Gut Health Impacts PCOS & Hypothyroidism

The gut contains different kinds of microbes

1. Pathogenic. These are harmful and actively attempt to create an environment that they prefer.
2. Commensal. These are non-harmful and peacefully co-existing within/on the human body.
3. Symbiotic. These get and provide benefit from/to the human body.

Some functions of a balanced, thriving gut microbiome include:

• Production of vitamins and other beneficial nutrients (B, K, short chain fatty acids)
• Supporting digestion
• Supporting the immune system

In a healthy gut, there are way more symbiotic microbes and very little pathogenic.

However, our modern lifestyle is not supportive of gut health and a balanced microbiome. The widespread use of antibiotics in our food supply, high stress lives, and a poor diet are making it very difficult for our symbiotic microbes to thrive in our guts.

What’s gut dysbiosis?

Gut dysbiosis occurs when the balance of pathogenic to symbiotic/commensal microbes in the gut is skewed. Research shows that individuals with hypothyroidism and PCOS struggle with gut dysbiosis. In fact, gut health plays a huge role in hormonal health and there’s a cyclical relationship between PCOS/hypothyroidism and gut health.

How are gut health and hypothyroidism interlinked?

• Physiological stress is high in hypothyroidism, because balancing blood sugar is harder. Stress shuts down the rest and DIGEST system, which shunts resources away from the gut.
• Gut bacteria are responsible for activating a significant amount of thyroid hormone. Gut dysbiosis can reduce the amount of thyroid hormone activated and available for use by our body.
• Thyroid hormone directly impacts gut motility or how well our gut muscles work and are able to move food along the digestive system.
• Thyroid hormone also influences how much stomach acid we make, which is very important for digesting food and preventing the overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Not surprisingly, a difficult to treat digestive issue, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), is directly linked to hypothyroidism. ⠀

How are gut health and PCOS interlinked

Research shows that women with PCOS have:

• Gut dysbiosis
• Lower gut microbiota diversity
• Lower total amount of microbial species in the gut
• Lower number of beneficial bacteria
• Significantly higher number of pathogenic gram-negative bacteria, which create endotoxin. Endotoxin overload causes inflammation, insulin resistance, liver inflammation, and increased scar tissue in the liver which eventually causes the liver to become sluggish.
• Insulin resistance, a root cause of PCOS, can cause leaky gut (when the intestinal barrier between the blood and the gut is compromised). Leaky gut is also linked to increased endotoxin.