Could Your Gut Be the Key to a Smoother Menopause?

October is World Menopause Awareness Month, and this year’s theme — Lifestyle Medicine — which just highlights how daily habits like nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, and self-care can dramatically influence how women experience menopause.

It’s no secret that menopause affects every part of the body, but one area that often gets overlooked is the gut. The trillions of microbes living in your digestive tract don’t just influence digestion — they also help regulate hormones, immunity, inflammation, and even temperature control. Which raises an interesting question: could your gut health actually help ease menopause symptoms?

In short, menopause isn’t just a reproductive transition — it reshapes your digestive landscape too.

4 Ways Hormone Changes Impact the Gut

Your gut microbiota is intricately connected to almost every system in the body, so when hormones shift, the ripple effects are widespread. Here’s how I see in clients these changes often playing out:

1. A Drop in Microbiome Diversity

Lower oestrogen levels are associated with reduced bacterial diversity — and in gut health, diversity is a marker of resilience. Studies have shown postmenopausal women have significantly lower microbial diversity compared to premenopausal women.

2. Weakened Gut Barrier Function

Your intestinal lining is more than just a wall — it’s an intelligent barrier that decides what gets absorbed and what stays out. Because oestrogen helps maintain this barrier, declining levels can make it more permeable (“leaky”) and reactive. This may allow small particles and toxins to pass into the bloodstream, triggering low-grade inflammation and discomfort. Many women notice this as new-onset bloating or reflux during perimenopause.

3. Changing Immune Dynamics

About 70% of your immune system resides in the gut. Oestrogen has an immune-modulating role — it helps fine-tune how your body responds to invaders. As oestrogen levels drop, immune regulation can shift, leaving some women more prone to lingering colds, recurrent infections (including thrush), or feeling like their immune system just doesn’t “bounce back” as easily as before.

4. Slower Gut Transit

Progesterone influences gut motility — the rhythm of how food moves through your digestive system. As progesterone declines, the bowel can slow down, increasing the risk of constipation and fermentation (that “overfed” microbial activity that leads to bloating). This can also heighten reflux or a sense of fullness after meals.

Meet the Estrobolome: Your Gut’s Hormone Helper

Here’s the empowering part — the gut-hormone connection is a two-way street. After circulating through the body, oestrogen travels to the gut where one of two things can happen:

• It’s excreted in stool, or

• A special group of bacteria called the estrobolome produces an enzyme (β-glucuronidase) that reactivatesoestrogen, allowing it to re-enter circulation and continue doing its job.

That’s why supporting a diverse, thriving gut microbiome may help buffer the impact of declining oestrogen — potentially easing hot flushes, improving mood, and supporting smoother transitions through menopause.

Simple Ways that I share with my client to Support Gut-Hormone Harmony that could also benefit you!

• Eat the rainbow: Fibre from diverse plant foods feeds beneficial bacteria.

• Stay hydrated: Water keeps digestion moving smoothly.

• Prioritise sleep: Deep sleep supports hormone balance and microbial repair.

• Manage stress: Chronic stress directly disrupts gut bacteria and increases inflammation.

The takeaway: Supporting your gut is one of the most powerful — and natural — ways to support your hormones. When you nurture your microbiome, you’re not just helping digestion; you’re influencing how you experience menopause from the inside out.

Ready to Understand Your Gut–Hormone Connection?

If you’ve been experiencing changes in digestion, bloating, or fluctuating energy levels during perimenopause or menopause, a comprehensive gut health analysis can offer powerful insights.

Through functional testing like the Co-Biome analysis, we can assess the diversity and balance of your gut microbiota — including how well your estrobolome is functioning. From there, we can tailor your nutrition, lifestyle, and supplement plan to help restore balance, support hormone metabolism, and improve overall wellbeing.

Every woman’s microbiome is unique — and understanding yours is the first step to making targeted, meaningful change.

• If you’d like to learn more or explore whether gut testing is right for you, get in touch (here). Together, we can uncover what your gut is really telling you and create a plan that helps you feel your best — inside and out.

Diversity matters when we talk about hormones and gut health!