML, Kominiarek MA, Cai J, Knight R, Burk RD, Kaplan RC, 2022. Menopause Is Associated with an Altered Gut Microbiome and Estrobolome, with Implications for Adverse Cardiometabolic Risk in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. mSystems 7:e00273-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00273-22

Shieh A, Epeldegui M, Karlamangla AS, Greendale GA. Gut permeability, inflammation, and bone density across the menopause transition. JCI Insight. 2020 Jan 30;5(2):e134092. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.134092. PMID: 31830000; PMCID: PMC7098720.

Yamashita R, Ooe M, Saya Y, Sugisawa N, Murakami Y, Matsunaka H. Effect of Vitamin-Containing Amino Acid Supplements on Menopausal Symptoms and Age-Related Skin Changes: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2021 Oct;11(5):1681-1692. doi: 10.1007/s13555-021-00589-7. Epub 2021 Aug 22. PMID: 34420200; PMCID: PMC8484415.

Yoon K, Kim N. Roles of Sex Hormones and Gender in the Gut Microbiota. J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2021 Jul 30;27(3):314-325. doi: 10.5056/jnm20208. PMID: 33762473; PMCID: PMC8266488.