Hormones - Do you actually need to “balance” them?

I’ve noticed a theme for a while now where there are people making money off programs where they tell you:

“You need to balance your hormones”

“There are 3 key hormones you need to get under control”

“You can’t lose weight because of your hormones”

But, what does this actually mean?

What hormones? In what amounts? How would you know they’re out of control? What makes them out of control? What studies show this correlation? Are these studies of a good quality?

While the burden of proof it on THEM to provide the answers to these questions, considering they’re the ones making the claims, they rarely ever do. Sometimes if they do, they may show you one or two single studies, but it’s still far too early to be making such statements.

So, I have taken it upon myself to demystify this phenomenon of hormones and help you better determine if what they’re saying is utter bollocks or sound advice.

I’ll be discussing:

• Basics about hormones

• Insulin and Glucagon

• Insulin Resistance and dietary recommendations

• Oestrogen across the lifecycle

• Thyroid hormone imbalances and dietary recommendations

Basics about hormones

This bit is a bit science-y to give you an overall knowledge on hormones, but you can just skip down to the specific hormone sections below!

Our bodies maintain something called homeostasis - it’s where the body regulates itself to stay within certain, very strict, parameters. For example, we control our body heat by sweating to release heat from the body if we are too warm, our blood sugar levels by hormones like insulin and glucagon, and hydration by adjusting how much water we filter out into our urine.

There are 3 major types of hormones in our bodies.

The first is Protein Hormones. Protein Hormones are the majority of hormones found in our body and they are made up of long chains of amino acids. These protein hormones travel through the blood to target cells. There are not be able to pass into cells directly, so they interact with cells on their surface instead, causing certain changes. There are many hormones in our bodies with many functions.

Some examples of these hormones are:

• Insulin - to control the level of sugar in the blood

• Glucagon - also involved in the control of blood sugar levels

• Oxytocin - the “love” hormone. Also has a role in recovery after birth.

• Ghrelin - Increases levels result in increased hunger

• Leptin - Increased levels result in feeling full

The second type of hormones are Steroid Hormones. These hormones are primarily involved in reproduction. They’re fat (lipid) based hormones, meaning they are able to enter target cells directly and are able to directly interact with other structures within cells to make changes.

Examples of these include:

• Oestrogen

• Testosterone

• Cortisol

The third type of hormones is Tyrosine Derivatives. These hormones are made of tyrosine, an amino acid, which is manipulated to make various hormones. These hormones sometimes act more like proteins, where they interact with the cell surface, or sometimes enter the cell directly, similarly to steroids.

Examples include:

• Thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), which act like steroids.

• Catecholamines like epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine which act like proteins hormones.

Insulin and Glucagon

Insulin and Glucagon both work to ensure blood glucose levels are within certain parameters in order to maintain homeostasis. They’re antagonistic hormones, meaning they work opposite to each other. During digestion, complex molecules are broken down into their components. For example, carbohydrates are broken down into sugars which are absorbed and released into the blood. This is a NORMAL process. When the body detects a rise in blood sugar, it triggers the pancreas to release insulin. Insulin then enters the blood stream and targets cells, like muscle cells for example, for them to absorb some of the glucose from the blood. This then lowers the glucose in the blood, and supplies the cells with energy.

Glucagon works in the opposite way. Lets say you forget lunch, your blood sugar level starts to drop because you haven’t eaten in a while. This drop in blood sugar levels is detected, and your body responds by releasing glucagon from the pancreas into the blood stream. Glucagon then travels to your liver and muscles and encourages the stored glucose to be released back into the blood. This then causes the blood sugar levels to not fall dangerously low before you’re able to eat again.

This is a normal, back and forth process, that is tightly controlled in a healthy body.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is when the body is no longer able to correctly maintain the correct level of blood sugar. Liver and muscle cells become less reactive to insulin levels, therefore less sugar is transported out of the blood. This causes more insulin to be produced by the pancreas and a higher level of blood sugar.

Some of the factors which increase the risk of insulin resistance are:

• Increasing age

• Lack of physical activity - resistance training

• Low fibre diet

• Smoking

• Low sleep quality

• Stress

Hopefully from seeing this list, you can understand that Insulin Resistance is not a condition caused by diet alone. To prevent this condition, your overall lifestyle matters, and while below I give dietary recommendations, this cannot be prevented by diet alone.

Dietary recommendations:

• Eat a diet high in fibre.

  The recommendation is to get 30g of fibre a day. Foods that are high in fibre include whole grains, fruit and vegetables and beans and pulses. So next time you’re making a meal or planning your meals for next week, try to see where you can add in some:

  Avocado, wholegrain cereals (bread, rice, pasta), berries, beans (red kidney beans, white beans, chickpeas, garden peas), vegetables with skin on, oats, popcorn, seeds (chia, flax, sunflower).

• Eat regularly.

  Quit skipping meals and avoiding snacks. Skipping meals will cause dips and spikes, which can not only cause stress on the metabolic system, but also other symptoms like fatigue, poor concentration and irritability to list a few. Plan ahead to ensure you will have opportunities to eat, keep snacks on hand or set alarms to remind you to take breaks to eat on busy days.

• Balanced meals

  Ensure your meals contain a mixture of all the key macronutrients: Carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The combination of these macronutrients will cause the rise in blood sugar levels to be slower. What would also help maintain steady blood glucose levels is choosing slow-release carbohydrates (wholegrain and complex carbs). This doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy foods that are digested faster, because you can, just mindfully dress them with other foods you can add to the meal which can make it more satiating and curb that rise in blood glucose.

• Mindful eating

  Being present when eating meals can help you stay in tune with your hunger and satiety throughout a meal. This can be very helpful is avoiding frequent over-eating.

Oestrogen across the lifecycle

Oestrogen is the commonly known “female hormone” as it’s present and has important roles within the body. In people who are assigned female at birth and people with vaginas, it is an important hormone that is involved in:

• Menstruation

• Pregnancy

• Menopause

• Blood sugar levels

• Bone health

• Brain function

It’s also really interesting that it also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain!

It is NORMAL for the level of oestrogen to change, sometimes being high and sometimes being low. For example, during the menstrual cycle, oestrogen is high coming up to ovulation and during pregnancy, but then is also low between ovulation and a period in order to shed the lining. It is also low during perimenopause and the menopause. Challenges and conditions may start to arise if the oetrogen cycle of it’s expected ups and downs is not regular, or if there is too much or too little of it consistently. Dysregulation of this hormone can cause a range of symptoms, depending on what the situation is. For example:

• Vaginal dryness

• Fatigue, poor concentration

• Malnutrition

• Low libido

• Infertility

• Low bone density

• Anxiety and/or depression

So, can oestrogen be “out of balance”? Sometimes. Can someone look at you and know your oestrogen is out of balance? No. You would need to go to your GP and get your levels checked and symptoms analysed. There is no other way of actually knowing for sure. So, if you come across someone saying you need to “balance your hormones” and they’re talking about oestrogen without conducting a blood test, you know they’re full of crap and probably trying to make a quick buck! But, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms above, changes in your monthly cycle or are experiencing irregular/missed periods, I would recommend speaking with your GP.

Thyroid hormone imbalances and dietary recommendations

Thyroid hormones are also often in the hot seat with claims being made left, right and center! The only way of navigating the jungle of claims is by noticing which are valid and which are total BS.

The thyroid, a gland located in the neck, releases two hormones - thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). These hormones are involved in the management and control many bodily functions, including:

• Metabolism

• Heart rate

• Gastrointestinal tract

• Brain function

• Muscle and bone control

• Differentiation of cells

These hormones are also tightly controlled within the body at the right levels required. These conditions can happen across the lifespan, but it is most common in adult women. Sometimes there may be conditions which may cause these hormones to be too high or too low, causing symptoms.

• Hypothyroidism - not enough hormone is produced

• Hyperthyroidism - too much of the hormones are produced

Symptoms of these conditions are:

• Weight control issues - unexpected or unexplained weight gain or loss

• Fatigue

• Poor concentration

• Gut problems like constipation or diarrhea

• Poor memory

• Infertility

• Depression

• Low libido

• Slow heartbeat

• Goiter - growth on the neck as the thyroid enlarges

If you experience any of the symptoms above, it may be worth getting your blood levels checked by your GP. It’s the only way to fully determine an issue.

Dietary recommendations:

An overall healthy and balanced diet with plenty of fibre, healthy fats, fruit and vegetables etc helps with the management of these conditions. However, medication is key to treating the conditions. Iodine is important in the production in these hormones, so a deficiency would cause low production and an increased risk of dysregulation. While the chance of severe iodine deficiency is low in the population, an on-going moderate deficiency can cause prolonged stress on the thyroid to compensate, increasing the changes of problems later in life. And considering one third of the population has a deficiency, it’s definitely worth being made aware of it. Consuming adequate amounts of iodine in a balanced diet can help prevent these conditions.

The daily recommendation for adults is 140mcg daily in the UK.

Iodine rich food sources:

• Fortified foods

• Fish and shellfish

• Eggs

• Meat and meat products

• Iodised table salt

• Dairy products

Seaweed varieties are also high in iodine, but the recommendation of relying on it in the diet as a source of iodine is not completely agreed on. This is because the level of iodine is not very consistent - sometimes very little and sometimes far higher than recommended levels.

If you eat in a way which restricts your intake of the foods above, for example a vegan diet or similar, you may need to speak with a nutritionist or GP for guidance on if a supplement may be necessary.

So, do you need to balance your thyroid hormones? It depends. You need to be aware of the symptoms of hypo and hyperthyroidism, and taking any required medications to manage a condition once it has been diagnosed. If you eat in a restrictive way which limits your consumption of iodine, then a supplement or dietary changes may be required. But, diet and exercise cannot fix these conditions, only support the prevention and management of them.

Well, I hope you’ve found this helpful. All in all, hormones are important and it’s good to know how they work so you don’t get swept up in the lies of some zealots out there trying to make a quick buck. Think critically, educate yourself and if a claim sounds too outlandish or too good to be true, it probably is!

Resources and additional reading

Alkhulaifi F, Darkoh C. Meal Timing, Meal Frequency and Metabolic Syndrome. Nutrients. 2022; 14(9):1719. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14091719

The Science of Nutrition by Rhiannon Lambert

Smyth PPA. Iodine, Seaweed, and the Thyroid. Eur Thyroid J. 2021 Apr;10(2):101-108. doi: 10.1159/000512971. Epub 2021 Jan 27. PMID: 33981614; PMCID: PMC8077470.

Zhang, Y., Pan, XF., Chen, J. et al. Combined lifestyle factors and risk of incident type 2 diabetes and prognosis among individuals with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Diabetologia 63, 21–33 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-019-04985-9

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22353-estrogen

https://byjus.com/biology/hypothyroidism/

https://www.btf-thyroid.org/what-is-thyroid-disorder#:~:text=The%20thyroid%20makes%20two%20hormones,and%20is%20often%20called%20T3.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/iodine/

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iodine-HealthProfessional/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/iodine/